FURNITURE

& Reading

Read through this rather strange application form, noting how the couple describes the house. As you read answer the questions below.

When my wife and I moved into our present house, it was a little better than slums, completely unfurnished apart from a few bits and pieces which the former occupant had either forgotten or – more likely – decided not to take with her. (These included an enormous sideboard that weighed a ton, a chest of drawerswith its only one remaining door hanging off, an ugly bookcase with all its panes of glass cracked, and a broken 19-th century piano stool.)

The floors then were just bare boards with one or two mats and strips of lino. We now have fitted carpets in every room except the bathroom (where we have special long-lasting tiles) and the kitchen (polished parquet floor), plus several sheepskin rugs in the reception rooms. On arrival we found most of the interior decorated with faded, flowery-patterned wallpaper, peeling at the picture rail. We have painted throughout in beige (window and sills white) except in the lounge, where we have had pink. A few tasteful reproductionsand a number of old German prints(all expensively framed) are on the walls, along with some carefully selected posters in the children’s rooms.

Numerous structural alterations have been carried out, notably the conversion of the old garden shed into a second bathroom, complete with bath, basin, bidet and W.C. (lambswool-covered lavatory seat and press-button flush) and the extensionof the conservatory to make a sun lounge – with window seats all around it – leading on to the newly-laid patio. The roof, meanwhile, has been completely renovated, slates giving way to tiles, double glazing has been fitted on all windows, and the old fireplaces have been blocked up, except in the lounge which has retained its grate and mantelpiece for the old-world image it creates. In terms ofheating, we have installed a gas cooker, an electric cooker, gas-fired central heating, anddouble radiators each with its own thermostatic control.

We have also made dramatic improvements in the kitchen: a new sink unit with mixer tap and double drainer, a line of smart cupboards all along one wall and two rows of shelves along the other. Upstairs the old iron double bed we inherited has been replaced by elegant twin beds with interior-sprung mattresses and quilts (duvets), of course. Our children Alexandra and Charles have recently moved out of bunk beds and into single beds in separate rooms; these have been specially equipped with a desk, blackboard and easel, and toy chest. All bedrooms have built-in wardrobes now and my wife has her own personal dressing tableanddressing stool.

Our more expensive purchases, apart from the above, include: a leather upholstered lounge suite comprising a four-seater sofa – or should we say settee? – and two armchairs (we remember with horror the year we had to live with a studio couch plus a few pouffes and cushions), a solid wood table and set of matching dining room chairs, plus a microwave oven, a new shower unit, plumbed in of course, so that no unsightly pipes are visible, new stereo equipment, colour TV, a video recorder, home computer and cocktail cabinet.

It may interest you to know, finally, that we have made a formal complaint about the ghastly tallboy and divan that our neighbours have had standing in their back garden for nearly six months. Our garden, incidentally, has been recently landscaped and completely transformed: gone is the vegetable patch; in its place a neat lawn and flower-beds. All our new friends say we have done a wonderful job on our property.

If the couple decided to sell the house next month, which of these features could they say that it had?

1. two bathrooms 2. polished parquet floor 3. a slate roof 4. attractive wallpaper throughout 5. double glazed windows

6. three bedrooms 7. a spacious garden shed 8. ancient period fireplaces 9. a mature vegetable garden 10.a modern kitchen

Find the equivalents to the phrases below. Be ready to use them in the sentences of your own.

1. There was no furniture in the room.____________________________________

2. A sideboard was big and weighed a ton.________________________________

3. A piece of furniture where we put clean linen.___________________________

4. A kind of carpet that covers all the floor in the room._____________________

5. A very smooth floor made of wood.___________________________________

6. Small carpets that cover the floor only in some places.____________________

7. People either paint the walls or decorate them with_______________________

8. A picture that is not an original one.___________________________________

9. Having frames, which cost much._____________________________________

10. Serious changes made.______________________________________________

11. A sitting room.____________________________________________________

12. Windows with two panes of glass._____________________________________

13. A shelf on the top of a fireplace.______________________________________

14. Two radiators combined.____________________________________________

15. Things considerably changed for the better ones.________________________

16. A kind of a basin in the kitchen.______________________________________

17. Taps with hot and cold water mixed.___________________________________

18. Separate beds for one person to sleep.__________________________________

19. A large bed for two people.__________________________________________

20. A unit consisting of two beds but not a double bed._______________________

21. Covered or decorated with leather item of furniture for sitting._______________

22. A place where people take a shower (not a bathroom).______________________

23. An item of furniture where one can keep clothes._________________________

24. A very soft and comfortable stool which is an item of a lounge suite.__________

25. A place where one keeps bottles of spirits.______________________________

26. A synonym to a sofa._________________________________________________

27. A place where one usually grows vegetables.____________________________

28. A place where flowers grow._________________________________________

29. All things that we own are our________________________________________

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Furniture

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