There are certain things in life, which you have to do whether you like it or not. One of such things is household chores, doing which is a necessity. Its what someone in the family has to do every day in spite of his wish or desire. You can hardly find a person who doesnt like comfort, delicious food, clean and tidy clothes. All these things need somebodys attention and doing them is called housework.
They say that doing housework is boring and, besides, it takes a lot of time with a hardly visible result. In my opinion the best way to do many things about the house is by splitting the job among the family members. If every member of the family does his bit about the house, then keeping it isnt difficult or boring, and proves the proverb Many hands make light work. But its only in theory, and it may be different in practice. Certainly I have some household chores. There are some things which I cant avoid doing. For instance, my regular chore is cleaning my room. Generally, I do it once a week, on Sunday. I cant say that Im a messy person, but as I am very busy during the week at school and doing my homework in the afternoons, I hardly clean my room at all on weekdays and thats why by the end of the week it looks like a storehouse with piles of books, cassettes, discs and my clothes on every chair. As a matter of fact I usually like to have all my things at hand and I dont want to put them in their right places each time I have used them. Another thing which I have to do daily is washing up. It has been my duty for years.
Going on short shopping rounds for some foodstuffs is my favourite chore. In fact it is the only thing which I like doing about the house. When I am sick and tired of doing my homework I enjoy having a walk outside and eating an ice-cream or a cake on the way. At present we are a fairly large family by modern standards. There are six of us, and it means a lot of housework to be done to make everyone feel more or less pleased and contented.
Once a week my parents give the flat a big clean. If I am not very busy I help them with it. While my parents are dusting the carpets outside I am polishing the furniture and vacuum-cleaning. What I most hate doing about the house is washing the windows, though I have to do it from time to time. But we have agreed that it should be the fathers job.
I dont do much washing as we have a washing machine. And I must add here that I dislike ironing clothes, though I iron my own things.
There are some other things I also do about the house, but they are occasional. I think that I should mention here the role of technical progress in making housework easier. On TV they advertise a lot of things for it from washing powders to washing machines and liquid vacuum-cleaners. Thats all very well, but not all families can afford them as most quality things are really expensive. And in the XXI century its already impossible to imagine our life without automatic, electric and electronic appliances which make the housework better and faster. Some scientists even say that computers will one day replace man in all household chores and I hope that in some time it will be enough just to press a button to have your housework done and you may sit comfortably in an armchair and relax. But at present time the mothers hands that make my life pleasant and cosy at home.
Vocabulary
household chores
share
iron -
sweep -
vacuum -
mop the floor -
lay the table -
wash the dishes -
dry/wipe -
clean -
take out the garbage -
dishwasher-
tidy the room -
make ones bed- /
dust the furniture - c
do the laundry -
cut the grass -
water the flowers -
fix -
repair -
buy -
overcome laziness -/ .
