Episode 64

EPISODE 71
LEVEL A1.2/A2.1

 

READING COMPREHENSION

 

MY PLACE TO LIVE

 

I come from a village (= a place smaller than a town) and I sometimes spend my free time there. My village looks really beautiful as it is situated (= is) in a valley (= an area between two mountains). My house is not very big and it is surrounded by a wood (= there is a small forest around my house). There is a pond (= an area of water smaller than a lake, not natural) in my garden. I like sitting there in the evenings. There is a footpath (= a small road, only for people on foot) which goes from my house to the village centre. There is a stream (= a very small river) near my house and there are many green hills (= small mountains) around it. I sometimes think it is the best place In the world.

 

More contexts for the new words:

• The village lies in a valley. (= it is situated in a valley)
• This house lies in a hilly area. (= there are many hills around this house)

 

 

EXERCISE 1

Add the missing vowels (A, E, I, O, U), then answer the questions.

 

1. Would you prefer to live in a ……………………. VLLG or in a city? Why?
2. Would you prefer to live in a ……………………. VLLY or on a ……………………. HLL? Why?
3. Would you prefer to live close to a ……………………. SPRNG or a ……………………. PND? Why?

 

 

ENGLISH IN USE 

 

Let’s look at this sentence from the text:

The village looks beautiful.

 

Is it an adjective (beautiful) or an adverb (beautifully) at the end of this sentence? „Beautiful” is an adjective (similar to blue, big, fantastic, slow, etc.). Remember that when we use verbs connected with senses (to look, to smell, to feel, etc.) we use adjectives, not adverbs. This is different from Polish.

 

Look at some more examples:

Mark looks sad today.
This feels really nice.
What smells so good?

 

IDIOM CLOSE-UP

 

 

A/ What’s up with Jack?

B/ He’s been HOUSE-HUNTING for the past few months.

 

When you’re house-hunting, you’re trying to find a house to live in, especially one that you want to buy.

 

 

PHRASAL VERBS CLOSE-UP

 

 

1. When you DO UP a house (or something else), you renovate it.

It’s a lovely old house, but it needs doing up a bit.

We spent our weekends doing up an old car.

 

2. When you DROP BY, you make a short visit somewhere.

Why don’t you drop by for coffee one day?

I dropped by on George on my way home from school.

 

 

 

EXERCISE 1

Complete each gap with one word.

 

1. Drop ……………………….. and pick up that book sometime.
2. I’d like to buy an old run-down cottage that I can do ……………………….. .
3. ………………………..-hunting is not easy when you’re on a tight budget.

 

 

NEWS

 

HOUSE-HUNTING

 

House-hunting (and flat-hunting) has become even more difficult in Poland, now that the government has yet again decreased the quota for the mortgage subsidies programme called ‘Rodzina na swoim.’ In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, the programme made the government pay half of the interest for the first few years of a mortgage. And – since in the initial years the interest is practically the whole mortgage installment –  that was a lot of help for young Polish families. Now, however, the quota are so low that only a tiny fraction of flats in major Polish cities qualify for the programme. And there are hardly any such flats in Warsaw. While the changes in programme criteria are bound to help decrease the budget deficit, they are unlikely to make Polish families any happier.

 

GLOSSARY

– quota – numbers

– mortgage – bank loan to buy a house

– subsidies – money paid by the government to help people

– interest – the extra money you pay when you pay off a loan

– installment – part of a loan you pay off every month

– fraction – %

 

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