donchenko_angliyska_ddlya_psikhologiv_i_sotsiologiv

141

VI Choose the corresponding word-combinations out of the list below to characterize:

a)Parental role

b)TV violence

c)Colour effect on behaviour

d)Juvenile delinquency

To protect emotionally; to lead to aggressive behaviour; to increase appetite; to commit illegal behaviour; to exercise positive discipline; to commit crimes; to boost intelligence; to comprise a crimeprone age group; drug use; to cope with problems; to accept portrayals as authentic; to tend to relax; to get into trouble with police; shoplifting; to respond to verbal requests; to take care of; a violent form of entertainment; to promote a pacifying effect; to exercise authority.

VII. Translate into English:

1.Развод и увеличение числа семей с одним родителем приводят к драматическим последствиям для детей.

2.Правильное воспитание снижает возможность

агрессии у детей.

3.Взрослые могут критиковать поведение ребёнка, но не его личность.

4 . Психологи приходят к выводу о причинной связи между насилием на телевидении и агрессией.

5.Влияние цвета на поведение детей может давать неожиданные результаты.

6.Подростки более склонны к преступлениям, если их друзья имели дело с полицией.

7.Семьи больше не могут защитить своих детей от вовлечённости в преступные акты.

142

UNIT V

I. Read the text and translate it:

Sociologists' Views on Marriage

What is the criterion when choosing a mate? From many sociological surveys taken, it is unanimous that social, national, religious or other similar considerations have very little influence on the choice.

As for the nationality of those marrying, 14 per cent (every seventh) of the marriages in this country are mixed marriages, and this trend is growing.

An extensive sociological survey showed that 94 per cent of those about to get married say that love is the only ideal of marriage, which friendship and respect supplement. Only three per cent of those polled mentioned financial considerations as a possible motivation for marriage. The overwhelming majority said there can be no happiness where there is no emotional and intellectual attraction.

The results of a sociological survey in Moscow show that young people are attracted most by kindness, then sociability, openness, modesty, and finally, ability for good house-keeping.

The figures on the age of marriage are also interesting: young women in the under 20 group figure in 25 per cent of the marriages; 20-23 - 61 per cent; 23-26 - 12 per cent; and over 26 — only two per cent. Young men don't seem in such a hurry to marry: the 20 group figure is only 15 per cent of the marriages; those in the 21-23 age group — 16 per cent, 23-26 — 49 per cent, and over 26 - 20 per cent.

Sociological results over the past 20 years indicate that most young people in this country do go into marriage with understanding and a sense of responsibility, and are eager to keep the marriage together.

According to the statistics, there are 33 divorces per every 100 marriages in this country (compared to 60 per

143

100 in Sweden, and 44 in the United States). What is the cause for divorce?

The prime reason for the comparatively high divorce rate in this country is the unequal sharing of domestic responsibilities, say many sociologists. Two factors are relevant here: the rising educational standards, and the greater intellectual and moral demands young women make of their men.

II.Answer the following questions:

1.What are the criteria for the marriage?

2.Do national considerations influence the choice?

3.And what about financial considerations?

4.What are the young people attracted by?

5.What do the figures on the age of marriage show?

6.What do sociological results over the past 20 years indicate?

7.What does the statistics show on the divorce?

8.What is the prime reason for the high divorce rate?

III. Make up disjunctive questions:

1.Social and religious considerations have little influence on the marriage.

2.The trend of mixed marriages is growing.

3.Love is the only ideal of marriage.

4.The young people are mostly attracted by kindness.

5.Young men do not hurry to marry.

6.The divorce rate in this country is rather high.

IV. Choose the facts in the text to prove that:

1. National considerations are mostly neglected.

2 . Financial considerations are seldom mentioned as a possible motivation for marriage.

3.Young people are attracted by the best qualities people may have.

4.Young women are more enthusiastic and active as for the marriage is concerned.

144

5.Divorces are not a rare case in this country.

V. Divide the text into four logical parts.

VI. Speak on the main points of the text.

VII. Discuss in a group the following problems:

1.Marriage considerations.

2.Your own ideal of a mate.

3.Sharing of domestic responsibilities.

