Saturday, 29 March 2014

Diariklub Intermediate Text - Living Design

Magdalena's Apartment - by Nigel A JAMES



 A Base for Discussion



People who live in apartments have one thing in common, they all have identical front doors. The colours are always the same, the handles have only one shape, and the name-plates are all the same size and design. But, this monotony is the only thing that these people share, for behind every front door is a world of its own!

Most flats are the same. Everyone has identical kitchens, house plants, Gmunden pottery on the dining room table, The Kiss by Klimt on the living room wall, family photos on the top of the tele, one or two books, and an aquarium. But, Magdalena Pfeifer's flat is very, very different!

In the living room there is not only a door in the ceiling for light, there is also a huge metal propeller for cooling off in the summer. The bathroom is on the balcony, and her kitchen is built out of bricks and old planks. Magdalene's flat is herself. Her favourite colours are blue, red and green, and, because she loves wood, there is a wonderful wooden floor in the living room. And, of course, pictures are an essential part of her life, that's why she has many wonderful paintings.

Magdalene's flat has a wonderful feeling. It is certainly not luxury, but, it is very, very comfortable. Magdalene's flat is her own little world, and her world is the universe of art!


Vocabulary

apartment - Wohnung
bricks – Ziegelstein
ceiling – Decke
certainly – mit Gewiss
front door – Haustür
handel – Griff
huge – riesig
in common – Gemeinsam
name plate - Türschild
plank – Holzbrett
share - teilen


Questions

What is normal living?
How do you imagine Magdalene's apartment?
Why do so many people all have the same kitchens?
Why is art so important for a house or flat?
What effects (Wirkung) do house plants have?
Why is wood so important?
How do you understand the word comfortable?
What do you think of Feng-Shui?
Which role do colours play in a home?
Why do the Japanese live better than we do?

For easy texts, please go to

Maggy Steiner

  Maggy Steiner had a wonderful childhood.  She went to school in Vienna, and spent her summers with her uncle and aunt and her two cousins ...