1.Changes of Family Life
The concept of family life has changed considerably over the years. / In earliest times, several generations lived together in clans, / which consisted of all living descendents and their husbands or wives. / These clans were almost totally self-sufficient, / every member contributing in some way toward the survival of the group. / The men hunted and fished for food or sometimes maintained flocks of sheep or goats. / The women baked bread and roasted the meat their men provided. / Special members of the community were selected to make products like pottery, baskets and home weapons. / But with the development of greater varieties of food, clothing and shelter, / a single clan could no longer develop all the individual skills the group required. / Clans merged into larger societies and at the same time broke into smaller units consisting of married couples and their children. / Later the Industrial Revolution brought about even more important changes in family life. / New inventions brought shorter working hours for men and easier housekeeping routines for women. / Today a productive family life suggests not the group’s cooperative efforts of working together, / but the pleasant and meaningful sharing of its leisure. / (185 words)
2.What Is a Father?
A father is a person who is forced to endure childbirth without an anesthetic. He growls when he feels good, and laughs very loud when he is scared half-to-death.
A father never feels entirely worthy of the worship in a child's eyes. He is never quite the hero his daughter thinks. Never quite the man his son believes him to be, and this worries him sometimes.
A father is a person who goes to war sometimes and would run the other way except that war is part of his only important job in his life, which is making the world better for his child than it has been for him.
I don't know where father goes when he dies, but I've an idea that, after a good rest, wherever it is, he won't just sit on a cloud and wait for the girl he's loved and the children she bore. He'll be busy there too, repairing the stars, oiling the gates, improving the streets, smoothing the way.
3.
Time Has the Power to Change Attitude
Last week, my youngest son and I visited my father at his new home.
My earliest memories of my father are of a tall, handsome, successful man devoted to his work and family but uncomfortable with his children. As a child, I loved him; as a school girl and young adult, I feared him and felt bitter about him.
On the first day of my visit, we did some shopping, ate on the street table，and laughed over my son's funny facial expressions. Gone was my father's critical air and strict rules. Who was this person I knew as my father who seemed so friendly and interesting to be around?
The next day, my dad pulled out his childhood pictures and told me quite a few stories about his own childhood. Although our times together became easier over the years, I never felt closer to him until that moment. After so many years, I'm at last seeing another side of my father. (162 words)
Useful Words and Expressions
