A
You've got a problem. You're going to go to university
in a different town and you need somewhere to live. Or perhaps you just don't
get on with your parents. What can you do? Have you ever thought of sharing a
flat?
I know all about it because
I've been sharing flats for the past four years, since I moved to Edinburgh to study. I
must admit my first experience was a bit of a disaster. I saw an advertisement
in the newspaper from a girl who had a flat and was looking for a flat mate.
When I met her, she seemed really nice, and I noticed that she had lots of
great CDs I wanted to hear and a big TV. However, I changed my mind about her a
few days after I moved in. I came home from college one day and threw my books
and jacket onto the living room sofa. My flat mate looked at them, looked at me
and shouted: "I hope you're not going to leave those there!" It was
then I found out that she was absolutely obsessive(着魔似的) about being tidy. It was obvious that we
were incompatible(合不来), as I'm definitely not the world's tidiest person. I
moved out after the first month.
I then decided to try
sharing a house with several people. I rented a room in a big old house, which
I shared with four other girls (two Brazilians,a Russian,
and an Italian). It was great because the house was always full of young people
from all over the world and we had lots of parties. However, there were three
problems. Firstly, it was almost impossible to do any work because the house
was so noisy. Secondly, there was only one bathroom, and there was always
someone in it, especially first thing in the morning when I was already late
for class. But the biggest arguments we had were always the day the phone bill
arrived!
After a year the
foreign girls went home, and I decided to look for a new, preferably quieter
flat! This time I decided to share with a friend, somebody I already knew well.
We’ve been living here now for nearly a year and we get on really well --
except for her irritating habits of eating my yogurts(milk) and finishing the coffee! But it's
great having someone else to help pay the rent, to share their dinner with you
when you're too exhausted to cook, and who, unlike your parents or your
partner, doesn't mind what time you get up or if you've left your bedroom
in a mess. And best of all, when you've had a bad day or you've broken up with
your boyfriend you know there's always someone to talk to.
56. Why did the writer move out again from
the big old house?
A. Because she couldn't do any homework due to the noise.
B. Because she was always late when she lived there.
C. Because she always left the room in a mess.
D. Because the foreign girls had left.
57. What does the underlined "irritating"
mean?
A. annoying B. terrible. C. lovely. D. pleasant.
58. We can know from the passage that
A. the writer is a college student
B. the writer is a foreigner
C. the writer can't get along well with others
D. the writer doesn't like to live with her friend
59. What is the intention of the author?
A. To persuade the reader not to share a flat.
B. To tell us how to get along well with the flat mate.
C. To show her opinion about sharing a flat.
D. To uncover the difficulty of renting houses
60. What is the attitude of the writer
towards flat-sharing?
A. She is against it.
B. She is for it.
C. She is upset with it.
D. She is worried about it.