VII. Read the following article and render its contents in Russian:

Even In the USA we May Be Socially Backward

(by Russell Watson)

The first of my ancestors who came to North America, in the 17th century, were Dutch. They settled in a colony called New Amsterdam. Then the English took over. New

Amsterdam became New York and New Jersey, and my ancestors had to put aside their Dutchness.

Today, even Americans who live in old New Amsterdam no longer consider the Netherlands a mother country.

When we think of the Dutch, we picture a small, oddball nation that permits many of the things we still regard as unlawful: prostitution, marijuana, same-sex marriages.

Yet, without knowing it, Americans are becoming a little more Dutch all the time - a society embroiled in rapid change, breaking down old structures and trying out best ways to live. The latest US Census shows that the presumed bedrock of our society, the nuclear family -

Mom, Dad and 2.4 kids - is breaking down fast. Fewer than 25 percent of all US households now consist of married couples raising children, according to Census figures. In part, that's a consequence of societal aging: a

145

growing portion of the US population is now beyond the child-rearing stage. But it also reflects a steep decline in the popularity of marriage, even for people who want to have children.

About a third of all babies are now born to unmarried women, compared with only 3.8 percent in 1950. The number of families headed by single women has risen 25 percent since 1990, to more than 7.5 million households.

(The number of fathers raising kids on their own has increased at an even faster rate, to just over 2 million families). Demographers predict that more than half of the American children born in the 1990s will spend at least part of their childhood in a single-parent home.

Today's single mothers don't fit the old stereotype of dark-skinned teenagers on welfare. Though many are employed, they are still likely to be financially insecure, but they could be any age and any race. The median age for unmarried mothers is the late 20s, and white women make up the fastest-growing element of the group.

Instead of getting married — or staying married — many people are just living together. Unmarried cohabitation, involving both same-sex and opposite-sex couples, rose from 72 percent between 1990 and 2000, to 5.5 million households. Thanks to artificial insemination and adoption, a man in residence is no longer needed to produce a baby.

It's easy to understand why adult Americans are acting this way. With so many marriages ending in divorce, formal commitment strikes many people as a bad idea. And with so many women in the work force, fewer of them feel compelled to economic pressure to settle for Mr.

Almost Right. It isn't clear whether all this unmarried parenthood is good for the children involved.

Single parents generally have less time to spend with their children than two parents. Cohabiting relationships

146

are less stable than marriages, which means that children living in such families are more likely to grow up with a revolving set of adults in their lives. And the offspring of single parents are more likely to reject marriage for themselves, perpetuating the pattern of their childhoods. For better or worse, Americans are reinventing the family.

If the children of single-parent or cohabiting households end up receiving less guidance and support from their elders, family life will become a new form of Dutch treat.

You're on your own, kids.

(«NEWSWEEK» 2001)

IX.Explain., please, the meanings of the following word-combinations:

a)same-sex marriages;

b)single-parent households;

c)cohabiting families.

X. Ennumerate all statistical data given in the article. What do these figures signify?

XI. Answer the following questions:

1.What are demographers worried about?

2.Why do young people prefer live together instead of getting married?

3.Why is sometimes a man no longer needed to produce a baby?

4.Are cohabiting relations a good model for the offspring?

5.What expects Americans?

XII. Review the article.

147

XIII. Read the following story and tell it in your own words. Propose the cause of the quarrel. How would you behave in case of a quarrel?

When a Man Marries

After a flaming row Mrs Meek slammed the door and walked out into the rain. Hearing that Mr Meek picked up his gun, aimed it at the ceiling and fired a shot. The lady who was still in the garden, heard it and rushed back but found the door locked. She had left the keys at home and realized she would not be able to get in unless she broke the door open. She set about the work at once but it was not so easy at all and, I daresay, she would no doubt have to give up the attempt if her neighbours had not heard her scream and wanted to give her a helping hand.

