ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ

Данное пособие представляет собой один тематический блок из семи

учебных программных тем, изучаемых на 5 курсе в рамках дисциплины
“Дискурсивные практики коммуникации”. Тема “Семья в современном
обществе” рассматривается в социологическом аспекте с акцентом на
актуальные тенденции развития института семьи: виды семьи в современном
обществе, проблемы воспитания, трудности молодой семьи, вступление в
брак и оформление развода и др.
Каждый раздел пособия составлен по единой схеме и представляет
собой комплексный блок, посвященный определенному аспекту изучаемой
темы, содержит 2-3 базовых текста, разработки к тематическим аудио- и/или
видеопрограммам и художественным фильмам, упражнения на активизацию
ключевого словаря, упражнения, направленные на обсуждение тематической
проблематики на базе учебных текстов, аудио- и видеоматериалов. Основное
внимание уделяется упражнениям, содержащим творческие задания,
способствующие развитию и совершенствованию коммуникативных и
переводческих навыков, умению вести дискуссию, подготовке презентаций,
моделированию различных видов дискурса и т.д. В рамках данного пособия
дискурс понимается как поэтапное ситуативное конструирование и
презентация устного монологического текста (например, подготовка проекта
по предложенной проблемной ситуации) или диалогического текста
(например, ролевые игры, телеинтервью), а также творческого письменного
текста (например, написание критической статьи на основе тематического
художественного фильма). Пособие носит обучающий характер и содержит
основные схемы подготовки отдельных заданий, а также примеры их
выполнения.
Пособие предназначено для студентов старших курсов
лингвистических вузов и магистрантов, может использоваться как во время
аудиторных занятий, так и для самостоятельной работы. В процессе
прохождения темы преподаватель выбирает наиболее актуальные аспекты
для изучения.
3
 Unit 1. Types of Family in Modern Society

Study and learn the topical focus vocabulary list. Provide Russian equivalents to
the vocabulary items.
Focus Vocabulary List
A-B
1) happy, balanced (syn. stable) families
2) to stand for family values
3) the nuclear (syn. traditional/immediate) family; the extended family; the
flock
4) to shrink; syn. to fall steeply; ant. to increase; a fourfold increase in smth*1
5) the family unit/group/community
6) a family situation/arrangement; a familial pattern/practice/setup/setting
7) to be in crisis, ~ in a state of crisis; syn. to be in decline*
8) (to be) a thing of the past*
9) to blame smth on smb; to blame smb for smth; to put the blame on smb; to be
to blame*
10) to be related by blood or law; to be blood-related; blood relationship(s)
11) to commit oneself to marriage/to make a marriage commitment
(syn. colloquial to tie the knot); marriage bonds/ties
12) to be acceptable (to have alternative life styles); same-sex (syn. homosexual)/
heterosexual couples
13) to make up 44% of the workforce (Br. labourforce); to be in paid work outside
the home; to take/do paid work
14) the main, male/female breadwinner; income provider
15) “latch key kids”; syn. waifs and strays
16) there’s a stigma attached to ... (~ the phenomenon of latch key kids)*

1
Hereinafter some vocabulary items are marked with an asterisk (*) to indicate that their meaning is not topically
restricted and they are equally essential for study.

4
17) child care centres; day nurseries (Br.)/daycare centers (Am.)
18) a child minder; syn. a (baby) sitter/nursemaid/
19) to fit in with (~ school hours)*
20) in the workplace (to establish crèches ~)
21) it’s a commonly held view that ... ; syn. it’s common knowledge that …*
22) to divorce smb; serial divorce; to disrupt a marriage/to abandon (syn. to
renounce)/to opt out of a relationship
23) irretrievable breakdown of marriage; a disintegrating family life
24) a divorce petition
25) to cohabit; cohabitation; cohabitee/cohabiter/cohabitant
26) to test out a relationship
27) to have a live-in boyfriend/girlfriend; a live-in relationship
28) to be born outside marriage
29) births to married couples/to single people (syn. singletons/single-person
householders); to be born to smb
30) a single-/lone-/one-parent family, household; a single/lone parent
31) to be (clearly) at an advantage/a disadvantage*
32) to need role models of both sexes; masculine/feminine role models
33) to control the family finances
34) male-/female-dominated family life/households
35) to frown upon smth (syn. to disapprove of)*

C
1) a female homemaker
2) pre-school children/pre-schoolers
3) at the heart of the issue*
4) genderquake
5) to measure up/to live up to smb’s expectations*
6) in the space of a generation; to incorporate four generations

5
7) people below pensionable age
8) delayed adulthood
9) at an average age of …*
10) first-time brides
11) to pursue higher education
12) a transition period*
13) “quality time”; time-squeezed families
14) procreative sex
15) to make a comeback*
16) renewable marriage contracts; to reaffirm one’s marriage vows
17) to facilitate communication*
18) to use teleparenting systems/virtual monitoring
19) to become commonplace*
20) to set up websites*
21) to be intent on smth*
22) in-/fertility; in-/fertile; assisted conception, syn. artificial insemination
23) sperm counts
24) pre-teen pregnancies
25) a non-event*
26) the sins of the flesh; asexual
27) mercifully*
28) to free smth from the stranglehold of… ; to make way for smth, smb*
29) to have a distinct impact on smth*
30) a surfeit of smth*

Study the texts, identify the active vocabulary items and discuss the questions
following the texts.

6
Text A

The British Family

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 anxieties. Whatever the truth is, the family is definitely a
powerful symbol. Turn on the television or open a magazine and you will see
advertisements featuring happy balanced families. Politicians often try to win votes
by standing for “family values”: respect for parental authority, stability in
marriage, chastity and care for the elderly.
Sociologists divide families into two general types: the nuclear family and
the extended family, which may incorporate three or more generations living
together, in industrialized countries, and increasingly in the large cities of
developing countries, the nuclear family is regarded as normal, typically consisting
of two parents and two children. In fact, the number of households containing a
nuclear family is shrinking year by year.
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. 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 decline, in such things as the acceptance of sex
before marriage, the increased number of one-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.
Concern that the family is in a state of crisis is not new in Britain. 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.

7
 There is no definition of a “normal” family. 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. That purpose is usually to provide shelter and food,
and to bring up children. The nature of the family keeps changing: there are a
number of types of family that exist in a society at any one time.

Family life in the past

Many people think there was once a golden age in which the world was
filled with happy families. The mother ran the house, and the father went out to
work to bring back enough money for this ideal family to live its life. The family –
mother, father and three or four healthy, happy children – would go out for an
occasional treat. Roles were very clear for the parents and children. Discipline
within the family unit was strong, and moral standards were high. This image is the
kind of family life people mean when they talk about “Victorian values”.
It is doubtful whether many families ever lived such a life, especially in
Victorian times. Working hours were long for most families, and children were
often poorly fed and badly clothed. The vision of a golden age is based perhaps on
how we think perfect family life should be.
Some sociologists argue that the nature of the family is constantly changing
and that there is no point in making comparisons with families of a generation ago.
However, people continue to hope for a stable family life. Marriage has not gone
out of fashion; although the number of divorces has increased, so has the number
of divorced people who will remarry.

