About My Relatives and Myself

My brother is 22 years old. He is of a medium height and build, a bit stocky, but strong with it. He has long, curly fair hair. It is fashionable at the moment for men to grow their hair. His hair nearly reaches his shoulders. My mother is always telling him to get it cut. He doesn't take much care over his appearance so he often looks quite scruffy. He hates having to wear a tie for work. When he's at home he wears comfortable clothes such as T-shirts and jeans. He doesn't care very much what he looks like.

My other brother is much taller-he towers above me, even though he is only 15. He does quite a lot of sport so he's quite strong and has well developed muscles. He has straight brown hair which refuses to lie flat and is always stroking up. He has bluish grey eyes and a little nose.

He is clever and quiet and spends a lot of time at his computer. People sometimes think that he is morose and sullen but I don't think that's the case - he just prefers to think rather than to talk. When he does talk he has a deep voice. He doesn 't pronounce his words very clearly, but just mutters them - he can't be bothered to speak clearly. This is typical of boys of his age I think.

My mother turned 50 this year, although she doesn't look it. She has aged quite well I think. Only now is she beginning to show signs of old age - her hair has started togo grey and her skin is drier. She is also thinner

- she used to have a tendency to put on weight. She is quite tall - it's a characteristic of her side of the family. She is usually well dressed. She is the sort of person who always looks quitesmart- I'm the exact opposite

- it doesn't matter how much time, money and energy I devote to my appearance, I usually look scruffy. Even if I leave home looking good, by the time I reach my destination I look a mess - my tights are splashed, my hem has come down and I generally look untidy as if I'd never bothered.

My father is quite short and a bit plump. I take after my father's side of the family. My father is nearly bald and the hair that remains is grey. He wears sensible, practical clothes most of the time, but for work he has to look smarter so he wears a suit and a tie. He has a grey and a blue suits which I think look good on him. When he puts his glasses on and he wears these suits, he looks every inch a teacher. My father is not a pleasant man. He gets angry and loses his temper quite often.

(Composed by Caroline Edwards)

My Flat

14 Victoria Road

Winton

28 February 1993

Dear John,

My new flat is really lovely! It's got four big rooms - aspacious lounge with a dining area, two bedrooms and a large kitchen which looks out onto the garden. There's another large window in the lounge with a super view of the park opposite, which lets in lots of sunshine in the afternoon. It's fully equipped with central heating but so far I haven't thought of any f urn iture! There are no carpets down yet and all 1' ve got isabedanda table and some chairs. Still, it'll be fun to get some (second-hand! ) furniture to go in it. Oh, and I forgot to say that it's on the ground floor and quite near the shops, which is very convenient for me because I've got a memory like a sieve and I'm always forgetting to buy something!

Do come and visit me! I'm sure you won't mind sleeping on the floor if I haven't got another bed by the time you come. I can show you the town and we can go into the country too while you're here. I know you'd enjoy it here!

Please write soon.

Love Pam

(from " Progress Towards First Certificate " by Leo Jones)

The houses were of a good size, well-built with 3 bedrooms and lofts. Their front doors were open and the streets were full of kids running in and out. Women constantly crossed the street and stood on each other's doorsteps talking. An old man with a stick walked along slowly. He stopped to pat a child who was crying so much that I thought she would explode. He carried on patting her head, and she carried on crying, until finally he decided to enter the house and fetched the child's young sister.

The houses were overcrowded - if you looked inside you would usually see five or six adults sitting in the front room - and there wasn't much furniture: often the linoleurh on the floor was torn and curling, and a bare lightbulb hung from the ceiling. The wallpaper was peeling from the walls.

Each house had a concrete yard at the back where women and young female children were always hanging out the washing: the cleaning of clothes never appeared to stop. There was one man - his house was especially run-down - who had recently acquired a new car. He walked round and round it; he was proud of his car, and occasionally caressed it. (from " The Listening File" by J. Harmer and S. Elsworth)

My Native Town

We've only recently returned to live here and the town is almost as I remembered it. But some things are different, of course. There is too much traffic. It used to be quite quiet.

It's not a large town, although about a hundred thousand people live here. The university is the main feature of the town, and it has lots of old, very attractive buildings. The shops are good and there's a market.

