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What can you see from the windows where you live? What do you like about living there? What do you dislike? Would you change anything about your home?
Vocabulary
  • Vividly (adverb) - in a way that is very clear, powerful, and detailed in your mind: I vividly remember my first day at school.
  • Spacious (adj.) - large and with a lot of space: a spacious house/living room.
  • Well-equipped (adj.) - having the necessary tools, clothes, equipment, etc.
  • Massive (adj.) - very large in size, amount, or number.
  • The skyline (noun.) - a shape or pattern made against the sky, especially by buildings:
  • A cluster of - a group of similar things that are close together, sometimes surrounding something: Have a look at the cluster of galaxies in this photograph.
  • At/on short notice - only a short time before something happens: I can't cancel my plans at such short notice.
  • Waistline (noun.) - an imaginary line going round the narrowest part of your waist.
  • Packed/squashed like sardines (idiom) - if people are packed or squashed like sardines, they are positioned very close together so that they cannot move: We were squashed like sardines in the rush-hour train.
  • Luxurious (adj.) - very comfortable and expensive: They have a very luxurious house.
Get the bus to work (collocation) - travel by bus to work.
  • The décor (noun.) - the colour, style, and arrangement of the objects in a room.
  • Inclination (noun.) - a feeling that you want to do a particular thing, or the fact that you prefer or are more likely to do a particular thing: My own inclination would be to look for another job.
  • Interior design (noun.) - the art of planning the decoration of the inside of a building such as a house or office.
  • The seafront (noun phrase) - the part of a town on the coast next to the beach, often with a road along it and a row of houses and shops facing the sea: We rented a house on the seafront for the summer.
  • Packages (noun.) - an object or set of objects wrapped in paper, usually in order to be sent by post:
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Questions and answers
Maria: Rory, can you describe the place where you live?

Rory: Oh, I can very vividly, since I'm completely in love with this place. So it's a three-bedroom apartment and the rooms are very spacious. There's a really well-equipped kitchen, both: a bathroom and a shower room separately, and the hall, the main hall is massive. It's not just like at the door and then there's the bedrooms. There's like, a sort of, internal space as well. I actually think it's the biggest apartment I've ever lived in. I'm really pleased with it.

Maria: What can you see from the windows where you live?

Rory: Well, it's somewhat depressing. It's just other apartments. But on the other hand, at least the skyline looks nice when it's all lit up at night. There's a small cluster of shops at the base of the building if you look straight down, which is convenient, if you need something at very short notice. And we have a McDonald's which is less convenient for my waistline.

Maria: What do you like about living there?

Rory: Well, the apartment itself is so massive that I can finally have people around without feeling like I've got people packed into a can of sardines. And the metro station is close by, so I can go anywhere I need to at a moment's notice. It's just... It's the most convenient and probably luxurious apartment I've been in.

Maria: What do you dislike?

Rory: I think the one thing I probably dislike is that it's a little further from where I usually get the bus to work, so I have to wake up about half an hour earlier than normal - about half past five in the morning. But on the other hand, I find I get more done that way. And it's a bit further from the gym as well and the place where I usually do my weekly shop. So there's that. But the situation's hardly desperate. I mean, if I have serious problems, I'll just get a taxi. It's not a big deal.

Maria: Would you change anything about your home?

Rory: Well, obviously, I'd have it closer to the metro station or just to places that I usually frequent, but I think that's it... Oh, yeah, I'd probably change the décor too if I had the time and inclination. But as we both know, I'm not very good at interior design.

Maria: Do you prefer living in a house or a flat?

Rory: Well, for the moment I'm happy with the flat I'm living in, which is good because I live in a city and it's basically all apartments in Moscow. I don't think there are many houses. When I do have a family, though, I think I'll choose to live in a house by the sea. I think that would be much better for them and me.
Maria: Which room does your family spend most time in?

Rory: Well, I don't have my own family, but if we talk about in Scotland, then we're always in the kitchen. It's where we have our back door, which ironically is the main door for getting into the house. Our front door is called the front door because it faces the seafront and... Anyway, we receive all of our guests and packages there in the kitchen, and it's where all the food in the house is. So it makes sense to spend the most time there.
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