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Unit 7T ext AFamilies“Family”_ the word has different meanings f or different people, and even the di ctionary gives us sev eral definitions: “a group of people related by blood or marriage,’’“two adults and their children,’’“ all those people descended f rom a common ancestor,’’“ a household,’’ and so on. Some people think of a family as a mother, a father, and their children; others include grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. For some of us, family means the group of relatives living far away from home. For others, having a family simply means having children. Some f amilies have long histories, while others know very little about their ancestors. No matter if it is young or old, large or small, traditional or modern, every f amily has a sense of what a f amily is. It is that f eeling of belonging, of love and security that comes f rom living together, helping and sharing.There are basically two types of families: nuclear families and extended f amilies. The nuclear family usually consists of two parents (mother and f ather) and thei r children. The mother and f ather f orm the nucleus, or cent er, of the nuclear family. The children stay in the nuclear f amily until they grow up and marry. Then they f orm new nuclear families.The extended f amily is very large. There are of t en many nuclear families in one extended f amily. An extended f amily includes children, parents, grand-parents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. The members of an extended f amily are related by blood (grandparents, parents, children, brothers, sisters, etc.) or by marriage (husbands, wives, mothers-in-law, etc.). They are all related, so the members of an extended f amily are called relatives.Traditionally, all the members of an extended family lived in the same area. However, with the change from an agricultural to an industrial society, many nuclear families moved away from the f amily home in order to f ind work. In industrial societies today, the members of most nuclear families live together, but most extended f amilies do not live together. Theref ore we can say that the nuclear family becomes more important than the extended f amily as the society industrializ es: In post-industrial societies like the United States, even the nuclear f amily is changing. The nuclear family is becoming smaller as parents want f ewer children, and the number of childless families is increasing. Traditionally, the f ather of a nucl ear family earned money f or the family while the mother cared for house and the children. Today, more than 50% of the nuclear f amilies in the United States are two-earner families_ both the f ather and the mother earn money f or the f amily_ and in a f ew families the mother earns the money while the f ather takes care of the house and the children. Many nuclear f amilies are also “splitting up’’ _ more and more parents are getting divorced.What will be the result of this “ splitting”of the nuclear f amily? Social scientists now talk of two new f amily f orms: the single parent f amily and the remarried f amil y. Almost 20% of all American f amilies are single parent f amilies, and in 85% of these f amilies the single parent is the mother.Most single parents f ind it very dif f i cult to take care of a f amily alone, so they soon marry again and f orm remarried f amilies. As social scientists study these two new f amily f orms, they will be able to tell us more about the f uture of the nuclear family in the post-industrial age. (565 words) (3) (23)T ext BThe Changing American FamilyThe f amily is important to people all over the world although the structure of the family is quite different from one count ry to another. In the United States, as in many countries in the world, the f amily is changing. A generation or two ago, the traditional f amily, in which the f ather was boss, was customary. Now the modern f amily, in which both the f ather and the mother are equal partners, is more common. Although there are several similarities between the traditional and the modern f amily, there are also some very important diff erences.The traditional f amily of yesterday and the modern f amily of today have several similarities. The traditional f amily was a nuclear f amily, and the modern f amily is, too. The role of the father in the traditional f amily was to provide f or his f amily. Similarly, the f ather in the modern family is expected to do so, also. The mother in the traditional family took care of the children’s physical and emotional needs just as the modern mother does.On the other hand, there are some great diff erences between the traditional f amily and the modern f amily. The f irst important dif ference is in the man’s role. The traditional husband was the head of the household, because he was the only one who worked outside the home. If the wi f e worked f or pay, then the husband was not considered to be a good provider. In many f amilies today, both husband and wif e work f or pay. Theref ore, they share the role of head of household. In addition, the traditional husband usually made the big decisions about spending money. However, the modern husband shares these decisions with his working wi fe. Also, the traditional husband did not help his wif e with the housework or m eal preparation. Dinner was ready when he cam e home. In contrast, the modern husband helps his working wife at home. He may do some of the household jobs, and it is not unusual f or him to cook.The second diff erence is in the woman’s role. In the traditional f amily, the woman may have worked f or pay during her f irst years of marriage. However, af ter she becam e pregnant, she would usually give up her job. Her primary role was to take care of her family and home. In contrast, in many f amilies today, the modern woman works outside the home even af ter she has children. She’s doing two jobs instead of one, so she is busier than the traditional mother was. The traditional wif e learned to live within her husband’s income. On the other hand, the modern wif e does not have to because the f amily has two incomes.The f inal difference is in the role of the children. In the traditional f amily, the children were taken care of by the mother because she did not work outside the home. However, today preschool children may go to a child care center or to a baby-sitter regularly because the mother works. The school-age children of a traditional f amily were more dependent. Their mother was there to help them to get ready f or school and to make their breakfast. In contrast, modern children are more independent. They have to get up early in the morning and get ready f or school. Their mother is busy getting ready f or work, so they may even have to make their own breakfast.In conclusion, the American family of today is diff erent f rom the f amily of f i f ty years ago. In the modern f amily, the roles of the f ather, mother, and children have changed as more and more women work outside the home. The next century may bring more important changes to the American f amily structure. In should be interesting to see.(614 words) (6)(17)。
