Text 1. Houses in Britain

Towns and cities in Britain have grown a lot in size over the last two centuries. The oldest houses are usually those closest to the town centre. Many people live in the suburbs, areas on the edge of a town.

Some people prefer to live in a village and travel into the nearby town to work. Villages are considered to be pleasant places to live, as they are quieter and less polluted than towns and are closer to the countryside. They usually contain a range of houses, including old cottages and new houses and bungalows.

Many British people prefer to buy a house rather than renting one, because they can decorate or alter it to suit their own taste and because they believe they will have more privacy. Young people and those who cannot afford to buy a house live in rented accommodation.

The largest and most expensive type of house is a detached house, which is not joined to other houses and has a garden all round it. Detached houses have at least three bedrooms and one or two bathrooms upstairs, and one or more living rooms plus a separate dining room and kitchen downstairs.

Semi-detached houses, or semis, are extremely common. They are built in pairs with one house joined to the other along one side. These houses usually have two or three bedrooms. There is a separate garden at the front and the back for each house.

Bungalows have only one storey, and this makes them especially popular with older people. They are mostly found in villages or on housing estates.

High-rise blocks of flats, sometimes over 20 storeys high with several flats on each floor, were built in many towns in the mid 20th century. Many have since been pulled down because they needed a lot of repairs and because people did not like living in them.