5. Agree or disagree with the following statements. Give true information about yourself.

1. We are three in my family – my parents and me.

2. I am an only child in a family.

3. I have a lot of close and distant relatives.

4. I see my relatives very rarely, only on some special occasions.

5. My parents are in their late forties.

6. My mother is an economist and father is an engineer.

7. My parents have been married for 20 years.

8. I can’t remember when I last saw my grandparents.

9. I take after my mother – I have red hair and green eyes.

10. I have hardly ever had any arguments with my parents.

11. My mother is fond of classical music, but my father prefers rock.

12. We used to fight with my brother when we were younger.

13. Everyone in our family is very busy, but we always look forward to a

possibility to spend some time together.

14. Every summer we go to the seaside.

15. New Year is our favourite family holiday.

6. Read and reproduce the following dialogues. Make up your own ones.

1. – Well, Sam, I'll tell you how it is. You see, I married a widow and this widow had a daughter. Then my father, being a widower, married our daughter, so you see, my father is my son-in-law.

– Yes, I see.

– Then, again, my step-daughter is my step-mother, isn't she? Well, then her mother is my grandmother, isn't she? I'm married to her, ain't I? So that makes me my own grandfather, doesn't it?

2. – Hi, Alan! How are you?

– Not bad, Jane, thanks. And you? How's your family?

– Oh, we are surviving! Now my husband isn’t working. We’re really under pressure to keep up with our debt repayments and everything. It’s stressful.

3. – How are your daughters, Mrs. Adams?

– Thank you, everything's OK. Julie has just been made a managing director of their company. She's certainly the carrier girl of the family.

– And how's Jane and her kids?

– She's a happy housewife. You see, four children fill up almost all her time.

4. – Jane, what book are you reading?

– “We are family” – it’s about how our position in the family affects our personality. For example the psychologists say that only children, like you, are spoilt by their parents and grandparents. As a result they can be quite selfish. Is that true?

– Yes, I’m an only child, but I don’t think I was spoilt,… but maybe I was. I don’t consider myself to be selfish, but I’m probably not very good at seeing things from other people’s point of view.

5. – I didn't know that your brother had got married.

– Yes, he and Helen, his wife, have been married for two years already. And they have a daughter, my little niece.

7. Translate the sentences from Russian into English.

1. У меня много близких и дальних родственников. У меня есть две бабушки, дедушка, четыре тети и множество двоюродных братьев и сестер.

2. У Джона довольно большая семья: он сам, его жена Линда и трое очаровательных детишек - двух, пяти и семи лет. Кроме того, вместе с ними живет мать его жены – его теща. Она прекрасная бабушка для своих внуков и всегда присматривает за ними, когда родителей нет дома.

3. - Ты читал "Сагу о Форсайтах" Джона Голсуорси (“The Forsyte Saga” by John Galsworthy) ? – Нет, я только слышал об этом романе. - А я его сейчас читаю, и мне он нравится, хотя иногда я путаюсь (to get confused, to fail to understand) в родственных отношениях между героями. У некоторых из них одинаковые имена, поэтому иногда трудно сразу сказать, кто из них прадед, кто дед, внук или правнук. Ведь в романе описаны несколько поколений семейства Форсайтов.

4. Семья моего друга – пример того, как разные поколения могут неплохо ужиться (to get along with smb). В их 4-комнатной квартире живут дети, их родители, дедушка с бабушкой, да еще и кошка с собакой. - А мне все-таки кажется, что жить так очень трудно. Нужно жить отдельно. Но встречаться чаще и помогать друг другу.

5. По традиции наша семья собирается в полном составе первого января. Мы накрываем стол, дарим подарки, обмениваемся новостями. Такие семейные встречи особенно нравятся нашим детям.