A Typical American Family

The American family has changed greatly in the last 20 or 30 years. Young people are waiting longer before getting married. Women are also waiting longer to have children. It’s not unusual today for a woman to have her first child in her mid-thirties. And families have fewer children. The typical family used to have three children. Today most families have one or two children. The USA has a high divorce rate: approximately 1 in every 2 marriages ends in divorce. One result of this high divorce rate is that many American children live in single parent families. Now most of older people live on their own. They generally stay in contact with their children but might live in a different part of the country. People also live longer – often for 20 years after they’ve retired from their job.

Task 7. Write an essay about an ideal family (at least 100 words).

UNIT 7. WEDDING BELLS HERE AND THERE

Task 1. Read, translate and discuss the text.

Love is the Highest Value of Life

What is life? What do we live for? What are the values of life? People have been asking these questions since times immemorial and each generation tries to find the answers. Now we live in the society where material goods are appreciated higher than spiritual. Such people consider money to be the most important thing in the world, they are cared only for material things and do not think about the eternal. They usually say, ‘Money governs the world.’ But let’s think, is it really true? Can we buy health or love or good family relations?

‘Good health is above wealth’, says another English proverb. Even having money you cannot but it. You’ll probably ask, ‘Don’t you need money at all?’ Well, of course, we need money to buy clothes, food and lead a decent life. But we shouldn’t make money the object of our adoration as we cannot buy with it such eternal things as love, happiness and friendship. You cannot make other people love and respect you sincerely with the help of money.

All of us have different values of life. For many people they are love, happiness, health and friendship. It’s difficult to say what is more important and what is less. Moreover, they are correlated: one cannot exist without the others. You cannot be happy without love – be it love of a person, parents, friend or Motherland. Love makes our life complete and full of sense. Love makes friendship. To love means to give rather than to take. Love adds happiness and health. Good health is a great blessing. Lack of health deprives our life of its vividness.

There are a lot of lonely people who live in their loneliness in spite of the crowd, noise and songs outside. They are lonely regardless of good ideas and feelings – regardless of everything. People cannot be free if they do not love and are not loved. They try to fill their emptiness and loneliness with money, career, job but they fail. Why? Perhaps, because the majority of them demand ‘Give me’ instead of saying, ‘Take it’. To live means to love and love means eternal sacrifice. Love is the stream of living water that we drink every day and need it always. Love is the sun that gives us light on our daily road. Love is the wind that gives us power to sail along the river of life. It is not easy to love. In love one gives a hand to another one. In love people are beautiful! They change and make others happy. Love is the highest value in the family. Love makes people better, people in love are ready to do everything and sacrifice their lives to their sweethearts.

Task 2. Answer the following questions.

1) What is love? What romantic things associate with love? What happens to people who fall in love with each other? Do you believe in love at first sight?

2) Where do young couples usually go out on dates?

3) What is your marital status? Are you married or single?

4) Why do people get married? At what age should a woman / a man get married?

5) Have you ever visited a wedding? Tell about your impressions of it.

6) Have you ever thought about your future wedding? Would you like to have a big wedding party with a lot of guests?

7) What is the best wedding present in your opinion?

8) What is an ideal wife / husband like? What are a husband’s and a wife’s responsibilities?

9) What is your attitude to the civil marriage?

10) What is your attitude to the prenuptial agreement? Is it necessary to sign it?

11) What is the secret of a happy marriage, in your opinion? Why do people sometimes get divorced?

12) Should people live together and save their family for the sake of the children even if they don’t love each other anymore?

Task 3. Read and listen to the story of Elvis and Priscilla Presley. Answer the questions after it.

Priscilla Beaulieu was just fourteen years old when she met Elvis Presley in Germany. He was a soldier and was ten years older than her, but they got on well and spent a lot of time together. When Elvis returned to the USA he told Priscilla that he wanted her to come with him. Priscilla loved the idea, but her parents were not so happy. When Elvis was in America he wrote Priscilla letters and sent her records of his favourite artists and songs. They talked on the phone two to three times a week over the next two years and fell very much in love.

