Fill in the gaps in the following sentences choosing the right words from the box given below.

1. Lucy is Andrea and Joseph's little___________.

2.. Donald and Rosemary's_______________ is an affectionate husband.

3. Charles's Robin wasn't fond of school in his childhood.

4. Andrea's___________ David is very enthusiastic about fishing.

5. Charles doesn't show much respect to his___________ Rosemary.

6. Being spoiled by his _________and____________, Charles grew up to be a very selfish man.

7. Robin is secretly in love with his___________, Amanda.

Put each of the following words in its correct place in the passage below.

Widow, stepchildren, fiancé, brother, widower, name, younger, close, spinster, get married, cousins, bachelor, stepmother, distant.

My... is Tom Smiles. I’m the eldest of all the children. My second... is Jack. The youngest is Michael. My... sister is two years younger than me. Some time ago she got engaged. Her... is Mr. Brown. They are going to... next month.

I have many relatives. My grandparents are dead. But I have a number of... and relatives: two uncles, four aunts and about a dozen cousins. One of my... has lost her husband. She is a.... An uncle of mine has been a... for many years, but he married recently. His wife is very kind to his... and treats them as a real mother would do. They love and respect their....

My second aunt has remained unmarried and therefore she is what the English call a... or a single lady. An uncle of mine has also remained single. He is an old....

FAMILY

There are many different views on family life. Some people could not do without the support and love of their families. Others say it is the source of most of our problems and anxieties. Whatever the truth is, the family is definitely a powerful symbol. Turn on the television or open a magazine and you will see advertisements featuring happy, balanced families.

The family is the most basic and ancient of all institutions, and it remains the fundamental social unit in every society. Sociologists divide families into two general types: the nuclear family and the extended family, which may include three or more generations living together.

There are people who say that the family unit in Britain is in crisis and that the traditional family life is in the past. This is of great concern to those who think a healthy society is dependent upon a stable family life.

A “typical” British family used to consist of a mother, a father and two children, but in recent years there have been many changes in family life. Some of these have been caused by new laws and others are the result of changes in society. For example, since the law made it easier to get a divorce, the number of divorces has increased. In fact, one marriage in three now ends in divorce. This means that there are a lot of one-parent families.

Society is now more tolerant than it used to be of unmarried people, unmarried couples and single parents.

You might think that marriage and the family are not so popular as they once were. However, the majority of divorced people marry again, and they sometimes take responsibility for a second family.

Members of a family – grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins – keep in touch, but they see less of each other than they used to. This is because people often move away from their home town to work, and so their family becomes scattered.

In general, each generation is keen to become independent of parents in establishing its own family unit, and this fact can lead to social as well as geographical differences within the larger family group.

Relationships within the family are different now. Parents treat their children more as equals than they used to, and children have more freedom to make their own decisions. The father is more involved with bringing up children, often because the mother goes out to work. Increased leisure facilities and more money mean that there are greater opportunities outside the home. Although the family holiday is still an important part of family life (usually taken in August, and often abroad) many children have holidays away from their parents.

Who looks after the older generation? The government gives financial help in the form of a pension but in the future it will be more and more difficult for the nation economy to support the increasing number of elderly. At present time, more than half of all old people are looked after at home. Many others live in Old People’s Homes, which may be private or state owned.

But still, the English are a nation of stay-at-homes. “There is no place like home”, they say. And when the man is not working he is at home in the company of his wife and children and busies himself with the affairs of the home. “The Englishman’s home is his castle”, is a saying known all over the world. And it is true.

And what is the American family like? Most American families consist of a mother, a father and three or four children living at home. There may be relatives – grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and in-laws in the same community, but American families usually maintain separate households. This familial structure is known as the “nuclear family”. It is unusual for members of the family other than the husband, wife and children to live together. Occasionally an aging grandparent may live with the family, but this arrangement is usually not considered desirable. Although the nuclear family unit is economically independent of the rest of the family, members of the whole family maintain close kinship ties.

