1. What is a family?
2. Is the group of people sitting in front of TV a family?
3. Is family important to you? Why?
4. What functions does a family serve?
5. What is the main task of a family?
6. What are the rules you keep in your family?

Scan the passage to answer the questions:

· Why do people value their families?

• What functions do families serve?

Belonging to a family

Belonging to the family is one bond almost everyone in the world shares. People usually value their families highly. They say, “Families give us strength and purpose. Our families show us where we are. The things we need most deeply in our lives: love, communication, respect and good relationships have their beginnings in the family.”

Families serve many functions. They provide conditions in which children can be born and brought up. Parents teach their children daily skills, common practices, customs, respect for elders, but the most important job for a family is to give emotional support and security.

Sentences a–f are missing from the article. Put them in an appropriate place.

a) Broadly speaking, the family is a group of people related by blood or law, living together or associating with one another for a common purpose.

b) There are people who say that the family unit in Britain is in crisis and that traditional family life is a thing of the past.

c) In Britain’s multi-cultural society there are many examples of different ways of living, however people continue to hope for a stable family life.

d) Whatever the truth is, the family is definitely a powerful symbol.

e) Concern that the family is in a state of crisis is not new in Britain.

f) The nature of the family keeps changing.

The family in Britain

There are many different views on family life. Some people could not do without the support and love of their families. Others say it is the source of most of our problems and anxieties¹. 1 ....... .

2 ........ . This is of great concern to those who think a healthy society is dependent upon a stable family life. They see many indications that the family is in decline², in such things as the acceptance of sex before marriage, the increased number of single parent families, the current high divorce rate and what they see as a lack of discipline within the family. Some politicians blame social problems, such as drug taking and juvenile crime on a disintegrating family life.

3 ........ . In the nineteenth century many legislators and reformers were saying the same. It was also a concern between the two World Wars, and in the 1980s it became a continuous political issue.

There is no definition of a “normal family”. 4 ........ . That purpose is usually to provide shelter and food, and to bring up children.

5 ........ . In Britain it is more socially acceptable to have alternative lifestyles, relationships and ways of bringing up children than it has ever been. It is also easier to remove oneself from an unhappy family situation. In most social groups, divorce is no longer seen as taboo. Single parent families are common. Many children are given more freedom when young; when they move away from home, they move earlier (usually at 18), and go further. People experiment with relationships before committing themselves to marriage³.

6 ........ .

_________________________

¹ anxiety – беспокойство, тревога

² in decline – в состоянии упадка

³ commit oneself to marriage – связывать себя узами брака

Answer the following questions.

1. What are the main causes of public concern about the changing face of the British family?
2. Have levels of public concern over family decline changed over time?
3. What social processes are considered to be the indicators of family decline?
4. Are British people optimistic about family life?

VOCABULARY

                  Word building