Made For Each Other

Louise and Brian are very compatible people. They have a lot in com­mon. For example, they have very similar backgrounds. He grew up in a small town in the South, and so did she. She's the oldest of four chil­dren, and he is, too. His parents own their own business, and so do hers.

They also have similar academic interests. She's majoring in Chem­istry, and he is, too. He has taken every course in Mathematics offered by their college, and so has she. She enjoys working with computers, and he does, too.

In addition, Louise and Brian like the same sports. He goes swimming several times a week, and so does she. She can play tennis very well, and so can he. His favourite winter sport is ice skating, and hers is, too.

Louise and Brian also have the same cultural interests. She has been to most of the art museums in New York City, and so has he. He's a member of the college theater group, and she is, too. She has a complete collection of Beethoven's symphonies, and so does he.

In addition, they have very similar personalities. She has always been very shy, and he has, too. He tends to be very quiet, and so does she. She's often nervous when she's in large groups of people, and he is, too.

Finally, they have very similar outlooks on life. She has been a vege­tarian for years, and so has he. He supports equal rights for women and minorities, and so does she. She is opposed to the use of nuclear energy, and he is, too.

As you can see, Louise and Brian are very compatible people. In fact, everybody says they were 'made for each other'.

Louise hopes they'll get married someday, and Brian does, too.

Questions.

1. Why are Louise and Brian very compatible people? 2. How are their backgrounds similar? 3. How are their academic interests similar? 4. How are their athletic interests similar? 5. How are their cultural interests similar? 6. How are their personalities similar? 7. How are their out­looks on life similar? 8. What does everybody say about Louise and Brian? 9. What do they hope?

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Becoming a Woman in Japan

In Japan both men and women go to university and both men and wom­en study arts subjects such as English. But very few women study sci­ence, medicine or engineering. In engineering classes of thirty or forty students, there may be only one or two women. Men and women both go to university in order to get good jobs: men want to work for a big company, be successful, earn a lot of money and support a family; wom­en, on the other hand, want to work for a big company because they have a better chance of meeting a successful man and getting married. This is changing, however, and Japanese women are beginning to think about themselves. They are beginning to look for a job because they like it rather than because they hope to find a good husband.

Men have a job for the whole of their lives and usually stay with the same company. A woman may work for up to ten years, but after that she usually marries. Most women are married by the age of 27, then they stay at home and look after the children. A man might not mind if his wife goes to work, but she must look after everything in the house as well. A man does not cook or look after the children. When he comes home his meal must be ready. The woman may go out in the afternoon, shopping with her friends or just to have a chat, but she must be home by four o'clock to prepare the meal. Then she may have to wait for a long time for her man to come home. Often he has to go out for a drink after work; if he doesn't he may not rise very high in the company. The man does not come home until eleven o'clock or later. After her children are grown up, a woman can go back to work, but it is not easy. If her old company takes older women back, she might be lucky. But most women find it difficult to get a good job when they are older.

A. Compare the situation with women's education and employment in your country and Japan.

People in Fiction

In this extract from his novel' Sons and Lovers' (1913), the writer Dav­id Herbert Lawrence describes a scene between Mr Morel, a pit worker, and his wife and children, especially his young son, Paul.

He was shut out from all family affairs. No one told him anything. The children, alone with their mother, told her all about the day's hap-

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penings, everything. Nothing had really taken place in them until it was told to their mother. But as soon as the father came in, everything stopped. He was like the scotch in the smooth, happy machinery of the home. And he was always aware of this fall of silence on his entry, the shutting off of life, the unwelcome. But now it was gone too far to alter.

He would dearly have liked the children to talk to him, but they could not. Sometimes Mrs Morel would say: 'You ought to tell your father.'

Paul won a prize competition in a child's paper. Everybody was highly jubilant.

'Now you'd better tell your father when he comes in,' said Mrs Morel. 'You know how he carries on and says he's never told anything.'

'All right,' said Paul. But he would almost rather have forfeited the prize than have to tell his father.

'I've won a prize in a competition, Dad,' he said. Morel turned round to him.

'Have you, my boy? What sort of a competition?' 'Oh nothing — about famous women.'

'And how much is the prize, then, as you've got?'

'It's a book.'

'Oh, indeed!'

'About birds.'

'Hm — hm!'

And that was all. Conversation was impossible between the father and any other member of the family. He was an outsider.

