Текст на английском про дом

My name is Masha. I am eleven. I live in a flat in a big city.

Our flat is on the fifth floor. It has got three rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom. There is a small balcony too.

The living room is big and light. There is a sofa, a TV and a lot of books.

My room is small, but I like it. There is a bed, a desk and a green carpet.

We have dinner in the kitchen. I like cooking with my mum. I love my home!

Two years ago my family moved from a small flat to a house near the town. The flat was cosy, but it was too small for five people. Now we have got much more space.

Our house has got two floors. Downstairs there is a large kitchen, a living room and my dad's study. Upstairs there are three bedrooms and a bathroom. I share a bedroom with my younger brother, but it is bigger than my old room.

The best thing about the house is the garden. In summer we grow tomatoes and cucumbers, and my grandma makes jam from our apples. We also have a swing and a small table where we often have tea.

Right now my dad is painting the fence, because it is getting old. Next spring we are going to build a little greenhouse. I think our house is the most comfortable place in the world.

I have lived in the same flat in Yekaterinburg since I was born. It is in a nine-storey block which was built in the 1980s, and from our kitchen window you can see a park where I learnt to ride a bike. Although the building looks rather grey from the outside, inside it feels warm and familiar.

Over the years our flat has changed a lot. When my sister was born, my parents turned the dining room into a nursery. Later the old wallpaper was replaced, and last summer the bathroom was completely renovated. However, some things have never changed: the piano that belonged to my great-grandmother still stands in the corner of the living room.

Living in a flat has its advantages and disadvantages. Everything we need, including a school, shops and a bus stop, is within walking distance. On the other hand, we sometimes hear our neighbours' music through the walls, and there is no garden where we could grow vegetables.

My parents often talk about buying a house in the countryside. If they decide to do it, I will probably miss the city noise at first. But I hope that the new place will become as dear to me as this flat, because a home is made by the people who live in it.

The English language draws a subtle but important distinction between a house and a home. A house is simply a building made of bricks, concrete or wood, whereas a home is a place to which we feel emotionally attached. Russian, interestingly, often uses the single word 'dom' for both, leaving the listener to work out which meaning is intended.

Having moved four times before I turned fifteen, I have learnt that the walls themselves matter surprisingly little. What turns an empty flat into a home is a collection of small, almost invisible things: the smell of my mother's pies on a Sunday morning, the creak of a particular floorboard, the shelf crowded with photographs that travels with us from one address to the next.

Many people today dream of a bigger house with a separate room for every family member. There is certainly something to be said for privacy, especially for teenagers. Yet I sometimes wonder whether too much space can push a family apart. Had we lived in a spacious cottage rather than a cramped two-room flat, I doubt we would have spent so many evenings talking around the kitchen table.

Another factor that is easy to overlook is the neighbourhood. A beautifully decorated flat can still feel lonely if you do not know a single person on your staircase, while a modest one may be full of life thanks to friendly neighbours who look after your cat while you are away.

In my opinion, a home is less a place than a feeling of belonging. Furniture can be replaced and walls can be repainted, but the sense of being safe and accepted is something that has to be built slowly, by everyone who lives under the same roof.