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My Home Is My Castle
House is
essential for man's life. A house serves as a shelter and a
place to satisfy all our needs: we sleep, eat, hide ourselves
from bad weather, store personal property, work and rest there.
So we want not just a house but a home. So what is the
difference between a house and a home? It is considered that the
place where you live is your home whatever type of house it is.
British speakers often say that your home is the place where you
belong and feel comfortable, so it is more than just a house.
Some people think of home in terms of where they grew up or
where they lived. For them it is a place that brings back old
memories or feelings. The state of a person's home can
physiologically influence his or her behavior, emotions, and
mental health. Some people may become homesick when they are
separated from their home environment.
There are a lot
of proverbs and sayings supporting the importance of home to a
person: East or West, home is best; There is no place like home;
My house is my fortress; Home, sweet home; Home is where the
heart is; Home is home, though it be never so homely; Dry bread
at home is better than roast meat abroad and many others. Such
sayings exist in any language and in any culture. Houses differ
from one culture to another, depending on the world outlook of a
certain community, which has its roots in the religion of a
nation, its traditions and historic heritage. That is why there
are so many types of houses and ways of life in the world. There
are certain cultures in which members lack permanent homes, such
as with nomadic people.
A person's home
can tell us what culture he belongs to, because consciously or
unconsciously, one usually keeps to one's native traditions,
though it is rather difficult to do so in the modern world,
especially in the city.
An Englishman's
motto is 'My home is my castle.' A house doesn't only ensure
privacy or give a sense of stability and security, but it is
also a status symbol. A big and expensive house means that its
owner is a very successful person. There are different types of
houses in Britain. For example, a terraced house is a house
joined to a row of other houses. A semi-detached house is joined
to another house. The British dream of living in a detached
house (which means a separate building) though having a detached
house is much more expensive than a semi-detached or a terraced
one. A cottage is a small, usually old house, typically in a
rural, or semi-rural location. A bungalow is a fairly modern
house built on only one level. Most people don't like blocks of
flats, because they don't suit British attitudes and don't give
people enough privacy. Besides many blocks of flats are badly
built and are associated with poverty and crime.
Nowadays some
people prefer living in a houseboat. It is a boat designed to be
used as a human dwelling. In the United Kingdom, canal
narrowboats are used as homes and also as mobile, rented,
holiday accommodation. Over 15,000 people live afloat in Great
Britain. They are found throughout the canals, rivers and
coasts; in cities, in the country and in harbours. Some cruise
continuously, some are permanently moored and the others mix
cruising and mooring. Many people find houseboats very
attractive because they can stay in one area for a few weeks or
months and than move somewhere else. It helps them feel closer
to Nature and escape from everyday problems of life ashore.
While travelling
many people use a travel trailer or a caravan which is towed
behind a road vehicle. It is much more comfortable than a tent
and it gives travellers the opportunity not to spend their money
on a motel or hotel. There are travel trailers and caravans of
various types. They may be little more than a tent on wheels or
they may contain several rooms with furniture and equipment.
Travel trailers are especially popular in North America, Europe,
Australia and New Zealand.
A house can say
much about its inhabitants: their way of life, tastes, financial
position, etc. No matter what type of house a person has, he
should feel comfortable there. As a rule one's house is
associated with one's family. Living under one roof people
become closer and begin to understand each other better. So we
can say that a house unites and for every person his house is a
small Universe, a sacred place where love, friendship, mutual
understanding and mutual respect reign.
1. Complete each sentence (A—H) with one of the endings
(1—8):
A. British speakers often say that your home is
B. The state of a person's home can
C. A house doesn't only ensure privacy or give a sense of
stability and security, but it is also
D. Most people don't like blocks of flats, because they
E. In the United Kingdom, canal narrowboats are used as homes
and also as
F. A travel trailer is much more comfortable than a tent and it
gives travellers the opportunity
G. Travel trailers are especially popular in
H. For every person his house is
1. not to spend their money on a motel or hotel.
2. don't suit British attitudes and don't give people enough
privacy.
3. a small Universe, a sacred place where love, friendship,
mutual understanding and mutual respect reign.
4. physiologically influence his or her behavior, emotions, and
mental health.
5. North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
6. the place where you belong and feel comfortable.
7. a status symbol.
8. mobile, rented, holiday accommodation.
2. Agree or disagree with the following statements. Explain
your point of view
• House is essential for man's life.
• Home is where the heart is.
• A house gives a sense of stability and security.
• It is rather difficult to keep to one's native traditions in
the modern city.
• A house can say much about its inhabitants.
• Living under one roof people become closer and begin to
understand each other better.
3. Read some expressions containing the element 'home' and
explain their meaning
• home and dry
• home key
• home-thrust
• home truth
• last home/long home
• to be/feel at home
• to be not at home to anyone
• to be/feel at home in French (English etc.)
• to romp home
• to send smb home
• to come home to
• to bring smth home to smb
• to bring oneself home
• to bring a crime home to smb
• to touch home
4. Answer the questions
1) What is the difference between a house and a home?
2) Why do many people feel homesick when they leave their home?
3) Why do houses differ from one culture to another?
4) How can a house indicate a person's status?
5) What types of houses do you know?
6) Would you like to live in a houseboat? Why?
7) What are the main advantages and disadvantages of a travel
trailer?
8) What kind of house is ideal to your mind?
