Unit 9T ask 1【答案】1) b, 2) a, 3) c, 4) c, 5) b, 6) a, 7) c, 8) b, 9) a, 10) b【原文】1) So, what does your father do for a living?2) How many people are in your family?3) How old is your sister?4) Where do your parents live now?5) How many brothers and sisters do you have?6) What is your brother’s name?7) Where does your mother work?8) How long have you been married?9) Do you have any children?10) Where did you and your wife meet?T ask 2【答案】【原文】My name is Mary and I’m 13. I’m the eldest in my family. It’s terrible. I have to help m y mother in the house, and do the shopping too. But my younger brother and sister don’t do a thing. They just play all day. And they come into my room and break my things. My mother says, “Y ou must be nice to them. They’re smaller than you.” And my father tells me, “Y ou’re the eldest, so you must set a good example.”I’m John, 12. I’m the youngest in my family. I hate it. My two brothers are 18 and 16, and my siste r’s a year older than me. But they all think I’m still a baby. They can go to bed late, but I have to go to bed early. They get more pocket money than me too, and they have bigger bedrooms. I’ve got the smallest room in the family. And no one ever listens to me.My name is Anne and I’m 12. I’m the middle one in my family. That’s the worst place of all. I’m not the eldest and I’m not the youngest, so I’m not special. My elder sister does everything first, and she gets everything new. I have to wear her old clothes and use her old bag for school. Then everyone spoils my baby brother. They bring him presents and talk about him all the time. When I grow up, I’m going to have two children only. That’s better.T ask 3【答案】1) c, 2) a, 3) a, 4) a, 5) b, 6) a, 7) c【原文】Ana Maria Cavazos was born on June 9th, 1908, in Reynosa, Medico. She was the eleventh of twelve children.Her father, Jesus Cavazos, was originally from V ictoria, Texas, but moved his family to Mexico around 1855.Ana’s mother, Juana Castro, was the oldest of six brothers and sisters. Juana and Jesus were married in 1880. Ana’s family came to the United States during the Mexican Rev olution in 1913. Their family experienced much hardship. Ana grew up in Texas and met her future husband in 1929. Ana and Abel Contreras were married in 1931 and were the parents of eleven children.T ask 4【答案】1) F, 2) T, 3) T, 4) F, 5) F, 6) F【原文】Margaret: Is family life in England very different from family life in your country, Maria? Maria: No, I don’t think so. But I have noticed a few differences.Margaret: Oh, such as what?Maria: Well, the family unit seems to be smaller here than in my country. For you, the family is simply Mum, Dad and the children.Margaret: Y ou have a more extended family circle, do you?Maria: Y es. It’s quite common in my country to have a grandmothe r and an unmarried aunt or uncle living in as part of the family. And we wouldn’t dream of sending anelderly relative to an old people’s home, for instance.Margaret: Y ou take care of elderly relatives yourselves, I guess.Maria: Oh yes. We haven’t got all your welfare services and it’s the family’s duty to loo k after an elderly parent, for example.Margaret: What about hospitality? Do you think English families do a lot of entertaining? Maria: Y es, but in a rather f ormal way. Y ou don’t like people to “drop in” without a previous invitation, do you? In my country it’s quite usual to drop in on friends andrelatives.Margaret: Have you ever lived in with an English family?Maria: Y es, I have. I was an au pair girl for a year. I learned a lot about English family life then. I’d never realized how fond the Englishman is of his home and family, his gardenand his pets.Margaret: Pets? What sort of pets did they have?Maria: Oh, all sorts— dogs, cats and goldfish.Margaret: Did you enjoy living in with the family?Maria: Oh, yes. They were very kind. Everybody helped with the washing up, including the children, and we always found time to sip tea and watch television in the evenings!T ask 5【答案】1) b, 2) c, 3) b, 4) b, 5) a【原文】Susan: I suppose that in England, too, family life has changed a lot in the last 50 years, hasn’t it?Marilyn: Oh yes, very much so. I think families used to be much larger. My grandmother was one of fourteen children! V ery few people nowadays care to have such large families. Susan: I suppose that’s why in those days very few women took up careers outside the home. They were too busy bringing up their families.Marilyn: Y es, but most well-to-do families had servants to do the housework and even nannies to look after the