Reading

Task 1
Read the article. Choose from the sentences (A–G) the one which fits each gap (11–16).
There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.

A What took him longer to become familiar with was the lifestyle.

B Apart from that, life went on as normal: job, computer, working out in the gym.

C He has also lost a lot of weight and feels fitter than ever before.

D Instead, he wanted a cheaper way, surrounded by trees and nature.

E The house is the very opposite of high-tech!

F It helped that Mark knew exactly what he was doing thanks to his professional qualifications.

G Some visitors, on the other hand, politely say the house is ‘very cosy’.

Task 2
Read the article again and answer the questions in your own words.

17 What could Mark hear when he spent his first nights in the treehouse?

18 When and where did Mark go at one point when he couldn’t live in the treehouse?

19 What does Mark do with objects in his house to stop it getting untidy?

20 What does Mark not like very much about his new lifestyle?

The man who lives in a treehouse

If you’ve ever dreamed of having a treehouse of your own, you’ll be interested to read about a
young man who is actually living in one … and built it himself! Twenty-two-year-old Mark Tamperin
came out of university with a degree in engineering and design. The cost of university had been
very expensive, so when he got his first job, he decided to build a simple wooden treehouse and
see if he could live in it for a year.

Mark decided he didn’t want to live in a flat in the city and see most of the money he earned from
his job disappear on paying for that. (11)       Mark aimed to live a simple life and, as far as
possible, avoid spending lots of money on luxuries and supermarket food. So he also grew a
vegetable garden near his treehouse.
Mark built the treehouse on a farm, agreeing to do some regular work for the farmer at weekends in
exchange for his free rent. The treehouse took three weeks to build. (12 )       He drew up plans
and made sure that nothing was wasted. It was a complex feat of engineering that Mark’s university
teachers would have been proud of, especially as much of the material he used was second-hand.
Mark needed to keep costs to a minimum and so got material from his local recycling centre in the
city.

At first he was rather anxious about living there with only a torch to provide light at night. But he
soon got used to all the sounds of the woodland and farm animals at night. (13)       He hadn’t
realised quite how hard it would be in the early stages of his project – hunting and gathering food,
cutting firewood, looking after his vegetables. He admits that he did spend two weeks at his parents’
house in the depths of winter.
Mark describes his treehouse as his own personal palace, and says it beats living in a block of flats
any day. (14)       Mark admits that they have a point. It is rather cramped and can easily
become messy if he’s not disciplined, but he likes that. Therefore he always hangs up his clothes
and never leaves them lying around, putting things away as soon as he’s finished with them.

Mark does have a few home comforts, like cushions, a rug, a bench. He also has a solar-powered
charger which enables him to run a laptop, but that is basically the only twenty-first-century gadget
he needs. (15)       One thing he misses is water from a tap – he has to go to the farm most
days to fetch water in buckets. In the summer he washes in a nearby stream, at other times he uses
a watering can and bucket.

Mark has noticed that living close to nature means he is much more relaxed, in contrast with his
work colleagues. When they visit his new home they say they wish they’d had the same idea! Mark
says that his year has given him a wonderful feeling of self-confidence and happiness. (16)
How much longer will he stay in his treehouse? ‘Well, I’ve settled down here and I intend to stick
with my tree house for at least another year,’ he says.