British family life in the 2000s

What is clear about Britain in the 2000s is that it is more socially acceptable
to have alternative life styles, relationships and ways of bringing up children than it
has ever been. It is also easier to renounce an unhappy family situation. In most
social groups, divorce is no longer seen as taboo. One-parent families are common.
Many children are given more freedom when young; when they move away from
home, they move earlier (usually at around 18), and go further. People experiment
8
with relationships before committing themselves to marriage and there is greater
acceptance of homosexual relationships. In Britain’s multi-cultural society there
are many examples of different ways of living. Nowadays, our primary sexual
characteristics – whether we are men or women – no longer seem to completely
dictate what roles we should take in life.

Working mothers
Until relatively recently, most mothers in Britain did not take paid work
outside the home. Sometimes women did voluntary work, especially those of the
middle classes. However, most women’s main (unpaid) labour was to run the home
and look after their family. Whether they did this themselves or supervised other
people doing it was a matter of class and money. By entering the labour market,
women have now altered the face of family life. As the role of the woman in the
family changed, so did the role of the man.

Equality in work?
A number of legal changes have given women new opportunities. In 1970,
the Equal Pay Act attempted to stop discrimination against women in the field of
employment. In 1975 the Sex Discrimination Act, followed by the Employment
Equality Regulations (1999, 2003, 2006) and the Equality Act (2006) marked a
further attempt to protect women in employment, education and other areas. The
1975 Employment Protection Act gave women the right to maternity leave.
In Britain today women make up 44% of the workforce, and nearly half the
mothers with children under five years old are in paid work. It is not uncommon to
find that the mother is the main breadwinner. The incentives for women to work or
to return to work are increasing all the time, but there are still problems for women
who want or have to work.
Although there is a greater acceptance of men taking more of an interest in
child care and domestic duties, studies show that men’s and women’s roles have
not changed as much as could be expected. In most families working women are
still mothers, housekeepers and income providers. There is a stigma attached to the
9
phenomenon of “latch key kids”1. Society expects someone – usually the mother –
to be there. Because of the difficulties of combining the mother role with the
demands of a career, women’s work also tends to be low-paid and irregular.

Child care
Britain is old-fashioned as regards maternity leave. If they do get maternity
leave, women are often worried that, if they do not return to work quickly, they
will lose their job and it is often very difficult for them to find another. Paternity
leave – time off for the father – is rare, although it is becoming common in other
European countries.
A big problem for working mothers in the UK is the low standard of child-
care facilities for рrе-school children. Parents may employ a nanny to come to their
home or to live with them. This is very expensive and only realistic for a small
percentage of families. An alternative is child-care centres run by the local council,
where a child-minder looks after children during the day in their own home, it is
not always easy to get a place in one of these centres.
Once the child has reached school age, most women in Britain work part
time, to fit in with school hours. However, this is not always possible for women
who pursue a career. Recently there has been increasing pressure on the
Government to provide more money for state day nurseries, and on employers to
establish crèches in the workplace.

Divorce
In the past, families tended to stay together. They felt it was their duty to do
this and that marriage was lifelong. Divorce was not socially acceptable. It was a
commonly held view that a bad marriage was better than no marriage at all.
In Britain, as in many industrialized societies, there was a steady rise in the
numbers of divorces up to 2004. The Second World War disrupted a lot of
marriages, due to enforced separation and hasty marriages which were later
regretted. Immediately after the war there were a record number of divorces and

1
Latch key kids – children who have their own key to their home because there is no one to let them in after school.
10
the proportion of marriages involving a divorced partner grew from 2% in 1940 to
32% in 1985. However, between 2004 and 2005 the provisional divorce rate in
England and Wales fell by 8 per cent to 13.0 divorcing people per 1,000 married
population. This is the lowest number of divorces since 2000. This is 14 per cent
lower than the highest number of divorces which peaked in 1993 (180,018).
Legal changes have made it much easier to get a divorce. The most dramatic
change resulted from the 1971 divorce law. The law stated that there needed to be
only one reason for a divorce petition – the “irretrievable breakdown of
marriage.” This was a much wider category than the previous ones of cruelty,
insanity, desertion or adultery. The change in the law had an immediate effect. In
1972 there were over 119,000 divorces in England and Wales. Proposed laws
may make divorce even easier.
Couples can now afford the legal side of getting and surviving a divorce
more easily than at any time in the past. However, for many families it is still an
economic disaster as well as being emotionally difficult.
Another possible reason behind a wider acceptance of divorce is the
changing attitude to marriage itself. The traditional Christian approach to
marriage has been against divorce. As the Church becomes less influential in the
UK, the view of marriage as a union for life has weakened. The result is that the
break-up of a marriage is seen as less of a moral crisis and more as a matter of
personal happiness.
Perhaps the people most affected by a divorce are the children. According
to forecasts, about 20% of children in Britain, usually between the ages of five
and ten, will experience family breakdown by the age of 16. A number of laws
(the Children Act, 1989) have indicated that first consideration should be given to
the welfare of the children when making financial arrangements after a divorce.
If a marriage is going through a troubled time, the partners may ask for help
from the voluntary counsellors of an organization which is called Relate
(formerly the Marriage Guidance Council).

11
Cohabitation and marriage
Since the Second World War, there has been an increased acceptance of sex
before marriage in Britain. Successive post-war generations are more likely to have
had sex before marriage and are more likely to have sex with partners other than
the one they eventually marry.
It is now acceptable in most social circles for people to live together before
they are married – if they intend to get married at all. The numbers of couples
cohabiting increased during the 2000s, becoming common as a living arrangement
before marriage. Many people think that this is a useful way of “testing out” a
relationship before the commitment of marriage. There is no word in English to
describe the relationship of a cohabiting couple. People sometimes describe
themselves as “partners” or say that they have a live-in boyfriend or girlfriend.
As the number of couples living together has increased, so the marriage rate
has decreased. Since the early 1990s, the number or people getting married has
fallen, and the proportion of women who are married fell steeply for all age
groups.
On average, those who do choose to get married tend to marry later: the ages
at which men and women marry for the first time have risen continuously in recent
years. In 2005, it was 33 for men and 31 for women.

Children born outside marriage

In 2000, 41% of children born in England and Wales were born outside
marriage. In 1980, the figure was 11.8%. One of the reasons for this change is that
couples no longer feel compelled to get married if they have a child. By the early
2000s, the majority of births outside marriage were to cohabiting couples, not to
single people.

Unmarried teenage mothers

Society used to be very cruel towards the teenage mother. Now families are
more sympathetic, and hasty marriages because of an unplanned pregnancy are less
common. There has also been a dramatic fall in the number of babies available for
12
adoption, indicating that more babies are kept by the parent. The young mother is
more likely to keep her child than 50 years ago, but the single parent still faces
great economic problems.

