Family. Ильичева Н.М - 7 стр.

UptoLike

ВУЗ: 

СГАУ | Самара

Составители: 

Рубрика: 

TEXT 1. 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
7

Страницы