26. Read the information about the family as a social problem. Answer the questions at the beginning of the text. Russian family: What Is It Like?

S o 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 grandmother'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 for them. And it is one of the reasons why most people have no sense of family honour and pride.

A group of people who have the same name and sit together in front of a TV 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 out of every 100 marriages end in divorce. Every year about one million families break up. About 50 per cent of divor­cees 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: 1) how to run a household; 2) how to manage the family budget; 3) how to bring up children.

The revival of the family should start with the restoration of its tra­ditions. The people need family shops, cafes, cinemas and health-building homes.

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 a 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?

27. Answer the questions.

1) What are the marriage statistics in Russia?

2) How many families break up every year?

3) What kind of difficulties do young families have?

4) Why don't young married people have the necessary experience in family life?

5) How does the state help young families make a start in life?

2 8. Speak on the general information about family life in your country.

2 9. Find 19 members of the family hidden here.

R	E	H	T	A	F	D	O	G	G	R	G
E	E	V	I	Т	A	L	E	R	О	E	R
H	L	Т	V	E	S	Т	A	E	D	H	E
Т	С	В	H	Т	A	N	Y	Т	M	Т	A
О	N	R	F	G	D	F	D	H	О	A	Т
M	U	О	Т	M	U	M	D	G	Т	F	A
D	Т	Т	A	U	U	A	A	U	H	D	U
N	A	H	U	N	R	N	D	A	E	N	N
A	E	E	S	E	Z	I	С	D	R	A	Т
R	R	R	T	С	С	S	Т	L	0	R	I
G	G	S	T	E	A	U	N	Т	E	G	E
X	I	Z	O	I	G	O	D	S	О	N	E
S	E	С	O	N	D	С	O	U	S	I	N

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