One-parent families
In England, lone-parent family homes increased from 3.3% of all households
in 1990 to 5.5% in 2000. There are several different types of one-parent family.
Parents can be on their own because of the death of a partner, divorce, the break-
down of live-in relationships, or births outside marriage to single people.
Fathers face particular problem as single parents. British society does not
expect men to have their working life disrupted by the need to care for a sick child,
for example. Men may have to fight for the right to look after their children – the
mother is often presumed to have more rights to them.
9 in 10 lone parents are women. Women are clearly at a disadvantage in a
society where the state assumes a man will be the main breadwinner, and there are
few opportunities for lone mothers to earn a good income while continuing to look
after their children. A lone parent with a well-paid job may be able to pay for a
nanny, but this is rare. Around 80% of lone parents rely on state benefits as their
main source of income. Although single-parent families are now accepted by
society, the majority view is that two parents are almost essential for the stable
upbringing of a child, as children need role models of both sexes.
Immigration has brought a number of family forms to Britain that are
different from the traditional British pattern.
Asian families tend to put a much greater emphasis on blood relationships.
Family members feel that they have strong loyalties and obligations both to their
family in Britain and also to the rest of the family who may still be in their country
of origin. Many Indian families, for example, continue to provide financial
support for relatives in India.
Immigrant families, such as South Asian families, may be patriarchal: the
man is the head of the household. He controls the family finances and negotiates

13
major family decisions. This male-dominated family life has meant that, in the
early years of immigration, many women were cut off from the rest society, because
of social and language barriers.
West Indian families present another distinct family pattern. Studies in the
early 1980s showed that there are two basic patterns to many West Indian families in
Britain. One consists of a household where a man and a woman live together with
their children, with or without a formal marriage. Secondly, there is the female-
dominated household where women care for the children and provide an income on
their own.

Child discipline
It is generally thought that before the 1960s and the start of what is
sometimes called the “permissive society”, parents were much stricter with
children. Nowadays many people have a different attitude to parenting. One
view is that children should be talked to and listened to, and they should be more
involved in family decisions. In families like this, parents explain house rules instead
of imposing them on the child. Hitting children is now frowned upon in most
families.
Family sizes are steadily shrinking. This is partly because people have fewer
children: in Britain most people have just two. But the main factor is the increase in
the number of one-person households. A high proportion of singletons have never
married – there is no longer great pressure on people to do so. In the past a woman,
especially, would not leave the family home until she was getting married and
starting her own family. Now many children leave home at around 18. It is not
unusual for young people to live alone or with friends.
There is also an increasing number of old people living alone. Critics say too
many old people below pensionable age are neglected by their families. The homes
of the nuclear family are often not big enough to take in any extra members. Old
people may not want to move if their children now live in another town.

14
Answer the following questions on the text.
1. Give the definition of family.
2. What does it symbolize to an individual, to society at large?
3. What are the so-called universally recognized family values?
4. What are the two general types of family and which of them is regarded as
“normal”?
5. Why do many sociologists consider that the family unit is in crisis today? What
new trends testify to this belief?
6. What is the ideal that people generally associate with family life in the past?
What image is called to your mind by the term “Victorian values”?
7. What is the vision of a golden age based on?
8. Why do some sociologists believe that there is no point in making comparisons
with families of a generation ago? Do the new trends prove that marriage has
gone out of fashion?
9. How did the family scene change in the 1990s? Enumerate the major changes
that took place and say whether they are still influential today.
10.How did the face of family life change as women entered the labour market?
What legal changes gave women new opportunities?
11.Are men and women entitled to maternity leave or paternity leave in Britain?
Why are women often wary of taking a maternity leave? What are the
arguments in favor of a paternity leave?
12.What child care facilities exist for pre-school children in Britain and do they
boast high standards?
13.Is working part-time a solution for British women with young children? What
might improve the day care situation in Britain?
14.Are there any significant developments as far as the roles of men and women in
the family are concerned? How is it reflected on women’s desire to combine
the mother role with a career?
15.What was a commonly held view on divorce in the past?

15
16.How did the Second World War influence the divorce rate in Britain?
17.What legal act affected the conditions for divorce and, consequently, the
divorce rate? What are other reasons for a wider acceptance of divorce?
18.Who suffers from a divorce most of all and why? Are there any legal
provisions which secure the welfare of the children of the divorced parents?
19.What social bodies provide counseling for married couples going through
troubled times?
20.Cohabitation as an alternative lifestyle has become a common living
arrangement. What are the partners guided by? How has the trend affected the
marriage rate?
21.What is the average marriage age in Britain at present and why do young men
and women tend to delay marriage and family?
22.Has the attitude to having children outside marriage changed too? Why do we
observe more teenage mothers keeping their children, unlike it used to be in the
past?
23.What are some of the types of one-parent family in Britain today? Enumerate
and analyse the potential problems both male and female single-parent
households have to face.
24.How has the public attitude towards child rearing and discipline changed since
the 1960s?
25.What are the underlying reasons for the growth of the number of old people
living alone in Britain?
26.Describe the alternative ethnic family forms co-existing with the traditional
British pattern. Are they male- or female-dominated families? Who controls
the family finances?
27.How does family life in Britain differ from our country? Have the general
attitudes to it changed? If they have, do you think these changes are good?
28.Do you agree that a healthy society is dependent on a stable family life?

16
Text B

The American Family

The United States has many different types of families. While most American
households are immediate families, comprising a father, mother and one or more
children, 25 per cent of all American families in 2005 were headed by one parent,
usually female-dominated. In a few families in the United Stales, there are no
children. These childless couples may believe that they would not make good
parents; they may want freedom from the responsibilities of child-rearing; or,
perhaps they are not physically able to have children. Other families in the United
States have one adult who is a stepparent. A stepmother or stepfather is a person
who joins a family by marrying a father or mother.
Americans tolerate and accept these different types of families. In the United
States, people have the right to privacy and Americans do not believe in telling
other Americans what type of family group they must belong to. They respect each
other’s choices regarding family groups.
Families are very important to Americans. One sign that this is true is that
Americans show great concern about the family as an institution. Many Americans
believe there are too many divorces. They worry that teenagers are not obeying their
parents. They are concerned about whether working women can properly care for
their children. They also worry that too many families live in poverty. In a
nationwide survey, about 80 per cent of the Americans polled said the American
family is in a state of crisis. At the same time, when these people were asked about
their own families, they were much more hopeful. Most said they are happy with
their home life.
How can Americans be happy with their individual families but worried about
families in general? Newspaper, motion pictures and television shows in the
United States highlight difficulties within families. Family crimes, problems and
abuse become news stories. But most families do not experience these troubles.