The only time when he entered again into the life of his own people was when he worked, and was happy at work. Sometimes, in the evening, he cobbled the boots or mended the kettle or his pit-bottle. Then he always wanted several attendants, and the children enjoyed it. They united with him in the work, in the actual doing of something, when he was real self again.

A Difficult Decision

It was during the war. I mean the Second World War, of course. I was very young and I was working in London. One evening I was waiting for a bus. A young soldier was standing next to me in the queue. He started a conversation. I didn't want to talk at first. But when we got on the bus, he sat down next to me. That was how it all began. He had only ten days to go before he had to go back to the army. We spent them together.

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Things like that often happened during the war. 'War-time romances they called them.

A few days before he went back, he asked me to marry him. H wanted to do it the next day. It was a difficult decision .. .very difficult ... I think I loved him and I think he loved me, too. But I said no. I jus wasn't sure. We had a terrible argument about it. I felt very bad about i afterwards. I felt it was all my fault.

I remember the last time I saw him. We went to the station together We stood on the platform without saying a word. He got on the train and-it pulled out slowly. He was waving sadly and he looked very unhappy. I'll never forget it. That was the last time I ever saw him. He went to Italy a few days afterwards. That's where he was killed. In November. 1944. He was only twenty-two.

It's a pity he died so young. And it's a pity we didn't have more time together. I'm sorry we had that terrible argument before he left. It rained our last few days.

Perhaps I shouldn't have said no. I mean, perhaps I should have married him. I often think about it all even now, all these years later. What should I have done? I often ask myself that question. But I still can't find the answer.

Susan Gets Engaged

Susan Brown and Tom Smith first met at a Christmas party at a friend's^! house. He was then a student at a university and she had just left school. That was more than two years ago. During this time they have become very close friends, and now they are engaged to be married. Tom is a very nice boy — and Susan loves him very much. He is clever too. He did well at the University and now he has a good job at a cycle factory near Bishopton, where he is making excellent progress. Learning to be a manager is interesting work and Tom enjoys it. Although he is not earn­ing a very large salary at the moment, he hopes to be a manager himself soon. Susan's father and mother like Tom and are glad that their daugh­ter is going to marry him.

The young people have not made any arrangements for the wedding yet. Getting married is very expensive and they will have to save some money first, so they do not mind if they have to put off the wedding for a little while. They will want to find a house, too, and this is not easy. Many young married people today live with the boy's or with the girl's family, but it is better for them to have a house of their own. So Tom and

Susan will have to work hard, save as much money as they can and look for a house before they can get married. But as Tom is only twenty-two and Susan is only twenty, this does not matter very much.

Susan is very proud of her engagement ring. Buying an engagement ring is a serious matter; it is something that does not happen often, so they spent a day in London together for the event. They looked in many jewellers' windows before Susan made up her mind. At last they saw what they wanted in a shop in Regent Street. But they did not buy it at once; no woman ever does this! The assistant brought tray after tray of rings, some of them very expensive. Susan enjoyed trying on rings cost­ing many hundreds of pounds and comparing one with another, even though she knew that she and Tom could not afford them. At last she asked for the diamond ring in the window which she and Tom had liked and this was the ring they bought.

When Susan got to the office the next morning, all the girls at once noticed the ring on the third finger of her left hand, and said how pleased they were. But Mr Robinson, the manager, to whom Susan is secretary, did not notice it for three days, and he only noticed it then because Susan waved it in front of his eyes. Susan thought that her brother David would make fun of her when he saw the ring, but to her surprise he kissed her and said, 'Very nice too!' Susan was so pleased, she nearly cried.

When Mr Carter, the manager of Tom's factory, heard that Tom and Susan were engaged, he sent for him and told him he was going to ask the directory to raise his salary. 'You'll need it when you are married, as you'll soon find out,' he said.

Questions.

1. Where did Susan and Tom first meet? 2. What were they doing at that time? 3. What is Tom like? 4. Are Susan's parents for or against their daughter's marriage? 5. Why will the young people have to put off their wedding? 6. What did the young people buy when they got engaged? 7. How did their colleagues react to the news of their being engaged?

TOPIC: HOUSE. FLAT. RENTING A FLAT

Problems and Advice

At college, Peter has noticed that Brian seems worried about something. He decides to ask him what the problem is.

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