Text b Russian family: What is it like?

I. Прочтите текст и укажите, какие утверждения соответствуют тексту т (True), а какие нет – f (False):

1. Very few marriages end in divorce.

2. Women remarry more often than men.

3. Most of Russians marry by the age of 25.

4. A lot of Russians have family traditions.

5. Young couples often have to rely on the help of their families.

So what is it like, the family tradition? Whose descendants are we? What are the stories your granny used to tell? What can family albums, letters and diaries reveal? What is your grandfather’s name? What is the name of your great-grandfather? Many of the Russians are not able to answer these simple questions. The family tradition is lost. And it is one of the reasons why most people have no sense of family honor and pride.

A group of people who have the same name and sit together in front of the TV set is not yet a family. Here are some family statistics in Russia. Over 80 per cent of women and about 70 per cent of men marry by the age of 25.

At present, more than 40 in every 100 marriages end in divorce. Every year about one million families break up. About 50 per cent of divorces do not want to remarry. Men remarry more often than women. Over 50 per cent of divorced men remarry within a period of ten years, while only 25 per cent of such women do so. Many young families have material difficulties. As a result young couples often have to rely on the assistance of their parents.

The housing shortage is another problem of many young families. Most young people don’t wish to live together with their parents after they get married but about half of them have to do this. As a result these young people have no necessary experience in family life. They don’t know how to run the household; how to manage the family budget; how to bring up children.

In its various forms the human family has been in existence for as long as man himself. The family tradition has preserved the picture of Madonna with a child in her arms. Can this beauty save the world? Shall we have this tradition in future, or lose it, as we lost so many other beautiful things?

II. Составьте возможные словосочетания из данных слов:

1. manage	a) grandfather
2. housing	b) the family budget
3. to run	c) period of
4. within a	d) storage
5. great	e) the household

III. Заполните пропуски, используя следующие предлоги:

a) up (2) b) on c) in front of d) at:

1. He is a very responsible person, you can rely … him.

2. Most of the time my father sits …the TV set.

3. I hate you. You broke … my family.

4. … present I don’t know what to do.

5. She brought … her children without any help.

IV. Закончите предложение, выбрав верный вариант:

1. You can say that you have experience in family life when you know	a) has a very long story.
2. May be the idea of the picture of Madonna with a child in her arms	b) don’t want to live with their parents.
3. Our family albums, letters and diaries	c) how to run the household, how to bring up children and so on.
4. Most young people	d) will save the world.
5. The human family	e) can retell a lot interesting stories.

V. Прочтите текст и укажите, на какие вопросы в тексте есть ответы Y (Yes), а на какие нет – N (No):

1. Why do most people have no sense of family honor and pride?

2. Why can’t Russians answer the questions about their families?

3. What problems do young couples have?

4. What are the causes of divorces?

5. A lot of young couples live with their parents. What is the result?

our lives.

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