17
Since the earliest days of the United States, people have been predicting the
decline of the family. In 1859, a newspaper in the city of Boston printed these
words: “The family in the old sense is disappearing from our land.” Those words
could have been written yesterday. But the truth is that families are stronger than
many people think.
Four out of five people in the United States live as members of families and
they value close kinship ties. In one poll, 92 per cent of the people who were
questioned said their family was very important to them.
Families give us a sense of belonging and tradition. They give us strength and
purpose. Our families show us who we are. As one American expert who studies
families says, “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 a setting in which children can
be born and reared. Families help educate their members. Parents teach their
children values – what they think is important. They teach their children daily
skills, such as how to ride a bicycle. They also teach them common practices and
customs, such as respect for elders and celebrating holidays. Some families
provide each member a place to earn money. In the United States, however, most
people earn money outside the home. The most important job for a family is to
give emotional support and security.
Families in a fast-paced, urban country such as the United States face many
difficulties. American families adjust to the pressures of modern society by
changing. These changes are not necessarily good or bad. They are simply the way
Americans adjust to their world.
Composition of US households as a percentage of total population, %
1960 2005
Married couple with children 44 26
Married couple without children 30 28
Other family with children (including single parents) 4 8
Other family (2 or more relatives living together) 7 7
Men living alone 4 11
Women living alone 9 15
Other non-family (2 or more non-related persons living together) 2 5
Source: US Bureau of the Census
18
Changing American family
When Americans consider families, many of them think of “traditional
family.” A traditional family is one in which both parents are living together with
their children. The father goes out and works and the mother stays home and rears
the children. The biggest change in families in the United States is that most
families today do not fit this image. Today, one out of three American families is a
“traditional family” in this sense.
The most common type of family now is one in which both parents do paid
work outside the home. In 1950, only 20 per cent of all American families had
both parents working outside the home. Today, it is 60 per cent. Even women with
young children are going back to work. About 51 per cent of women with children
younger than one year old now work outside the home.
Another big change is the increase in the number of one-parent families.
Between 1980 and 2005, the number of single-parent families more than doubled –
from 3.8 million to 9.4 million. In 2005, nearly one out of every four children
under 18 lived with only one parent.
Some families look even less like the typical traditional family. They may
consist of a couple of one race who have adopted, children of another race, or from
another country. In many states, single people may also adopt children. Some
people take in foster children – children whose parents cannot take care of them.
Another change is that families in the United States are shrinking. In the mid-
1700s, there were six people in the average household. Today the average
household contains between two and three people. A household is defined as any
place where at least one person is living.

History of the American family

To understand why these changes are happening, let us look at the history of
the family in the United States.
When the United States was established, more than 200 years ago, it was a
big, sparsely settled country. For many years the immigrants who settled in the

19
United States were nearly all of European origin, but later people came to the
United States from all over the world. Life was hard for these early householders.
The average marriage in colonial America lasted only 10 years because many
people died young. Few people lived to be older than 60. A widow or widower
often remarried many times. Even with today’s high rate of divorce, many
marriages last longer now than marriages did in the 1700s.
Later, Americans began settling the American West. They were looking for
land to farm and for a better life. They left behind their homes, their relatives and
friends. When these settlers said good-bye to the people they loved, usually it was
forever. These first settlers of the Midwest and the Great Plains of the northwestern
United States were isolated; often their nearest neighbor was many miles away.
Family members had to work together and to depend on each other to survive.
The family formed an important economic group. All of its members helped
to bring food and money into the home. They worked on a farm, planting and
harvesting, or they worked making goods to sell at a market. Few people
committed themselves to marriage as a result of love or affection alone. Most
people married because they needed a family in order to make a living. When
people married, often they looked for the husband or wife who could bring the
most material goods into the marriage. In colonial America, men who opted out of
marriage were heavily taxed. Almost 99 per cent of population married.
Many changes came to families when the United States shifted from being
mainly a farming nation to being an industrial nation. This happened in the late
1800s. In 1820, fewer than eight percent of Americans lived it cities. By 1900,
about 40 per cent of all people lived in cities. People began earning their money
outside the home in factories. Instead of getting married on the basis of economic
need, people could marry primarily for love.
As men and women became less dependent on their families for a livelihood,
the number of divorces began lo increase. Between 1900 and 1920, the divorce rate
doubled; in 1900, there were four divorces for every 1,000 married couples. This

20
trend alarmed people, but divorce was commonplace. The first divorce in the
United States occurred in 1639 and involved a man who had married two women.
Still, divorce was difficult. A wife was her husband’s property. If a husband
abused his wife, she had few alternatives and sometimes a wife, or even a husband,
would run away from a bad marriage.
The decade of the 1950s is thought to have been the most family-oriented
period in American history. People praised and glorified families. Hundreds of
thousand of young couples married. They married at the youngest ages in the
history of the United States. In the 1950s, by the time men and women reached 27
years old, more than two-thirds of them were married. Today fewer than half of all
27-year-olds are married.
The 1950s was also a “baby boom” time, with very high birth rates. Today,
some people look at the American family of the 1950s as a model or as a goal for
the family. Many experts, however, see the 1950s as an exceptional period. In one
year alone more than 4.3 million babies were born. The average mother had more
than three children; today the average mother has one or two children.
Slowly some of the values accepted during the 1950s began to change. During
the 1960s and the 1970s, some women found that they wanted more from life than
rearing children, and caring for household matters. Women began to see that they
had choices. They could have a job or a family, or both. More women began taking
jobs. According to the magazine, US News and World Report, the number of
families in which both husbands and wives were in paid work grew by four million
during the 1970s.
The period of the late 1970s and early 1980s has also been commonly called
the decade of the “me generation.” This is a time in which people have explored
alternative life styles. In the 1970s many couples began cohabiting. These couples
questioned why they needed a marriage license and did not feel compelled to get
married. For about 10 years, the number of cohabiting couples grew rapidly. Birth
control also became more widely accepted. Couples were able to choose when they

21
wanted to start a family. Other changes also occurred. One change was a
perceptible increase in the number of divorces.
In the mid-1980s, more traditional marriage and family practices made a
comeback. Today married couples are the fastest growing type of household in the
United States. Women and men are rediscovering the joys of home and family life.
Even leaders who speak out strongly for women’s rights are modifying their views
regarding the relative importance of the family unit.
Looking at the history of families in the United States helps to explain how
the American family is changing. But what do these changes mean? Are they good
or bad? In order to understand, let us look at what is behind these numbers.

Divorce
About half of all marriages in the United States end in divorce. A divorce
happens when a husband and a wife legally disrupt their marriage. The number of
divorces grew steadily in the United States for many years. Now, however, the
number has stopped growing and during the past few years it has fallen steeply.
Couples in the United States may still be getting divorced or separated at a
fairly high rate, but this does not mean that they do not believe in marriage. It
simply means that they are giving up being married to a particular individual. Most
people in the United Sates who get a divorce petition marry again. About 80 per
cent of all men and about 75 per cent of all women who get divorced remarry.
United States divorce laws allow men and women to terminate bad marriages;
getting a divorce petition is now rather easy in the United States. And while a 1924
study of families in one town in the American Midwest found few happy stable
couples, in 1977, researchers who went back to the same town found that more
than 90 per cent of the married couples in that town said they were satisfied or very
satisfied with their family situations.

