Reading 7

Read the text and mark sentences True of False

Who Needs a Clean House?

My neighbours, Mr and Mrs Smith, both hated housework.  They were very untidy people who never put things away in their places. When they went to bed, for example, they always left their clothes in a mess on the floor.  Their kitchen was in great disorder, too. Even though they had a dishwasher, they always left the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink, and only did the washing up when there was not a single plate in the house. It was just the same with their clothes. They never put them into the washing machine until there was nothing else left to wear. Their living room didn’t look better! There was thick dust on every piece of furniture and the carpets hadn’t been cleaned for weeks. And the bathroom!

So the day came when Mr. Smith couldn’t find one of his socks and Mrs. Smith couldn’t see her face in the bathroom mirror. They looked around and decided that it was time to get the house cleaned. And they found Marie, a foreign student at a local university who needed some extra money.

Marie came to their house and worked all day long. She washed, dried and ironed all the clothes and put them away where they belonged – into the wardrobe and chest of drawers. She swept the floor with a large broom. She took a wet cloth and wiped the dust off the furniture, and polished it until it was shining. She cleaned all the carpets with a vacuum cleaner. In the kitchen, the floors were too dirty to wash with a mop, so Marie got on her hands and knees and scrubbed the dirt off with a scrubbing brush. Finally, she made the beds. Now the house looked spotless.

When Mr. and Mrs. Smith came home that evening, everything was clean, neat and tidy. ”Well, what do you think?” Mrs. Smith asked her husband. “It looks very nice, “he said. “But how are we ever going to find anything?”

Mr. and Mrs. Smith both couldn't stand doing the housework.

My neighbours, Mr and Mrs Smith, both hated housework.  They were very untidy people who never put things away in their places. When they went to bed, for example, they always left their clothes in a mess on the floor.  Their kitchen was in great disorder, too. Even though they had a dishwasher, they always left the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink, and only did the washing up when there was not a single plate in the house. It was just the same with their clothes. They never put them into the washing machine until there was nothing else left to wear. Their living room didn’t look better! There was thick dust on every piece of furniture and the carpets hadn’t been cleaned for weeks. And the bathroom!

So the day came when Mr. Smith couldn’t find one of his socks and Mrs. Smith couldn’t see her face in the bathroom mirror. They looked around and decided that it was time to get the house cleaned. And they found Marie, a foreign student at a local university who needed some extra money.

Marie came to their house and worked all day long. She washed, dried and ironed all the clothes and put them away where they belonged – into the wardrobe and chest of drawers. She swept the floor with a large broom. She took a wet cloth and wiped the dust off the furniture, and polished it until it was shining. She cleaned all the carpets with a vacuum cleaner. In the kitchen, the floors were too dirty to wash with a mop, so Marie got on her hands and knees and scrubbed the dirt off with a scrubbing brush. Finally, she made the beds. Now the house looked spotless.

When Mr. and Mrs. Smith came home that evening, everything was clean, neat and tidy. ”Well, what do you think?” Mrs. Smith asked her husband. “It looks very nice, “he said. “But how are we ever going to find anything?”

They were very tidy people who always put their things in order. 

When they went to bed they always left their clothes in a wardrobe.

They had a very dirty kitchen.

They did the washing up when there were clean plates in the house.

They did the washing up when there were clean plates in the house.

But they cleaned their carpets every week.

Marie cleaned their house and it looked perfectly clean.

  Choose the correct option.

Mr and Mrs Smith were my…

They were very…people.

They …. put things away in their places.  

Their living room looked….

One day Mr. Smith couldn’t find .......

They hired a foreign student at a local university who….

Marie came to their house and worked .....

When Mr. and Mrs. Smith came home that evening Mr. Smith said…

Complete the text  using the Past Simple of the verbs from the box . You need to use positive and negative forms.

Policeman Parrot

A crime-fighting parrot (0) saved his owners’ house and belongings from robbers last week. Two men (1)__         ______ Paul Lakin’s house in London on Wednesday night. They (2)___        _____ to steal his TV and computer, as well as his money. They (3)__        ______ a window to get into the house but after that, things (4) ____               _____ according to plan. The robbers (5) _______      __ a large bag to take Paul’s things then (6) _         _______ it to the door. But just then, Paul’s parrot, Pickles, (7) __         _______to make a lot of noise, waking up Paul and his neighbours. The robbers (8) _          away from the house with nothing!