In the American family the husband and wife usually share important decision making. When the children are old enough, they participate as well. Foreign observers are frequently amazed by the permissiveness of American parents. The father seldom expects his children to obey him without question, and children are often allowed to do what they wish without strict parental control. Americans believe strongly that the individual person should have the freedom to decide the course of his or her life. Independence is highly valued in the United States. Children are expected to make choices – appropriate to their age and maturity level – in many areas of their lives. Parents encourage their children to make choices from an early age: how to decorate their bedroom, how to spend money which they have earned, or what camp they would like to attend. By the time children reach secondary schools, they are expected to be able to choose among a variety of courses and activities: American or world literature? Spanish or Japanese? College preparatory or vocational courses? Football or the school band? Of course, parents and school advisors help with these decisions, but great emphasis is put on individual choice. By adulthood, Americans want and expect to choose where they will live, where they will work, and with whom they will socialize and marry. Young people are expected to break from their families by the time they have reached their late teens or early twenties. Indeed, not to do so is often regarded as a failure, kind of weak dependence.

This pattern of independence often results in serious problems for the aging parents of a nuclear family. The job-retirement age is usually 65. The children have left home, married and set up their own households. Elderly couples feel useless and lonely with neither an occupation nor a close family group. Many communities and church groups sponsor social centers for “senior citizens”. At these centers older men and women can make friends and participate in a variety of planned activities.

So, what exactly is a family? Our ideas on the subject may tend to be ethnocentric, for they are often based on the middle-class “ideal” family, one that consists of a husband, a wife, and their dependent children. This particular family pattern, however, is far from typical. A more accurate conception of the family must take account of the many different family forms that have existed or still exist both in America and in other countries.

We may say, then, that the family is a relatively permanent group of people related by ancestry, marriage, or adoption, who live together, form an economic unit, and take care of the young.

Give the English equivalents to the following using the words and word-combinations from the text:

Існує багато точок зору на…., деякі не можуть обійтись без підтримки, джерело більшості проблем та хвилювань, щоб там не було, показувати щасливі, гармонійні сім’ї по ТБ, типова англійська родина складалася з…, неповні сім’ї, нести відповідальність за другу родину, підтримувати стосунки, фінансова допомога у вигляді пенсії, родичі по лінії дружини/ чоловіка, родичі/рідня, вести окреме/самостійне домашнє господарство, матеріально не залежати від родичів, підтримувати тісні стосунки з родичами, приймати важливі рішення разом, брати участь у…, дивуватися вседозволеності, беззаперечно підкорятися кому-небудь, строгий батьківський контроль, американці глибоко переконані, мати свободу вибору, високо цінуватися, робити вибір, відповідно до свого віку та ступеня зрілості, заохочувати дітей у прийнятті рішень, з раннього віку, меблювати/декорувати кімнату, заробляти гроші, різноманіття навчальних предметів, підготовчі/профорієнтаційні курси, спілкуватися/ зустрічатися/ тусуватися, вважатися невдачею/розглядати як…, пенсійний вік, завести власну сім’ю, брати до уваги, турбуватися про когось.

Paraphrase the following using the word-combinations from the text:

different (adj), view (n), source (n), anxiety (n), feature (n), include (v), a nuclear family, an extended family, single parents, a scattered family, bring up (phr. v.), look after (phr. v.), in-laws (informal), community (n), share (v), participate in (v), to be amazed, permissiveness (n), obey (v), encourage (v), vocational (adj), socialize (v), sponsor (v)

Give the opposite of:

love (n), happy (adj), dependent (adj), divorce (v), difference (n), difficult (adj), close (adj), frequently (adj), obey (v), allow (v), break from one’s family, be a failure, useless (adj), permanent (adj).

Answer the questions:

1. Are there many different views on family life? What are they?

2. The family is definitely a powerful symbol, isn’t it?

3. What types do sociologists divide families into?

4. What do you know about the traditional family life in Britain?

5. Describe a “typical” British family.

6. Have there been many changes in British family life in recent years? What are the causes?

7. Marriage and the family are not so popular now, are they?

8. Why do members of a family – grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins – see less of each other than they used to?

9. Is each generation keen to become independent of parents in establishing its own family unit? Where does it lead to?

10. Relationships within the family are different now, aren’t they? Prove it.

11. Who looks after the older generation?

12. Are the English a nation of stay-at-homes?

13. And what is the American family like?

14. Do American families usually maintain separate households?

15. Is the nuclear family unit economically independent of the rest of the family?

16. Who usually shares important decision making in the American family?

17. Foreign observers are frequently amazed by the permissiveness of
American parents, aren’t they?

18. Is independence highly valued in the United States?

19. At what age are young people expected to break from their families?

20. When do American aging people retire?

21. Why do elderly couples feel useless and lonely?

22. Who sponsors social centres for “senior citizens”?

23. What is a family? Must we take account of the many different family forms that have existed or still exist both in America and in other countries?

Are these statements true or false? Use the phrases in the list.