Post-Reading. A Finish the following sentences with the correct variant.

A Finish the following sentences with the correct variant.

1. The ‘building societies’ were originally set up...........................

a) to construct more council houses

b) to provide private homes

c) to provide mortgages

d) to make more profit

2. People are happy to take out mortgages because........................

a) house prices normally increase

b) the general cost of living goes up

c) the standard of living becomes higher

d) house prices increase a bit faster than the general cost of living

3. Before the last quarter of the 20th century most working-class people lived in.............................................................................

a) privately-owned accommodation

b) state-owned flats

c) rented accommodation

d) the property they owned

4. The idea of the ‘property-owning democracy’ implied..............

a) encouraging house-buying

b) building more ‘council houses’

c) increasing the number of council tenants

d) limiting private ‘housing associations

B Say the following in alternative words.

1) houses bought with a mortgage; 2) paying this money back month by month; 3) In the 1980s <...> regulations were relaxed; 4) people can make profit; 5) They sell their house at a profit; 6) Council rents are subsidized; 7) a waiting list of households who want to move into a council property; 8) the order of preference; 9) an owner-occupier; 10) Some of the interest which people paid on their mortgage could be subtracted from the income tax; 11) the philosophy of Thatcherism.

C Find the sentences with ‘The former…’ and ‘…the latter’. Explain their meaning.

D Give the Russian equivalents for:

1) the mortgage system; 2) the building societies; 3) rented accommodation; 4) private landlords; 5) council houses/flats; 6) council tenants; 7) a complicated set of priorities; 8) policies of ‘tax relief’; 9) pay ‘capital gains tax’ on any profit; 10) give financial incentives; 11) housing associations.

E Answer the following questions.

1. How important is the mortgage system in Britain? 2. Why are people happy to take out mortgages? 3. What was the general background for providing ‘council houses’ in the last quarter of the 20th century? 4. What has encouraged an increase in the proportion of ‘owner-occupiers’ since the 1950s? 5. What was the contribution of M. Thatcher to the house-buying movement?

F Scan the two small texts below and mark the key words/phrases. Compare your list with that of your partner.

a. Owning and renting: class

In the middle years of the twentieth century, whether you owned or rented a house was a marker of class. If you owned your house, you were middle class; if you lived in a council house, you were working class. However, this is no longer true. A clear majority of skilled manual workers are owner-occupiers, as are 40% of even unskilled manual workers. The proportion of people (of any category) who own their house ‘outright’ (i.e. they have finished paying off the mortgage) or rent privately is rather small. Only among those with higher-status jobs are there more private tenants than council tenants.