Divorce

By Tina Gianoulis

Marriage, the legally sanctioned and structured pairing of (1) … couples, has long been an established practice in human civilization. Divorce, the (2) … of a marriage commitment (and , (3) … date, the annulment of the marriage (4) … ), is as old as marriage itself and became literally (5) … into human society. Early cultures (6) … to divorce with relative ease. Roman, Greek, Germanic and Frankish law recognized couples’ right (7) … divorce, as did Islam and the Orthodox Church.

Since the 1960s, as legal divorces became easier to (8) … , soaring divorce rates have placed marriage (9) … among the most common rituals of modern society. Divorce is such a (10) … that while many couples still depend upon lawyers (11) … attending to their disputes, others now go to (12) … and execute their divorces quite amicably. Along with splitting couples, there is an (13) … of children divorcing their parents and vice versa.

In past centuries, marriage was part of survival and (14) … economic stability. But as the nuclear family (15) … the extended unit, its function has become more of emotional and physical caretaking. Sociologists cite higher expectations of an (16) … and lasting relationship as the root cause for high rates of divorce (17) … couples. Since marital commitment is no longer a matter of familial (18) … , it is natural for couples to (19) … it quits.

Gale Encyclopedia of Popular Culture

A B C

1) homosexual heterosexual asexual

2) disequilibrium dysfunction dissolution

3) to by of

4) petition license contract

5) incorporated inhibited incarcerated

6) resorted retorted retreated

7) on for to

8) provoke revoke invoke

9) breakage breakup breakaway

10) commonplace non-issue fad

11) in whereas for

12) medians mediums mediators

13) epicenter endemic epidemic

14) enthused enhanced inhibited

15) placed misplaced replaced

16) adoptive adaptive adhesive

17) for by with

18) continuum continuity continuation

19) tell name call

Ex. 5. Fill in the correct prepositions where necessary.

1. With an epidemic increase (1) … broken marriages and (2) …- (3) …- wedlock childbirths, politicians are for the first time pressuring state legislatures (4) … making divorces harder to get.

2. Many children can eventually wind (5) … (6) … a sense of unworthiness and assumed responsibility (7) … the loss of their parent. To attend (8) … a child’s feeling of guilt, adult must spell (9) … for them right away in a straightforward, non-judgmental way the true situation.

3. In America, cohabiting couples make (10) … about 7 per cent (11) … the total. And for 40 per cent of those 4 million couples the relationship ends (12) … dissolution (13) … five years.

4. Sweden has long been resorting (14) … deviant experiments (15) … communal households. Unmarried couples – who admit (16) … all the rights, benefits, and face (17) … (18) … all obligations, of married partners – make up about 30 per cent of couples sharing households.

5. Protestants saw marriage as a contract, changeable if it no longer met (19) … the needs of those committed (20) … marriage. (21) … to a point, divorce was allowed (22) … simple incompatibility, i.e. an inability to measure (23) … (24) … the spouse’s aspirations.

Ex. 6. Translate into English.

Бракоразводный процесс; засохнуть на корню; подать на развод; сформулировать, изложить условия заключения брака; покончить, порвать с чем-либо; обремененный чем-либо; дисбаланс, неустойчивость; свидетельство о расторжении брака; соответствовать взаимным запросам; сдерживающая сила, тормозящий фактор; развод по взаимному согласию; возобновление обязательств; способствовать сохранению и развитию брака; вступать в брак скептически настроенным; несовместимость; постоянная вражда, противостояние; выдача свидетельства о браке; вызывать трения, затруднения; общественные ограничения; неполная семья, возникшая в результате развода.