Working mothers
Today 47.9 per cent of all American women work outside their homes. This is
a big change for the United States. Only 40 years ago, 75 per cent of all Americans
22
frowned upon wives who became the main breadwinners when their husbands
could support them financially. Today, it is socially acceptable that many women
are in paid work outside the home.
There are two reasons why mothers and wives work. One reason is that there
are many opportunities for women, including the jobs of an engineer, a physician,
a teacher, a government official, a mechanic or a manual laborer. The other reason
women work is to earn money to support their families. The majority of women
say they work because it is an economic necessity.
About 80 per cent of women who work support their children without the help
of a man. These women are at a financial disadvantage. One in three families in the
United States headed by a woman lives in poverty. Many divorced Americans are
required by law to help their former spouses support their children, but not all
fulfill this responsibility.
A wife’s working may add a strain to the family. When both parents work,
they sometimes are time-squeezed and cannot spend it with their children and with
each other.
In other ways, however, it is a commonly held view among the Americans
that the family has been helped by women working. In a recent survey, for
example, the majority of men and women said that they prefer a marriage in which
the husband and wife share responsibilities for home jobs, such as child rearing
and housework.
Many teenagers feel that working parents are a benefit. On the other hand,
when parents have pre-school children, who require more time and care, people’s
views are more mixed about whether having a working mother is good for the
children.
What happens to children whose parents work? More than half of these
children are cared for in daycare centers or by babysitters. The rest are generally
cared for by a close relative, such as a grandparent. Some companies are trying to
help working parents by offering flexible work hours or establishing crèches in the

23
workplace. This allows one parent to be at home with the children while the other
parent is at work. Computers may also help families by allowing parents to work at
their home with a home computer.

Marriage and children

Unlike their parents, many single adult Americans today are waiting longer to
get married. Some women and men are delaying marriage and family because they
want to finish school or start their careers; others want to become more established
in their chosen profession. Most of these people eventually will tie the knot. One
survey showed that only 15 per cent of all single adults in the United States want to
stay single. Some women feel compelled to get married and start a family as they
enter their 30s.
One positive result may come from men and women marrying later. People
who get married at later ages have fewer marriage breakdowns. Along with the
decision to wait to marry, couples are also waiting longer before they have
children, sometimes in order to be more firmly established economically. Rearing
a child in the United States is costly.
Some couples today are deciding not to have children at all. In 1955, only one
per cent of all women expected to have no children. Today more than five per cent
say they are intent on remaining childless. The ability of a couple to choose
whether they will have children means that more children who are born in the
United States are very much wanted and loved.

Generation gap
If children in the United States are wanted and loved, why do they fight with
their parents? At least this is one view of families that American television shows
present. The other type of family shown on American television is one in which
everyone is great friends with everyone else. These families seem to have no
problems.
In real life, most families in the United States fall somewhere in the middle.
In fact, talk about a “generation gap” has been exaggerated. The so-called
24
generation gap is a gap between the views of the younger generation of teenagers
and the views of their parents.
Many parents in the United States want their children to be creative and
question what is around them. In a democratic society, American children are
taught not to obey blindly what is told to them. When children become teenagers,
they question the values of their parents. This is a part of growing up that helps
teenagers stabilize their own values. In one national survey, 80 per cent of the
parents answering the survey said their children shared their beliefs and values.
Another study showed that most teenagers rely on their parents more for guidance
and advice than on their friends.
When American parents and teenagers do argue, usually it is about simple
things. One survey found that the most common reason parents and teenagers
argue is because of the teenager’s attitude towards another family member.
Another common reason at the heart of such arguments is that parents want their
children to help more around the house. The third most common basis for
arguments between parents and teenagers is the quality of the teenager’s
schoolwork.
Arguments which involve drug or alcohol use occur in a much smaller group
of families. Most parents (92 per cent) said they were happy with the way their
children are growing up.

Uprootedness
How do problems arise in American families? One view is that American
families do not have enough stability and that people move too much to have
community roots. Of course, many American families remain for generations in
the same town or even in the same house. At the same time, the United States is a
mobile, adaptable country. People are willing to work hard in order to advance in
their jobs. Good workers are offered new opportunities in their jobs, sometimes in
a different city. Families must make the decision. Do they want to take the new job
in a new town? Or do they want to give up the opportunity?

25
 The thousands of American families who do decide to move each year may
face a difficult time fitting in with a new life. They leave behind a community that
they know. They leave behind schools that they trust and friends and family
members whom they love. They leave behind a church or religious group. They
leave behind a web of supports that helps keep a family strong.
In a new town, children and parents can become lonely. This loneliness
strains a family. For example, the area of the United States where people move the
most often, the Southwest, also is the area with the greatest number of divorces.
People in the United States know how hard moving can be, so they try to
lessen the strain for these families. Many neighborhoods form groups to make
newcomers feel at home. Teachers in schools also have meetings to welcome new
students. These teachers might pair a new student, with a “buddy” – another
student to help the new student.
Some children and parents mature from meeting new people and living in a
new place. These experiences can bring families closer together.
Americans are actually moving less often than they did 20 years ago. In I960,
about 20 per cent of the population moved. In 1987, about 20 per cent of the
population moved. These people moved shorter distances, too. Almost ninety per
cent of the people who moved in 1987 stayed within the same state. In families in
which both parents are working, a family may decide not to move because one
parent would have to give up his or her good job.

Family violence
Not all families learn to work out their problems. Sometimes family problems
can explode into violence. Twenty per cent of all murders in the United States
involve people who are either blood- or law-related. Often people learn violence
from their mothers or fathers. These people repeat the vicious pattern by abusing
their children or beating their wives. There are also cases of wives abusing their
husbands. Violence in the family is a serious problem in the United States, as it is
in many countries.

26
 People are looking for answers. One solution is to arrest people who abuse
members of their family. Traditionally, police in the United States hesitate to
interfere with family problems. However, the shame of an otherwise law-abiding
man being arrested for hurting his wife has been shown to be effective in stopping
him. Many cities and towns in the United States also offer “safe homes” in which
an abused person can find shelter. Help is also available for parents who abuse
their children.