9) Which is more important: the exterior of a house or the
atmosphere that reigns in it? Explain your point of view.
10) Is your home important to you? Could you change your
lodgings easily?
5. Read several interesting facts about houses and And some more
• The oldest house in the world was discovered at Mezhirich
near Kiev in the Ukraine in 1965 by a farmer. It is
approximately from 10,000 ВС and it is made of mammoth bones.
• The Smallest House in Great Britain can be found on the Quay,
in Conwy, Wales. Its dimensions are 3.05 metres x 1.8 metres.
• Windsor Castle is the largest inhabited castle in the world
and, dating back to the time of William the Conqueror, is the
oldest in continuous occupation. Windsor Castle is one of the
principal official residences of the British monarch.
6. Read the quotations below. Choose any quotation and
comment on it
• 'The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of
the home.' (Confucius)
• 'A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for
the mind as well as the body.' (Benjamin Franklin)
• 'Nothing can bring a real sense of security into the home
except true love.' (Billy Graham)
• 'He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his
home.' (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
• 'Go to foreign countries and you will get to know the good
things one possesses at home.' (Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe)
• 'Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have
to take you in.' (Robert Frost)
• 'Home is where one starts from.' (T. S. Eliot)
Many writers use descriptions of houses in order to reveal
people's characters. Read some extracts below. What can you say
about the people who live in these houses? Give your own
examples from literature.
'A furnished flat at $8 per week. It was not exactly beggar
description, but it certainly had that word on the look-out for
the mendicancy squad.
In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter
would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger
could coax a ring. Also appertaining thereunto was a card
bearing the name 'Mr. James Dillingham Young.'
The 'Dillingham' had been flung to the breeze during a former
period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30 per
week. Now, when the income was shrunk to $20 the letters of'
Dillingham' looked blurred, as though they were thinking
seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D. But
whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his
flat above he was called 'Jim' and greatly hugged by Mrs. James
Dillingham Young ...'
(From 'The Gift of the Magi' by O'Henry)
'Like the enlightened thousands of his class and generation in
this great city of London, who no longer believe in red velvet
chairs, and know that groups of modern Italian marble are vieux
jeu, Soames Forsyte inhabited a house which did what it could.
It owned a copper door knocker of individual design, windows
which had been altered to open outwards, hanging flower-boxes
filled with fuchsias, and at the back (a great feature) a little
court tiled with jade-green tiles, and surrounded by pink
hydrangeas in peacock-blue tubs. Here, under a
parchment-coloured Japanese sunshade covering the whole end,
inhabitants or visitors could be screened from the eyes of the
curious while they drank tea and examined at their leisure the
latest of Soames's silver little boxes.
The inner decoration favoured the First Empire and William
Morris. For its size, the house was commodious; there were
countless nooks resembling birds' nests, and little things made
of silver were deposited like eggs.'
(From 'The Forsyte Saga' by John Galsworthy)
'And speaking of sentiment brings us very naturally to the
'Dove-cote'. That was the name of the little brown house which
Mr Brooke had prepared for Meg's first home. Laurie had
christened it, saying it was highly appropriate to the gentle
lovers, who 'went on together like a pair of turtle-doves, with
first a bill and than a coo'. It was a tiny house, with a little
garden behind and a lawn about as big as a pocket-handkerchief
in front. Here Meg meant to have a fountain, shrubbery, and a
profusion of lovely flowers; though just at present, the
fountain was represented by a weather-beaten urn, very like a
dilapidated slop-bowl; the shrubbery consisted of several young
larches, undecided whether to live or die; and the profusion of
flowers was merely hinted by regiments of sticks, to show where
seeds were planted. But inside, it was altogether charming, and
the happy bride saw no fault from garret to cellar. To be sure,
the hall was so narrow, it was fortunate that they had no piano,
for one never could have been got in whole; the dining-room was
so small that six people were a tight fit; and the kitchen
stairs seemed built for the express purpose of precipitating
both servants and china pell-mell into the coal-bin. But once
get used to these slight blemishes, and nothing could be more
complete, for good sense and good taste had presided over the
furnishing, and the result was highly satisfactory. There were
no marble-topped tables, long mirrors, or lace curtains in the
little parlour, but simple furniture, plenty of books, a fine
picture or two, a stand of flowers in the bay window, and,
scattered all about, the pretty gifts which came from friendly
hands, and were the fairer for the loving messages they
brought.'
(From 'Good Wives' by Louisa May Alcott)
A. There are different types of houses in different countries
and cultures. Match the type of a house with its definition.
A) a very tall modern city building
B) a small simple building with only one or two rooms
C) a house made from blocks of hard snow or ice
D) a structure with a round or pointed roof used as a home by
some Native American tribes in the past
E) a very large strong building, built in the past as a safe
place that could be easily defended against attack
F) a small house with one floor
G) the official home of a person of very high rank, especially a
king or queen
H) a small house in the country
I) a vehicle that a car can pull and in which people can live
and sleep when they are on holiday
J)
a type of house that is divided into two parts, so that it has
two separate homes in it
igloo, castle, bungalow, caravan, skyscraper, duplex, palace,
wigwam, hut, cottage
B. Read the text 'My Home Is My Castle' and say if you agree
with the title.
Из учебного пособия
"Открывая
мир с английским языком. Современные темы для обсуждения.
Готовимся к ЕГЭ" Юнёва С.А. 2012г.
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