单选题 The English are peculiar. Old houses in England, for instance, cost more than new ones. The older the house the greater the charm it is considered to possess. Houses as hundred years old are thought more solid and less ugly than those being built today. Those two hundred years old are still more sought after and their long history lends an air of romance to them. You can imagine, then, my delight when as student I was offered the chance to rent a cottage that dated from 1661. The very age was attraction enough. Even before I had seen it I wanted it, and when I did see it for the first time its attraction doubled. There it stood, perched on the edge of a hill looking out over the countryside towards the sea, smoke drifting from its chimney promising a warm log fire within. Peering through the narrow leaded windows I could see that the ceiling still showed its old wooden beams, while the floor was covered in ancient flagstones. To someone born and bred in a modern city this country cottage promised escape into a rural idyll, a dream came true. I closed with the farmer who owned this delight without hesitation or haggling. Only later did cold reality begin to take its toll on romantic illusion. Being built in an age innocent of damp-proofing the cottage was constantly wet. The view which it purchased from its point on the edge of a high hill it paid for by taking the full force of the wind that bore down on it from the sea. The damp and wind together made constant heating a necessity throughout the year. The only means of heating was the open fire which spoke to me so promisingly on that first day. On closer acquaintance it did not so much speak as spit in a bad tempered way, shooting burning shards of wood out to ruin the carpet. Among its other quirky habits it would also playfully and unexpectedly suddenly decide to puff large billows of smoke out into the room, enveloping everyone in fog. To clear this you would have to open the window to get the fire to draw. This would let in an icy blast in the process and the temperature would plunge. As for the tiny windows which looked so picturesque they were so tiny that the inside of the cottage was constantly in gloom, while the numerous small panes would rattle throughout the night doing their best to disturb one"s sleep. From schooldays I remember hearing as an interesting if inconsequential fact that in past centuries the population were considerably shorter than today but its significance was brought home to me in no uncertain terms. When bouncing into the cottage on my first day to take possession I promptly knocked myself out by hitting my head on one of the beams. Even after I had to creep about the cottage with head bowed and knees bent. Only if I stood still could I stand straight by positioning myself between two beams. And yet...and yet despite all the difficulties I often dream of the cottage and wish I were back. Peculiar.

单选题 How do English people usually think of old houses?

单选题 From the description of the house, we can see that______.

单选题 What did the author think about the house the time he saw it?

单选题 When the author moved in, he______.

单选题 The house needed heating all through the year because of______.