Housing

Almost half of all British families own the houses in which they live. In order to buy a house a family in Britain does not need to have all the money. There are many special banks from which it is possible to borrow uo to 90 % of the value of the house. Of course, not everyone wishes to buy a house and renting is very common, too.

There are several types of houses in Britain : a terraced house, a semidatached house, a detached house, a bungalow and a cottage. Terraced houses are built in a row and are joined one to another to form a street. Two houses joined together by one common wall are called semi-detached houses. A detached house stands by itself and is not joined to another house. A bungalow is a one-storey house. A cottage is a small village house.

Some people live in flats not houses. A flat is situated on one floor and is designet for one family. A flat forms a part of blocks of flats. It may be very large with nearly as much space as the house, or it may also be one room with kitchen and bathroom.

A typical Briticsh house is set in a small garden and has two storeys. It is usually designed for a family of four ar five people. There is a hall, a front room, a back room, a kitchen, a pantry and a storage space downstairs. A garage is attached to the house. Upstairs, there is one big bedroom and two smaller ones, a bathroom and lavatory. In comparison to the houses built some fifty years ago, modern houses have central or gas heating installed and the windows double –glazed.

The front room is a sitting room with a fireplace, sette and the arm-chairs, the wall unit with hi-fi system, television and video, bookcase and a coffe table. There is a carpet on the floor to make the room warm and comfortable. The back room is a dining room containing a table, four or more chairs, and a sideboard. The kitchen furniture includes the kitchen cupboards, sink, stove and fridge-freezer. They are all built in. There is also a table with stools. The floor in the kitchen is tiled. The big room upstairs is the parents bedroom. It has a double-bed, built-in wardrobes, dressing table with a mirror on the wall and a stool in front of the table. The small rooms are bedrooms for children or spare rooms for guests of the family.

A typical British house has a garden as the British people take of gardening. A beautiful well-kept lawn is a pride of every British family. The British like to spend their free time in their houses.

Everyone in the family helps around the house to make it comfortable and nice.

Living condition of American people dapend much on the amount of money they have. Many wealthy people have very large house with many rooms, tennis courts and swimming pools. On the other hand, there are also people who are homeless. Homelessness is a big social problem in the USA. Many homeless people are alcoholics and mentally-ill or just unemployed people left without living means. But as the standard of living is generally very high in the USA, an average American family can live comfortably and well.

In the centre of big American cities many people live in the apartments (flats) situated in large apartment buildings. They usually rent apartments which are owned by big companies or private owners. The majority of Americans live in individual, sigle-family houses with a front and back gardens. The houses are well furnished and equipped with modern house-hold appliances. There is usually one or more phones amd TV sets, stereo and video systems, microwave and fidge-freezer in every house. Each child of the family has his / her oen room. It is common for an average American family to have more than one car. Young members of the family may have their own car as well.

The American home is a busy and lively place. There is a lot of work around the house throughout the whole year and the people like to do the work by themselves. The Americans usually do not stay in the same house their whole lives. Some families like to move to other parts of the country and change houses more than once in a decade. The moving to other places is never a big change for a family as the standard of living is much the same throught the USA.