Strong families
By working together in groups, parents can learn how to break the pattern of
hurting their children. In a perfect world, families would have no problems.
Parents would know how to rear their children to be responsible adults. Americans
and others throughout the world are trying to learn what makes strong, balanced
families. Perhaps families can learn how to solve their problems.
Researchers at the University of Nebraska have found some answers. Strong,
happy families share some patterns whether they are rich or poor, black or white.
Strong, happy families spend time together and are not time-squeezed. After
dinner, for example, happy families may take walks together or play games. Strong
families also talk about their problems. They may even argue so that problems can
be resolved before they get too big. Members of strong families show each other
affection and appreciation. Members of strong families are also committed to one
another and they tend to be religious. Finally, when problems arise, strong families
work together to solve them.
The values that Americans cherish, such as democracy and economic and
social freedom, are values that Americans want for their families. Americans work
hard to make their families successful. Today, however, families are changing, but
they are not disappearing. Americans accept that strong, happy families come in
many sizes and shapes.

27
Answer the following questions on the text.
1. Describe the main family patterns in the United States.
2. What is the prevailing attitude to different types of families in America?
3. What signs prove the great importance of the institution of family in the US?
What makes the family central to the emotional comfort of all Americans?
4. Is it believed that difficulties within families highlighted in the mass media are
exaggerated?
5. Enumerate the main functions of the family.
6. What positive signs can be observed in America to prove that Americans are
returning to the values of marriage and family?
7. Outline the changes the “traditional” American family has undergone as a result
of the pressures of modern society?
8. What factors affected family life in the early years of colonial America?
9. How did the process of industrialization and urbanization influence the family
scene in America?
10.What period can be considered the most family-oriented one in the American
history? Ground your statement.
11. What were the dramatic changes in the mindset of the Americans after the
1950s ? What impact did they have on family patterns?
12. Do high divorce rates mean that the Americans have been losing their faith in
happy marriage? Give your reasons.
13. What is the general approach to women working outside the home in the
United States?
14. Analyze the two basic reasons why American mothers take paid work.
Enumerate the arguments in favour and against mothers seeking careers?
15. What are the childcare options for American working mothers and do they
fully meet their needs?
16. What are the commonly cited reasons for delaying marriage and family life in
the USA? What positive and negative effects does the phenomenon entail?

28
17. Define the notion of the “generation gap”. What are the typical reasons for
disagreements between parents and children?
18. Mobility, or the so-called “uprootedness” is deemed to be a typical feature of
the American nation. What potential problems does the decision to move to
another community pose for a family? Does a similar tendency exist in our
country?
19. What are some of the ways to diminish the negative effects of moving to
another place both for adults and children?
20.Home violence is one of the burning problems of everyday life in the United
States, as well as globally. Enumerate the reasons for and the possible solutions
to it.
21.How are the cornerstone American values reflected in their family aspirations?
22. What is your vision of a strong, balanced family?

Text C
The Future of the Family
In 2020, family time will be even rarer, divorce rates will double and more
people will be happy single. At least we won’t complain that all the good men are
married.
The nuclear family – male breadwinner, female homemaker and 2.2 children
– is now a minority. The proportion of traditional households fell from 38 per cent
in 1961 to 23 per cent in 2000, and half of all married mothers with pre-school
children are in paid work today compared with a quarter 20 years ago. The birth
rate is in decline (almost a fifth of women born since the sixties are predicted to
remain single).

Serial divorce
The culture of marriage is rapidly making way for the culture of divorce.
The proportion of people willing to tie the knot is predicted to shrink from 57 per
cent in 1992 to 49 per cent in 2020. Each successive generation becomes less

29
intent on marriage. Of those who do, almost half are predicted to divorce. By 2020
the proportion of divorcees should double. Women’s heightened aspirations and
financial independence are at the heart of the issue. (Women already initiate 70 per
cent of all divorces.) This “genderquake” is nothing less than a shift in power from
men to women. If men fail to measure up to women’s growing expectations in the
new century, more women will abandon unhappy relationships.
Living in sin – again and again
More of us prefer live-in relationships rather than getting married. There has
been a fourfold increase in the number of people living together since the sixties.
Half of all women born in 1960 have lived with a partner, compared to under 20
per cent of women born in the forties. Cohabiting couples are actually more likely
to break up than married couples, but as we all living longer, serial cohabitation is
now the norm.

The new singletons

In the space of a generation there has been a significant increase in the
number of single people, a trend partly caused by high rates of relationship
breakdown. The market research group Mintel predicts that by the year 2010, there
will be eight million single-person households. Part of the reason for this is that we
are living longer. But the biggest increase in the number of single people has been
in the group below pensionable age. In 1995, 37 per cent of those living alone were
under the age of 55, compared to just 15 per cent in the 55- to 64-year-old age
group. The fastest rise in single-person householders has been among young men.
A new generation of singletons are likely to see being single as a positive lifestyle
choice. “Virtual lovers” – who do what you want, when you want – will become
cult purchases.

Delayed adulthood
Each successive generation is settling down and having children much later.
In 1971, men married for the first time at an average age of 22. Today, the average
age is 29. In 1971, the average age of first-time brides was 20; by 2002 it was 27.
30
Women are also having children later – the average age for a first child is now 29,
up from 23 in 1971. In 2002, for the first time, more children were being born to
women in their early thirties than women in their early twenties, and there has been
a 33 per cent increase in the number of women having children in their forties in
the past decade. As more people pursue higher education, the twenties is becoming
a transition period in which adulthood is delayed.
Time-squeezed families
Quality time – devoted to nurturing relationships and family – has become
very squeezed. Between 1993 and 1997, the Henley Centre for Forecasting found
that the proportion of people claiming they never had enough time rose by almost
10 per cent. Recent surveys show that women and men both want to spend more
time with their families.
Eventually, the “time squeeze” could jeopardize relationships. There could
be less opportunity for procreative sex, thus accelerating the baby drought. For
single people, longer working hours and greater job insecurity will mean fewer
opportunities to meet new partners.

The extended family makes a comeback

We are all living longer, so tomorrow’s families will incorporate four
generations. The Henley Centre recently predicted that 2020 Waltons-style
households will flourish. Three generations could live in the same home to reduce
the costs of caring – for children and grandparents – and to share such
responsibilities as parenting.

The Renaissance of family rituals

Changes in family life have produced new rituals. Divorce ceremonies are
now common, as are child-naming rituals and baby showers, while christening and
other church functions are in decline. In the twenty-first century, people seek new
forms of intimacy and connection. After 2020, marriage and parenthood are likely
to become fashionable again. We should also expect to see new and more authentic
marriage rituals involving same-sex couples as well as heterosexual couples. Ten-
31
year renewable marriage contracts and renewing ceremonies – in which couples
renegotiate and reaffirm their marriage vows could become commonplace, as
people start to see such lifelong commitments as more sustainable, realistic and
achievable.

The virtual family

More and more people are turning to technology to ease the time-squeeze
that haunts their lives. Mobile phones, laptops and palm PCs for teenagers show
how important telecommunication technology can be in uniting families.
Teleconferences, too, can be used to facilitate communication and aid the family’s
process of decision-making – proving useful when mum and dad are away on
business trips. And just as a minority of today’s busy parents use teleparenting
systems, virtual monitoring will become commonplace. Thousands of British
families are already setting up websites and posting family albums on the Internet.
In 2010, using a website to communicate with family members around the world
will be as normal as using a telephone is.

