A greener house

Green living is becoming more popular and more people are building green homes. One example is Bernard Hockings from Australia. He is building a three-bedroom town house for his family and he wants to make the house as green as possible.

He plans to use only green electricity. He is going to put a wind turbine on the roof to make electricity from the wind, and he is going to use solar panels to make electricity from the sun.

He is not going to connect his house to the water company. He wants to use a different system. His system will collect rainwater and carry the rainwater to a large area under the house. He made this area first, before he started building, and it will hold 40,000 litres of water.

Water companies supply water to houses through hundreds of kilometres of pipes. This process uses energy and they use more energy taking away the waste water. However, Bernard's family are going to recycle all the waste water from the house. They are going to use this water to grow fruit trees.

When it is finished, the house will be one of the greenest town houses in Australia.

Определите, правдивыми или ложными являются следующие утверждения или в тексте не содержится данная информация.

1 Green is Hockings' favourite colour.

2 He is going to make electricity at home.

3 He is going to get water from the water company.

4 They are going to use waste water in the garden.

5 Many Australian houses are greener than this.

Задание 2. Переведите текст со словарем.

The American Home

American apartments are usually described as one-bedroom (studio apartments), two-bedroom or three-bedroom apartments. Two- and three-bedroom apartments usually have a connecting living-room; frequently they have two bathrooms. Virtually all apartments have built-in closets with doors, which are used instead of wardrobes. Frequently apartments are without lights but have several outlets for table or floor lamps. The walls are often painted rather than wall-papered. The entrance generally is directly into the living room area; halls are rarely in evidence. Floors are generally covered with wall-to-wall carpeting. Apartment buildings usually have laundry facilities on the ground floor. Almost all apartments have refrigerator's, most people now use microwave ovens which provide very convenient and fast cooking. Most apartments and houses have central thermostat which regulate the temperature.

There are two types of apartments: a rented apartment and a condominium, which an individual owns rather than rents. In addition there are town-houses which are joint houses or apartments in a compact planned group in a town. Town-houses can be purchased or rented. Rented apartments can range from a few hundred to thousands of dollars per month. The purchase price of condominiums and town-houses can range from thirty thousand to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In the US the historical preference since the 1950's has been for people to purchase their own houses in the suburbs rather than in central areas of the cities. Private houses are the most expensive. Real estate firms advertise lands, houses and apartments and provide a market for buyers and sellers. The cost of private houses has escalated sharply in recent years and consequently people have sought to buy town houses and condominiums which generally are cheaper.

A mobile home is the cheapest form of housing that can be purchased. Mobile homes can be moved from place to place by trucks. Mobile homes are located in special mobile home parks, which arc sometimes called mobile villages. They are usually on the outskirts of cities. Retired people and young people with low income reside in mobile homes which can be purchased or rented.

Дата добавления: 2015-09-06