Task 1

The charts given show the change in the proportion of families who own certain electrical
devices and the amount of time consumed doing housework in a week in a certain country
over a period of 99 years from 1920 to 2019.
Overall, the chart showing ownership of 3 electrical appliances have shown an upwards
trend, for all 3 devices from 1920 to 2019. The refrigerator, especially, has shown the most
drastic increase, from nearly 0% in 1920 to 100% in 1980; it has changed from something
unfamiliar to most people into a necessary object for every family in just 60 years.
On the other hand, the chart showing time consumed for doing household tasks, i.e.
laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc., has decreased over time, from 50 hours/week in 1920 down
to just over 10 hours in 2019. Therefore, it is plausible that the increase in household
appliance ownership is negatively correlated with the decrease in the amount of time spent
on doing housework.
Task 2
Houses and buildings can stand for a long time. They are built to withstand the elements, so
it is no surprise that a simple cottage may have been built 70 years ago and still be standing
even now. Because of that, it is possible for residents of homes to research the past of the
places they reside in, especially if their home itself is an old one. The activity itself has
recently been growing in popularity. However, why exactly is interest in it rising? Moreover,
how can people research the history of their homes?
As was mentioned before, houses and buildings can withstand the test of time. Those
houses and buildings may have stood through an astonishing number of historical events.
That alone may arouse residents’ interests in finding about what happened in their house in
the past. Aside from that, old houses have also been the background of numerous amounts
of people’s unforgettable memories, so it might also be enticing to connect with people who
have previously lived in one’s house.
There are a lot of ways people can research the history of their homes. First of all, there is
the internet. The internet can hold a surprising amount of information about one’s home,
especially if it was near a historical event. People can also search about social media posts
which happened at or near a certain location. Second, the resident can ask neighbors who
have lived near there before they moved in, or even the previous owner themselves about
the history of the place they live in. From there, it is possible to create a web of people who
know about the history of their home.