UNIT

“ENGLISH FAMILY”

Proverbs and sayings

Like father, like son.	Какой отец, такой и сын.
Spare the rod and spoil the child.	Пожалеешь розги – испортишь ребенка.
Marriages are made in heaven.	Браки заключаются на небесах.
A good wife makes a good husband.	Хорошая жена – хорош и муж.
Every family has its black ship.	В семье не без урода.

TEXT

“ENGLISH FAMILY”

Years ago it was important to have large families. The best Victorian mother was the mother who had the most children. The best Victorian father was the father who had the most sons. It was important to have many children. If you were rich, you needed sons to help you with your work. Rich or poor, you needed daughters to help you with a large household.

Not only children were important. Everybody in the family was important. The large family gave people a sense of stability.

Now things are different. Young people leave the place where they lived with their parents and take their own families (wife and children) with them. Their own family becomes more and more important as they forget their other relatives.

In Britain, families are getting smaller and smaller. People have fewer children because children are expensive. Who can afford more than three children? Who can afford a large house for them? Many people believe that two children will be ideal for an English family. There is another problem now. Britain is a small country where 56 million people live. Seven million of those live in London. People can’t have big families when they live in a small country.

Now people get more and more isolated. Sometimes they live very close to other people but don’t know them. They have only each other to talk to. What is the future of the family?

Active vocabulary

to be important	быть важным
to be rich	быть богатым
to be poor	быть бедным
household	семья
sense of stability	ощущение стабильности
leave	оставлять, покидать, уезжать
lived	живший
becomes	становиться
relatives	родственники
to get smaller	получать меньше
fewer children	меньше детей
to be expensive	быть дорогим
afford	предоставлять
to get isolated	быть изолированным
to live close to…	жить близко к...

Answer the questions.

1. What kind of Victorian parents were the best?

2. Why was it very important to have many children?

3. What gave people a sense of stability?

4. Are things the same or different now?

5. Why do young people leave the place where they lived with their parents?

6. Why do English people have fewer children now?

7. How many people live in Britain?

8. Do people get more isolated or communicative?

9. What are the reasons of people getting isolated?

10. What kind of family would you like to have?

Active vocabulary

I am twenty-two.	Мне 22 года.
a college graduate	выпускник колледжа
I’m a college graduate.	У меня высшее образование.
just a beginner	новичок
former	бывший
school-mate	соученик, школьный товарищ
a fellow-student	товарищ по институту
companion	товарищ
girl-friend / boy-friend	подруга / товарищ, друг
jolly	веселый, славный
well-bred	хорошо воспитанный
elder / older	старший (о членах семьи) / старше
house-wife	домашняя хозяйка
naughty	непослушный, шаловливый
to be fond of smth; to like	любить, нравиться
to be eager	очень хотеть
to be against	быть против
peace	покой

TEXT

“BETTY SMITH”

I am Betty Smith. My full name is Elizabeth Louise Smith. I am twenty-two. I am a college graduate. I am a writer, just a beginner, you know. I have a lot of friends. Most of them are my former school-mates. My best companions are two girl-friends. They are very kind, jolly and well-bred.

My brother-in-law, Henry Sanford, is married to my elder sister Helen. I am a member of her family. My brother-in-law is a doctor. He has a mother, but he has no father. My sister is a house-wife. They have only one child, Benny. Benny is my nephew, he is four. Sometimes he is naughty. He is fond of birds and animals. We have white mice, a hedgehog and a parrot in the house. Now Benny is eager to have a rabbit. But his mother is against it, we have no peace because of all Benny’s animals and birds.