children.Susan: Would you like to have lived then, Marilyn?Marilyn: Not particularly! Women weren’t as free as they are today. They often had to marry men they didn’t like and they were financially dependent on their parents ortheir husbands. I think we’re much better off today, don’t you?Susan: Well, I suppose we have more freedom of choice and we’re more independent, but, you know, some arranged marriages were very successful. And there wassomething rather charming about courtship in those days.Marilyn: Really? Such as what?Susan: Well, the custom of asking a girl’s father for permission to marry her, for example. Marilyn: An d supposing he didn’t give his permission? No, thank you. I think family life is much pleasanter today because it’s freer and more informal. At least today we’re free tomarry whoever we like and to take up a job, if we wish.Susan: That’s true. But I still think that family life in the old days must have been very pleasant and secure.T ask 6【答案】1) They never interfered with her plans too much and she was allowed to take up the career she wanted.2) She became independent financially. But she still stays with her parents a lot.3) Y es.4) She doesn’t always get along well with her parents.5) They treat her as a child and they try to control her.【原文】Bella: Do you think young people are given too much freedom nowadays and that as a result they’ve lost respect for their parents and their elders generally, Joyce?Joyce: I don’t think s o. My parents never interfered with my plans too much. They advised me but never forced me to do anything I didn’t want to do. I was allowed to take up the career I wanted. I think I respect and love them more for this.Bella: Are you quite independent of them now?Joyce: Y es. As soon as I left school and started my studies as a nurse, I became independent financially. I have a government grant which is enough for my keep. But I still stay with them a lot, as you know.Bella: Y ou seem very close to your parents.Joyce: I am. I know that many young people today say they have nothing in common with their parents, but I’m rather lucky because I get on well with mine. What about you,Bella?Bella: Well, we value fam ily life very much in my country. I’m very fond of my family, but I don’t always get on very well with them. They try to control me too much.Joyce: But they allowed you to come to study in England on your own!Bella: Y es, but only after a lot of persuasion! Y our parents treat you as an adult; mine treat me a child.Joyce: As I said, I’m lucky. Some English parents are like yours. They interfere too much and they’re out of sympathy with our generation.T ask 7【答案】A. dB.1) A writer for the “Agony Column” in Flash magazine.2) Fifteen in two months’ time.3) Manchester.4) Quite a rough city.5) Christine.【原文】Radio Presenter: Good afternoon. And welcome to our midweek phone-in. In today’s programme we’re going to concentrate on personal problems. And here with me in the studioI’ve got Tessa Colbeck, who writes the agony column in Flash magazine. Andwe have our first caller on the line, and it’s Rosemary, I think, er... calling fromManchester. Hello Rosemary.Rosemary: Hello.Radio Presenter: How can we help you, Rosemary?Rosemary: Well, it’s my dad. He won’t let me stay out after ten o’clock at night and all my friends can stay out much longer than that. I always have to go home first. It’sreally embarrassing.Tessa: Hello, Rosemary, love. Rosemary, how old are you, dear?Rosemary: I’m fifteen in two months’ time.Tessa: And where do you go at night — when you go out?Rosemary: Just to my friend’s house, usually. But everyone else can stay there much later than me. I have to leave at about quarter to ten.Tessa: And does this friend of yours.., does she live near you?Rosemary: It takes about ten minutes to walk from her house to ours.Tessa: I see. Y ou live in Brighton, was it? Well, Brighton’s ....Rosemary: No. Manchester... I live in Manchester.Tessa: Oh. I’m sorry, love. I’m getting mixed up. Y es, well Manchester’s quite a rough city, isn’t it? I mean your dad...Rosemary: No. Not really. Not where we live. It isn’t. I don’t live in the City Centre or anything like that. And Christine’s ho use is in a very quiet part.Tessa: Christine. That’s your friend, is it?Rosemary: Yeah. That’s right. I mean, I know my dad gets worried but it’s perfectly safe. Radio Presenter: Rosemary, have you talked about this with your dad?Rosemary: No. He just s houts and then he says he won’t let me go out at all if I can’t come home on time.Radio Presenter: Why don’t you just try to sit down quietly with your dad—sometime when he’s relaxed—and just have a quiet chat about it? He’ll probably explain why hew orries about you. It isn’t always safe for young girls to go out at night.Tessa: Y es. And maybe you can persuade him to come and pick you up from Christine’s house once or twice.Rosemary: Yes. But I don’t think he’ll agree to that. Anyway,I’ll talk to him about it. Thanks.T ask 8【答案】1) F, 2) T, 3) F, 4) F, 5)F【原文】George’s mother was worried about him. One evening, when her husband came home, she spoke to him about it.