As the lady Struggled bravely at the door, her husband tip-toed to the kitchen, picked up a tin of tomato juice, and split the liquid all over his face, his sports jacket, and the brand new tie. Having done that he looked at himself in the mirror and, no doubt, satisfied with what he had done, made his way to the bedroom. There he took a paper, the Daily Mirror I believe it was, and lay down on the bed with his shoes on. For a time he played with the gun but then it occurred to him he had intended to read the press. So he put the gun on the dressing table, took the paper and set about reading. And how happy he was. There was nothing else he could wish at that particular moment... but what's that? The door had been broken open and he could now hear footsteps in the hall. He put away the newspaper, and closed his eyes trying to look as dead as he possibly could. Presently the door was torn open and his wife followed by a police constable ran into the room.

148

- It's all over now! - cried out the lady bursting into tears. She had taken stock of the situation at once, and whispered almost fainting:

— Poor me! He's split the last tin of tomato juice. What am I going to make soup with? Believe me, gentlemen, it's the last time I've ever left the larder open!

Notes:

A flaming row — пылкая ссора

To tip-toe — идти на цыпочках

A tin of tomato juice - банка томатного сока

Almost fainting - почти теряя сознание A larder — кладовая

WORD STUDY

I. Give Russian equivalents for:.

Sociological survey; sociological results; marriage; to get married; to marry; overwhelming majority; intellectual attraction; sociability; a sense of responsibility; moral

demands.

II. Reproduce the sentences from the text with the following word-combinations:

Social and national considerations

Mixed marriages

The only ideal of marriage To be attracted by

The prime reason

III. Make up sentences according to the model:

Young people are attracted by kindness. modesty

sociability intellect

openness house-keeping ability

149

IV. Translate the words in the brackets:

1.(Что касается) the nationality, 14 per cent of the marriages are mixed marriages.

2.Love is (единственный) ideal of marriage.

3.Most young people go into marriages with а (чувство) of responsibility.

4.(Согласно) the statistics, there are 33 divorces per every 100 marriages.

5.The prime (причина) for the high divorce rate is unequal domestic responsibilities.

6.Young men don't seem (спешить) to marry.

V. Translate the text in writing:

The Family

Sociological writing on the family has long been dominated by two themes: universality and decline. The theme of universality asserts that the family exists in all human societies. For a number of compelling reasons, people cannot live as solitary creatures, nor can human females raise their young by themselves as mother cats do. Hence, humans always live in groups containing adults of both sexes as well as children. Moreover, within any society, people form small clusters, called families, containing males and females, adults and children. Membership in these clusters usually is determined by common ancestry and sexual unions.

This definition of family is vague because sociologists and anthropologists have had much difficulty framing a more specific definition, given the amazing variety of social forms called families in different societies. Again and again, more specific definitions of the family have been found not to apply in one society or another, thus destroying the claim that the family is universal. Yet all societies do seem to have families.

150

The second theme in modern sociological writing on the family is that, despite the universality of the family, in modern societies the family is in decline. Some claim that, thanks to modernization, the family has eroded dangerously. Families are now shrunken and unstable, and the modern family is increasingly unable to provide for the well-being of its members. Indeed, recent textbooks typically end discussions of the family with the question

«Will the family survive?» The answer rarely is anything more definite than maybe.

Despite the problems of definition, a great deal of historical, anthropological, and cross-cultural evidence supports the universality theme. The family is a fundamental social institution occuring in all societies, although its particular forms differ substantially from place to place. Even the radical Utopian communes of the nineteenth century did not succeed in eliminating the family as the basic unit of social relations.

The theme of decline has seemed equally well supported by evidence. Statistics show that in all of the most modernized nations, the divorce rate has risen rapidly. This would seem to reflect the weakness of fundamental family bonds today. However, to know whether the modern family is really less able to fulfil its functions, we need to know whether the family in traditional societies fulfilled them better. For a long time, social scientists thought it self-evident that the traditional family did function better, and so they didn't bother to seek pertinent evidence.

Recently, however, much has been learned about families in the «good old days». This evidence seriously challenges the theme of decline. Be prepared to discover that family life in premodern times often was cruel and spiteful to an extent that will absolutely shock you. People often expressed happiness when their spouse died, and were unmoved by the death of a child.

Thus, it can be argued that the family has become more important than ever during the past century and much better able to provide strong emotional attachments among its members than did families in traditional societies.