1
1 More and more people build their own home
A
so that they can live underground.
B
so that they can have exactly the home they want.
C
because it is cheaper than buying a new house.
D
because they want all the modern luxuries you find in
a new home.
2 John and Josephine Mew
A
know that their choice of home is unusual.
B
found that creating their dream home was easy.
C
wanted to live like people would have in traditional castles.
D
converted an ancient building into a modern home.
3 According to the text, what could be a disadvantage of
the Mews’ home?
A
It might not be very comfortable.
B
It was very expensive to build.
C
Tourists often mistake it for a historic building.
D
It doesn’t have enough luxury items.
4 What do Jonathan Ridley-Jones and Shanon
Ridd say about their home?
A
It’s just an ordinary house.
B
They always wanted to live underground.
C
It doesn’t harm the environment.
D
They don’t pay anything for heating and lighting.
5 Why did Dan Garner build a tree house in his garden?
A
He wants to persuade people to buy one.
B
His family wanted to live in a tree house.
C
He builds them for a living.
D
His family needed more room.
6 What does Dan Garner aim to do in the future?
A
build more tree dwellings in his garden
B
invite more people to visit his tree house
C
open a business selling tree houses
D
design a tree house to suit all tastes
b. Read the article. For questions 1-6, choose the answer
(A, B, C or D) which fits best according to the text.
35
40
45
50
55
60
c. Explain the words in bold, then suggest synonyms
for the highlighted words.
d.
What is the author’s purpose?
Think!
4
a. List the advantages and disadvantages of Mew’s,
Ridd’s and Garner’s dwellings, then talk about
them.
b.
What would your ideal house be?
Describe it giving reasons.
My ideal house would be a castle. It would be made of ...
Think!
Follow-up
If an underground home doesn’t
appeal to
you, how
about living in the tree tops? Dan Garner, a tree surgeon
from Gloucestershire, certainly thinks that this is the way
to go up in the world.
“When our family
became short of
space at home our
solution was to build a luxury tree house in the garden.
The tree house is built into a
spruce tree
six metres
above the ground
. It has one main room, a bedroom and
a balcony running around two sides.” Garner is so happy
with this practical
extension
to his home that he thinks he
can convince more people of the benefits of living in the
trees. He wants to set up his own enterprise making more
of the deluxe tree dwellings, saying, “Tree houses are
airy
, secure and comfortable and the only disadvantage is
that they might not be
suitable for
people who
suffer
from hay fever
or a fear of heights!”
Even people who live in more ordinary
settings
sometimes can’t resist doing something to make them
stand out
from the crowd. One extreme example of this is
Bill Heines’ house in Headington, Oxfordshire. Until one
morning in 1986, his house looked much like all the others
in his street, when suddenly overnight a 7.5 m long
fibreglass shark
appeared to have crashed through the
roof. The shark was a
sculpture
by local artist John
Buckley. At first some people complained that it might be
dangerous or that it spoilt the look of the neighbourhood,
but engineers checked that the sculpture was safe and
the ‘Headington shark’ has become a well-known and
popular landmark. It seems that no matter where you live,
you can always do something to make sure your house
says something about who you are.
D
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