“Look dear,” she said, “you must talk to George. He left school t hree months ago. He still hasn’t got a job, and he isn’t trying to find one. All he does is smoke, eat and play records.”George’s father sighed. It had been a very tiring day at the office.“All right,” he said, “I’ll talk to him.”“George,” said George’s mother, knocking at George’s door, “your father wants to speak to you.”“Oh!”“Come into the sitting-room dear.”“Hello old man,” said George’s father, when George and his mother joined him in the sitting-room.“Y our father’s very w orried abou t you,” said George’s mother. “It’s time you found a job.”“Y es,” replied George without enthusiasm.George’s mother looked at her husband.“Any ideas?” he asked hopefully.“Not really,” said George.“What about a job in a bank?” suggested George’s mother,“or an insurance company perhaps?”“I don’t want an office job,” said George.George’s father nodded sympathetically.“Well, what do you want to do?” asked George’s mother.“I’d like to travel,” said George.“Do you want a job with a travel fi rm then?”“The trouble is,” said George, “I don’t really want a job at the moment. I’d just like to travel and see a bit of the world.”George’s mother raised her eyes to the ceiling. “I give up,” she said.T ask 9【答案】holding a job, even tougher, playing cops and robbers, shot, yelled, slumped to the ground, ran over, had been hurt in the fall, bent over, It’s the only chance I get to rest【原文】Being a working woman can be tough, but holding a job and having children is even tougher.There’s a story about a mother w ith three active boys who were playing cops and robbers in the backyard after dinner one summer evening.One of the boys “shot” his mother and yelled,“Bang, you’re dead.” She slumped to the ground and when she didn’t get up right away, a neighbour ran ove r to see if she had been hurt in the fall.When the neighbour bent over, the overworked mother opened one eye and said, “Shhh. Don’t give me away. It’s the only chance I get to rest.”T ask 10【答案】A.1) turn off the television2) feed the cat3) wash up dishes4) dry the dishes5) put away the dishes6) tidy the kitchen7) put out the cat8) lock all the doors9) turn out all the lightsB.1) She said she was going up to bed.2) She was sitting up in bed reading a book and eating chocolates.3) A gate banging downstairs.4) He had to go to shut the garden gate.【原文】“Henry!”“Y es, dear?”“I’m going up to bed now. Don’t forget to do your little jobs.”“No, dear.”Henry turned off the television and went into the kitchen. He fed the cat, washed up several dishes, dried them and put them away. Then he put the cat out, locked all the doors and turned out all the lights. When he got to the bedroom, his wife was sitting up in bed reading a book and eating chocolates.“Well dear, have you done all your little jobs?”“I think so, my love.”“Have you fed the cat?”“Y es, dear.”“Have you put him out?”“Y es, dear.”“have you washed up the dishes?”“Y es, dear.”“Have you put them away?”“Y es, dear.”“Have you tidies the kitchen?”“Y es, dear.”“Have you turned out all the lights?”“Y es, dear.”“Have you locked the front door?”“Y es, dear.”“Then you can come to bed.”“Thank you, dear.”After a little while they heard a gate banging downstairs.“Henry.”“Y es, dear.”“I’m afraid you’ve forgotten to shut the garden gate.”