Exercise 1.1. Read the text “Family” carefully for details. Look in the text for the answers.

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, and 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 centers 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?

Exercise 1.2. Are these statements true or false? Use the phrases in the list.

True False

I fully agree with you! I disagree with you!

I’m of the same opinion. I differ from you.

That’s all right! Far from it.

That’s it! Just it! Exactly so! Just the reverse.

I’m all for it! Just the other way round!

Undoubtedly. Nothing of the kind.

Beyond all doubts. I object to it.

Looks like that. It makes no sense.

I think so. I expect so. By no means.

1) There are many different views on family life.

2) The family unit in Britain is in crisis and the traditional family life is in the past.

3) A “typical” British family used to consist of a mother, a father and three children.

4) There have been no changes in British family life recently.

5) Marriage and the family are not so popular as they once were.

6) Members of a family – grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins – don’t keep in touch with each other.

7) Each generation is keen to become independent of parents in establishing its own family unit.

8) Relationships within the British family are different now.

9) More than half of all old people are looked after at home.

10) Many others live in Old People’s Homes, which are private.

11) The English are a nation of stay-at-homes.

12) Most American families consist of a mother, a father and two children.

13) It is usual for members of the family other than the husband, wife and children to live together.

14) The nuclear family is economically dependent of the rest of the family.

15) In the American family the husband and wife usually share important decision making, the children do not participate in it.

16) Foreign observers are frequently amazed by the permissiveness of
American parents.

17) Americans believe strongly that parents should decide the course of their children’s life.

18) Young people are expected to break from their families by the time they have reached thirty.

19) The job-retirement age in the USA is 60.

20) Elderly couples feel useless and lonely with neither an occupation nor a close family group.

21) An “ideal” family is one that consists of a husband, a wife, and their dependent children.

Exercise 1.3. Comment upon the following proverbs and illustrate their meanings.

1) There is no place like home.

2) The Englishman’s home is his castle.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 2451