Fertility management
As puberty sets in earlier, the explosion in pre-teen pregnancies will be
offset by mass immunization programmes offering 5- or 10-year protection against
pregnancy. With reproductive spans stretching to 80 years or more and serial
sexual partnership and the menopause a non-event, the big change will be that you
have to opt out of contraception rather than in. As sperm counts continue to fall,
assisted conception will become the norm and contraception the exception.

Sex life
Viagra or no Viagra, the more men and women we have in their nineties,
100s and 100-plus, the less sex feature in our spiritual lives. The three great
monotheist religions that hitherto focused a great deal of their energy and attention
on the sins of the flesh, will find that many of their flock are well past this
particular temptation. Mercifully, other issues will thus come to prominence –
divine authority, free will and, above all, eternal life. This freeing of spirituality
32
from the stranglehold of sexuality will have a distinct impact on contemporary
religious art, where luscious representations of lusty humanity will make way for
asexual prophets, virginal maidens and a surfeit of Madonnas.

Answer the following questions on the text.

1. Enumerate the current trends in modern family life that are most likely to cause
drastic changes on the family scene in the near future.
2. What 3 major reasons are at the heart of the decline of the marriage culture in
general and the shrinking proportion of marriages in particular?
3. How have alternative living patterns affected the culture of marriage?
4. What are the 4 major causes why the number of single people has been steadily
growing worldwide? Do you agree that those alarming trends reveal both the
changing structure of the population and a change in attitudes towards the
family unit?
5. Quote the recent developments that have altered the traditional image of the
family institution.
6. Define the notion of “quality time”. Why can the “time squeeze” be dangerous
for family relationships?
7. What family pattern will presumably have made a comeback by 2020? Name
some of its benefits and flaws.
8. What new family rituals (secondary effects) are likely to be caused by primary
changes in family life?
9. Speak on the developments in family life caused by recent advances in
telecommunication technologies.
10. What are the predicted changes regarding the fertility management of families?
What has caused them and what are their possible effects?
11. What are the factors underlying a societal shift towards a culture of asexuality?
12. Which of the following trends can be defined as positive/negative? Have any
of them taken place in our country?

33
 Vocabulary Exercises

Ex. 1. Translate the following text into English, focusing on the italicized
words and phrases. Make use of the key vocabulary.

Британская семья
Каковы бы ни были взгляды на семейную жизнь, счастливые, стабиль-
ные семьи и поддержка/отстаивание семейных ценностей определенно яв-
ляются символом общественного благополучия. По утверждению социоло-
гов, брачный союз по-прежнему в моде, хотя понятия идеальной семьи и так
называемых Викторианских ценностей являются пережитком прошлого.
Тем не менее бытует распространенное мнение о том, что
институт/«ячейка» семьи в Британии находится в состоянии кризиса. Более
того, некоторые политики склонны возлагать вину за многочисленные
общественные беды на упадок семейной жизни.
Как правило, семья определяется как группа людей, связанных узами
кровного родства либо юридически и живущих вместе с какой-либо общей
целью, к примеру, предоставление крова и пищи, а также воспитание детей.
Социологи делят семьи на две категории: нуклеарная семья, состоящая из
двух родителей и двух детей, и расширенная семья. Хотя базовая семья
считается типичной, число таких семей с каждым годом ощутимо
уменьшается.
В 2000-х гг. семейная жизнь в Британии значительно изменилась.
Общественно приемлемыми стали нетрадиционные браки и образ жизни, не-
полные семьи/семьи с одним кормильцем, дети получают большую свободу.
Со сравнительно недавнего времени женщины в Британии стали заниматься
оплачиваемой работой и составляют 44% рабочей силы. В то же время, не-
смотря на то, что растет число женщин, ставших основными кормильцами в
своих семьях, зачастую их работа низкооплачиваема и непостоянна.

34
 Присмотр за детьми – актуальная проблема в Британии, поскольку пе-
чально известным стало явление «маленьких взрослых», которые надолго
остаются без надзора. Родители могут нанять няню или записать ребенка в
центр по присмотру за детьми, где работают квалифицированные воспита-
тели. Поскольку это может быть довольно дорого, многие предпочли бы от-
давать детей в государственные ясли или ясли при учреждениях. Родителям
школьников зачастую приходится работать неполный день, чтобы приспосо-
биться к расписанию.
Следствием закона о разводе 1971 г. стало значительное упрощение
бракоразводного процесса. Единственной причиной для прошения о разводе
считается «неизбежный распад брака», который больше не осуждается цер-
ковью и считается делом сугубо личным. Как следствие этого, количество
разводов возросло, от чего в первую очередь страдают дети.
Одна из тенденций послевоенного общества Британии – проверка
отношений на прочность путем сожительства, что необязательно ведет к
заключению брака. В результате этого увеличился процент детей, рожден-
ных вне брака. Неполные семьи – явление, достаточно распространенное в
Британии. Причины могут быть различны – от смерти супруга до распада
гражданского брака. Безусловно, в более невыгодном положении оказыва-
ются матери-одиночки, которые не в состоянии получать высокий доход и
должным образом заботиться о детях. Согласно общепризнанному мнению,
для стабильного развития детям все же необходимо усвоить социальные роли
обоих полов.
Наряду с традиционной британской семьей существуют другие формы
семейной жизни, введенные иммигрантами и национальными меньшинст-
вами. В азиатских общинах семья основана на отношениях кровного род-
ства, много внимания уделяется обязательствам по отношению к родствен-
никам из страны происхождения. В семейной жизни иммигрантов из Юж-
ной Азии доминирует мужчина, который распоряжается семейным бюд-

35
жетом и принимает решения. Тем не менее во многих семьях выходцев из
Западной Индии главенствует женщина.
После 1960-х гг., когда стало развиваться «свободное общество/обще-
ство вседозволенности», с детьми стали обращаться менее строго. Побои
стали осуждаться обществом. Многие дети начинают самостоятельную
жизнь довольно рано и уходят из дома уже в 18 лет.