“Oh dear!”T ask 11【答案】1) b, 2) c, 3)a, 4)b, 5) b【原文】Interviewer: Mr. Dolby, do you mind if we speak a little about you and Katherine?David: Go ahead.Interviewer: She didn’t say very much about you to us, you see.David: Well, we weren’t together very long. Only about two years. Didn’t she tell you? Interviewer: No, not exactly. It must have been very difficult leaving your family.David: Y es and no. I miss the little boy. And I missed Katherine as well at first. Well, there was another baby on the way. That was difficult, of course, for her too. But it was herchoice. Not mine.Interviewer: Y ou mean she wanted you to go?David: Y es.Interviewer: What was wrong?David: We argued a lot. I had a job and when I got home in the evenings nothing was done.Nothing. I had to cook all the meals. Do the cleaning. It was an impossible situation.T ask 12【答案】Main idea: are becoming more and more diverse1) Horizon Research Group, families in China’s cities are becoming more and more diverse, several generations under the same roof, a double-income-no-kids (DINK) family2)a) 48 percent, 1997, 37 percentb) one-person, linear, generational, 7.2 percent, 1 percentage point, six years agoc) 6.8 percent, 3.9 percentage pointsd) a married couple living with their parents, three generations, 6.4 percentage points, 49 percente) cohabitation, celibacy3) pluralistic society, diverse values, 1980s, 10,000, 60,000a 38-year-old businessman, a graphic designer, their two-person family is one of the happiest inthe world, have so many plans to do things together, we are two kids who like playing together, satisfied with, bother with children【原文】After a hard day’s work, people used to go home to the nuclear family— husband, wife and children.But families are changing shape in China. These days, a household may consist of one person, several generations under the same roof, or a double-income-no-kids (DINK) family.A national survey by Horizon Research Group released over the weekend shows that families in China’s cities are becoming more and more diverse.The most common family type in Chinese cities was once the nuclear family. But while it accounted for 48 percent of families in urban areas in 1997, that figure has decreased to 37 percent today, the survey shows.Covering more than 1,000 households in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Wuhan, the survey found that the number of DINKs, one-person and linear or generational families is on the rise from six years ago.The research group carried out a similar survey of family types in 1997, covering more than 5,100 households in 10 major cities across China.This time round, more than 7.2 percent of respondents classified themselves as DINKs, 1 percentage point higher than six years ago.One-person households account for 6.8 percent of respondents, 3.9 percentage points higher than the previous survey.Linear families—a married couple living with their parents or three generations living together — increased in number by 6.4 percentage points, reaching 49 percent.According to social science experts, it seems certain more distinct lifestyles will emerge, for example, cohabitation and celibacy are both on the rise.In any event, today’s pluralistic society, with its diverse values, should be welcomed, said Li Yinhe, a sociologi st on family and marriage. “Everyone’s choice, whether traditional or unconventional, should be respected,” Li said.Since the DI NK lifestyle emerged in the 1980s, it has sprung up in all of China’s big cities. Beijing now has 10,000 DINK families. When combined with those in Shanghai and Guangzhou, the figures rise to about 60,000, according to Y outh League Committee of Beijing statistics.Childbearing was in ancient China a family’s top priority, but now it is regarded as a personal choice by many young couples.Zheng Jian, a 38-year-old businessman, and his wife Xiao Y an, a graphic designer, think their two-person family is one of the happiest in the world.They have been married for more than 10 years and have no children.“We always have so many plans together, to do things together,” said Zheng. “And it seems like we are two kids who like playing together.”They insist: “We are satisfied with our present lives, so why bother with children?”T ask 13【答案】In the past, when more Americans lived on farms, the typical family had many children. In a farm family, parents and their children often lived with grandparents. Often, too, uncles and auntslived nearby. But when industry became more important than agriculture in American life, families became smaller. Industry requires workers who are ready and able to move off the land and to move again whenever necessary. Large families cannot be moved from place to place as smaller families can.Today, because of industrialization, a typical family will be required to move even more often, so families will be even smaller. The typical family may remain childless and consist only of a man and a woman. A smaller number of families may raise children. These families may raise children as their chief occupation, leaving the childless families free to move from job. Furthermore, these child-raising families may raise other people’s children in addition to their own.。