We live in an old house on a hill not far from the centre of the town. From our back window I can see our garden, which is full of fruit trees and flowers. On the other side of the garden fence there's a road and a park.

I don't mind living here now. London isn't far away and the train is very fast. And I love going for walks in town or by the river on warm summer evenings. There's lots of green space, and peace and quiet. Beyond the park there's a wonderful view of the town, surrounded by hills in the distance. I can't help thinking it's one of the most beautiful views in the world. At weekends we really enjoy visiting places nearby, or taking a boat on the river. The countryside is wonderful, and there's so much to see.

It's a lively place and there's lots to do here. There are several cinemas and a couple of theatres.

(from " Flying Colours" by J. Garton-Sprender and S. Greenhall)

My Hobby

I was eight before I could read. I learnt to read during the three weeks. And my thirst for reading was fantastic!

I joined the library and the local librarian used to interrogate me on the contents, convinced that I was showing off: during the junior sehool holidays I had been reading 3 books a day!

Most adults were suspicious about my passion for books. " Your brain will burst" was a common warning, one that I took seriously. When reading, I half expected my head to explode and hit the ceiling. Reading became the most important thing in my life. My favourite place to read was on my bed, lying on a pink cotton counterpane, and if I had a bag of sweets next to me, I was in heaven.

I've always felt a great sadness on finishing a book I've enjoyed, and a strong reluctance to actually close the book and put it on a shelf.

The first book I lost a night's sleep over was Jane Eyre.

(from " Saturday Review", August 1992.)

I like watching television, though my parents are not very happy about my spending hours in front of the telly. They'd rather see me reading a book or playing in the open air, which, they say, would be healthier and more useful.

I agree there are too many mindless programmes but I, of course, watch TV selectively and have my own preferences. Firstly I like some of the American detective series. They are very entertaining though, I must admit, they are rather repetitive and you can always tell when the series writers are running short of ideas, because the final episodes of these series tend to be the noisiest and the most violent.

Secondly, I like athletic programmes. I never miss a chance to see them.

And finally, I like documentaries, though some of them require rather more background knowledge than I have for me to enjoy them completely.

(Abridged from " Synthesis" by W. S. Fowler and J. Pidcock)

Working Day

1. Alison (biology student, 20)

I get up at about seven o'clock. That gives me time togo jogging in the park near home before breakfast. I don't normally have a big breakfast -just a cup of tea and some toast and honey. The thing is that I always have a sandwich and a coffee in the university cafeteria at about eleven, when we have a break after lectures.

I leave for the university about a quarter to nine - it only takes me about ten minutes to get there, so I'm there in time for the first lecture. I'm studying biology, so I have quite a varied timetable, but on a normal day I have two hours of lectures, then two or three hours in the laboratory, and I spend the rest of the time in the university in the library.

During the term I'm usually busy studying, but I do have time for some things other than work. I mean, in the afternoons, after lunch, I sometimes play tennis or squash or go swimming. In the evenings, I go out with friends, so I don't usually get home much before half past nine or ten. I usually read for a while, but I'm always in bed by midnight.

2. Brenda (night nurse, 25)

At the moment I'm working as a night nurse in a big hospital, so my time-table is a bit strange. I have to be there to start work at eleven o'clock at night, and it's an eight-hour shift that goes through till seven in the morning. I leave home at about ten-thirty. That's when a friend of mine, another nurse, picks me up at home and gives me a lift in her car. It takes

us about twenty five minutes in normal traffic to get to the hospital. We don't usually have much to do at night. We just go round the wards and look after any patients who need care and attention, but we do sometimes get emergency cases, people who have been in car accidents, or bad heart attacks, things like that.

I get home at about seven-thirty in the morning and have a light breakfast-cereal, toast and fruit juice-and by a quarter to nine I'm in bed. If I'm lucky, I sleep till about three. Then I have lunch, clean the flat, read a bit and perhaps go out shopping. My boy-friend normally comes round about half past six, and we go out to the cinema or go for a drink. He works on a night-shift too. It's a hard life, but we're saving up to get married and we get paid extra for night work, of course.

(from " Synthesis" by W. S. Fowler and J. Pidcock)

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