My family

Hi! My name is Thomas (though my friends call me Tom).. I’m fifteen. I’ve got a Mum, a Dad, a brother and two sisters, three aunts and uncles and two grandmothers who live in New Zealand. I’m the youngest. t is pretty dire at times when my elder sisters and brother try to boss me around, but sometimes it’s OK because I get away with doing things with them — like going off up to London for the day, staying up really late to watch videos and going off to the pub for a drink (cola, of course, because I’m not 18 yet). I think there are some advantages of being the youngest. I can learn from my sisters’ and brother’s mistakes and they’ve fought some of the battles with my parents for freedom.

My eldest brother Mark is 20 and is studying at the university in York. My sister Laura is 18 and in her last year at school. She is doing Biology, Chemistry, Math’s and Further Math’s “A” levels. She wants to become a doctor.

Liz is my other sister. She is 16. My sister Liz was born lucky. She has a beautiful smile. When she does something bad, she smiles and my parents are not angry with her. She eats a lot and does not get fat. Her favourite meal is a double cheeseburger with French fries, a milkshake, and an ice cream sundae. She does not study hard but always gets good marks. After school she does her homework in five minutes while she watches television at the same time.

I’m close to all three but possibly closest to Liz. She sometimes comes to me for advice and I sometimes go to her. But I would have liked to have a younger brother. I’d have liked to have someone to have a laugh with, someone to take out to football with roe. My sisters and Mark don’t always share my sense of humor.

My Dad is a civil servant and works in central London. Mum is a teacher and works in Croydon, a town on the outskirts of London.

If I go out, my parents like to know where I’m going, who I’m with and what time I’m coming home, but that’s fair enough.

Of all my relatives best of all I like my Granny Dotty. She loves adventure. On her sixtieth birthday she went mountain climbing in the Alps. On her seventieth birthday she went on a trip to the North Pole. When she was eighty, she drove, alone, across the United States. She loves to eat chocolate. We all wonder what she will do when she is ninety.

Vocabulary:

pretty dire – довольно неприятно

advantages - преимущества

to get away with – провернуть какое-либо дельце

to go off – уезжать, сбегать

to stay up – не ложиться спать

a battle - битва

freedom - свобода

Further Math’s – высшая математика

be angry (with) - сердиться

get fat - поправляться, становиться толстым

French fries - картофель фри

milkshake - молочный коктейль

ice cream sundae - пломбир с сиропом, орехами, фруктами

be close (to) share – быть в близких отношениях

sense of humor - чувство юмора

civil servant - служащий

outskirts - пригород

fair - справедливый

an adventure - приключение

mountain climbing - альпинизм

North Pole – Северный полюс