In the summer of 1962 Elvis decided that phone calls and letters were not enough and he invited Priscilla to Los Angeles. Priscilla went on several holidays to the USA to stay with Elvis. Eventually, Elvis asked Priscilla’s parents if she could come and live with his parents in the house next to his. When her father agreed, in 1963, Priscilla moved to Memphis to be near Elvis. She was just seventeen years old. Four years later, in 1967, Priscilla and Elvis got married, and nine months later they had a daughter, Lisa Marie. At first they were happy together, but as Elvis became more famous he travelled a lot, and the problems started. Priscilla stayed at home and felt bored. She decided to start karate lessons, so she took lessons with a teacher, Mike Stone, a few times a week, and enjoyed it very much. When she argued with Elvis, Priscilla found it easy to talk to Mike about her feelings. Priscilla and Mike got to know each other well, and eventually they started to go out together. Priscilla soon left Elvis for Mike, and in 1972 Elvis and Priscilla got divorced. But they stayed good friends until Elvis died on August 16, 1977.

1) How old was Priscilla when she met Elvis? 2) Where did they meet? 3) How did they keep in touch when he was in the USA? 4) When did she move to America? 5) Who did she live with? 6) How did Priscilla meet Mike Stone? 7) Did Elvis and Priscilla get on well after they got divorced?

Task 4. Fill in the gaps with suitable words: to go out; romantic feelings; present flowers and sweets to her; steady boyfriend; pinch … off; drifted apart; love story; dating agencies; to find the way to his heart; broke off; fell in love with

Tina was a 19-year-old girl when she met David last year and (1) … him at once. They began (2) … . After they had been dating for some time Tina lost her head to him. She couldn’t imagine her life without him. Though her close friends couldn’t understand what she saw in him. He was unlikely to be her (3) … . While they were dating he didn’t (4) … . He seldom called her and when she insisted on an explanation he usually replied that he had been very busy. It was obviously that there were no (5) … on his side. Tina was so devoted to David and tried hard (6) … . No wonder that she struggled with jealousy thinking that someone could (7) … him … . Little by little Tina and David (8) … , and finally their relationship (9) … . Tina was in despair, she addressed to many (10) … to find someone who could replace David and inspire her lonely heart. But everything was in vain. This was a sad (11) … . Can you tell a happy one?

Task 5. Can you guess the names of wedding anniversaries? Choose the necessary adjective for each of the following: china; wood; tin; silver; diamond; coral; ruby; sapphire; crystal; gold; emerald; pearl

1) The 1^st year anniversary is called a paper wedding anniversary.

2) The 5^th year anniversary is called a … wedding anniversary.

3) The 10^th year anniversary is called a … wedding anniversary.

4) The 15^th year anniversary is called a … wedding anniversary.

5) The 20^th year anniversary is called a … wedding anniversary.

6) The 25^th year anniversary is called a … wedding anniversary.

7) The 30^th year anniversary is called a … wedding anniversary.

8) The 35^th year anniversary is called a … wedding anniversary.

9) The 40^th year anniversary is called a … wedding anniversary.

10) The 45^th year anniversary is called a … wedding anniversary.

11) The 50^th year anniversary is called a … wedding anniversary.

12) The 55^th year anniversary is called a … wedding anniversary.

13) The 60^th year anniversary is called a … wedding anniversary.

Task 6. Wedding customs and traditions vary in different countries. Compare traditions of Britain described below to those of Ukraine.

1) In Britain the bride’s mother announces the forthcoming wedding in the press; gives advice in decorating the church; helps her daughter to dress; orders the wedding cars; has to make the wedding cake; arranges the details of the reception; books the photographer, etc.

2) After the ceremony in the church the friends of the bride and bridegroom throw confetti or rice over them.

3) During the meal at the reception the bride and the bridegroom cut the wedding cake and give it to their guests.

4) It is a custom for the bride’s father to give her away.

5) The bride is supposed to wear something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue because this is thought to bring her luck.

6) Before the reception ends the bride and bridegroom usually drive away to another hotel to spend their wedding night there before beginning their honey moon.

7) Before the bride leaves she throws her bouquet to her friends to catch. According to a belief, the girl who catches it will be the next one to get married.

Task 7. Read and translate the text.