Read the TEXT (by Driscall) about British homes and answer the questions below. QUESTIONS FOR SELF STUDY  

1. How long does it normally take to pay back the mortgage in Britain?
2. What system helps to solve the problem of high cost of houses in Britain? What does this system consist in (as you understand it)?
3. Why do the Brtish like to take out mortgages?
4. Who are ‘the second time buyers’?
5. Why did the number of housing tenants decrease in 1980s?
6. What is the British attitude to communal living? Have they tried to introduce communal living? What were the consequences?
7. Does selling their houses make the Englishmen feel upset? Why? (Why not?) What do they look at their houses as?
8. What example illustrates the fact that the British don’t get attached to their homes?
9. Why do some well-to-do Englishmen’s houses lack modern conveniences? Why don’t rich people just buy modern homes?
10. Why do many British people have old furniure in their houses?
11. Who is the back door in the British house intended to?
12. What is an important feature of a British garden? What idea does it underline?
13. Is it possible in Britain not to see the new house before buying it? Why?
14. What don’t the British feel a strong respect to?
15. Why are paths by the side of roads are not kept tidy by the people living close to them? What other example illustrates how the British distinguish between public and private property?