Ex. 2. Match the words and word combinations in the left column with the
correct definitions in the right column.
1) to renounce a) a child between infancy and school age,
usually between the ages of 2 and 5
2) singleton b) to lessen, as in amount, worth, etc.
3) genderquake c) to unite or combine into a single whole
4) quality time d) to make easy or easier
5) to facilitate e) any force or action that restricts or
suppresses freedom
6) flock f) an event or occurrence that is boring,
does not fulfill smb’s expectations
7) to incorporate g) to give up; to cast off or disown
8) non-event h) colloq. a relative by marriage
9) pre-schooler i) any group, esp. a large one, as the members
of a church or the children in a family
10) stranglehold j) male-dominated
11) to frown upon smth k) time devoted to nurturing family relationships
12) to shrink l) a shift in power from men to women
13) in-law m) too great an amount or supply; excess of
14) surfeit n) smth occurring or existing singly and not
as one of a pair or of a group
15) patriarchal o) to disapprove of smth

36
Ex. 3. Study the following definitions and give the corresponding topical
terms.
1) children who have their own key to their home, because there is no one to let
them in after school
2) an arrangement to meet smb socially, having not met before
3) not sexual; without sex or sexuality
4) a group of people related by blood or law, living together or associating with
one another for a common purpose
5) colloq. to get married
6) a day nursery for infants
7) a working person whose earnings support his or her dependents
8) failure or inability of the younger and older generations to communicate,
understand one another
9) a basic social unit consisting of parents and their children living in one
household
10) a person born in the US during the great increase in birthrate in the years
following the Second World War
11) to live together as husband and wife, esp. when not legally married
12) virtuousness; sexual abstinence; decency or modesty
13) a person employed to take full care of another’s young child or children;
nursemaid
14) a group of relatives by blood, marriage, or adoption, often including a nuclear
family, living in close proximity or together, esp. if 3 generations are involved
15) sexual intercourse aimed at begetting offspring
16) (in Great Britain, 1967 onward) term used for social changes including greater
sexual freedom, homosexual law reform, abolition of censorship in the theater,
frank discussion of hitherto taboo subjects, etc.
17) a kind of social mobility; a social trend which refers to individuals or families
moving from an accustomed or native location into a new environment

37
Ex. 4. Read the text and fill in the blanks with suitable words or word
combinations in the correct form from the box below.

breakdown of marriage stigma commit oneself to marriage

decline of the family traditional family hasty commitment

steady frown upon kinship ties commonly held view
separate households shrink remarry courtship
familial arrangement dating in-laws disrupt a marriage
“blind date” separate socially acceptable birth-control
casual family unit divorce petition formal engagement

The Family
Most American families consist of a mother, a father, and three or four
children living at home. There may be relatives and (1) … in the same
community, but American families usually maintain close (2) … . This (3) … is
known as the (4) … . Although the nuclear (5) … is economically independent of
the rest of the family, members of the whole family group often maintain (6) … .
Marriage in the United States is viewed as a matter of individual
responsibility and decision. Most American men (7) … by the time they are 25,
and the husband is usually two or three years older than his wife.
Marriage is preceded by (8) … , that is, young men and women going out
together. Although serious dating with a commitment to marriage is the familiar
type of (9) … in many cultures, there is a (10) … attached to the (11) … American
dating system, which usually begins in the early teens. For instance, it is perfectly
respectable for friends to arrange a (12) … , that is, a date between two young
people who have not met before. By the late teens a pattern of (13) … dating
develops, which is often followed by marriage or by a (14) … , which is, in effect,
a public statement of the intention to marry.
38
 After their marriage the young couple is free to decide where to live and
when to start a family. (15) … information is easily available, and the practice of
limiting the size of families has general approval. The birth rate has been (16) …
steadily in recent years.
If the couple finds that their marriage was a (17) … , they are free to (18) …
or (19) … . The divorce rate has almost doubled in the past fifty years, and current
statistics indicate that one of every three marriages will end in divorce. Many
people (20) … these figures and blame them on the (21) … . A number of
sociologists, on the other hand, say that this increase in divorces does not indicate
less happy, balanced families. Instead, they point to changes in the laws that have
made a (22) … easier to get and to changes in attitudes that have made divorce
more (23) … than it had been years ago. It’s also a (24) … that since the
prevailing majority of divorcees (25) … , divorce marks a temporary, rather than a
permanent (26) … .

Ex. 5. Fill in the correct prepositions where necessary.

Expanding societal impersonality of the epoch of over-globalization rests (1)
… the heart of the phenomenon of “the new singletons”, says the research done by
an independent sociologist group. (2) … the space (3) … a generation there has
been a dramatic increase (4) … the number of single people. Such a trend is partly
caused by high rates of relationship disruption, which most frequently occurs when
a person has failed to measure (5) … (6) … a partner’s expectations or either of the
partners has opted (7) … (8) … a mutual arrangement.
The website set (9) … by the market research group Mintel offers a
prediction that by the year 2010, the number of single-person households will
amount (10) … eight million. Part of the reason (11) … this is the globally
increased life span. However, the biggest rise (12) … the number of single people
has been in the group (13) … pensionable age (37 per cent of those (14) … living
alone were (15) … the age of 55, compared (16) … just 15 per cent in the 55- to

39
64-year-old age group). The fastest increase (17) … single-person householders
has been observed (18) … young men who are intent (19) … a financially and
personally independent life mode. Furthermore, a societal shift (20) … values has
been having a distinct impact (21) … the growing numbers of single households.
A new generation of singletons have freed themselves (22) … the stranglehold (23)
… societal stereotypes and have made way (24) … an alternative approach,
viewing being single as a positive lifestyle choice. Mercifully, the majority are too
much stuck (25) … the knots they tie to speak about a society of total
abandonment of marital bonds.

Ex. 6. Use the words given in brackets to form a word that fits in the space
according to the meaning.
The Problem of (Cohabit)
Cohabitation by (define) is “two unmarried people of the (oppose) sex living
together”. It has been called by a (vary) of terms, such as “living together”,
“shacking up”, or “living in sin”. The numbers of (cohabit) have risen steadily from
an average rate of nearly 100,000 per year since 1960 to over 4 million couples.
Today in America, cohabitation has (place) marriages as the (prevail) form
of male-to-female unions and has become a subtle form of (court). In many
universities, it is being taught as an (accept) alternative (arrange) and as a good
strategy as a test run or trial before marriage.
There is, (fortune – neg.), an ever-growing (collect) of research data that
sheds a highly (favor – neg.) light on live-in (relate). Marriage is one shoe you
cannot try before you buy it. Cohabitation is a heavy (contribute) to the (integrate
– neg.) of most marriages even before they begin! Recent studies have shown that
marriage (commit) that are preceded by living together have more than a 50 per
cent higher (disrupt) – divorce or (separate) – rates than those without
cohabitation. Cohabitation is the (vision – neg.), front end cancer of marriage!

40
 In other words, the traditional (family) form of a mother and father raising
children under the same roof is being (grade) replaced by alternative family and
(parent) patterns. Over the past 15 years, the fastest growing family practices have
been out-of-wedlock (bear), followed by stepfamilies, and then split households.
Although marriage is (norm) important for civilized society, from all (indicate),
the USA are (retrieve – neg.) becoming a mixed “live-in”, “divorce” and a “non
marriage” culture, all at the same time.

Integrated Discourse Skills Development

I. a. Comment on the following proverbs. Do you agree with them? Find

arguments to ground your opinion. Compare them with the Russian
equivalents. Do the same ideas expressed in different languages reflect
different approaches to societal issues in various cultures?
1. Marriages are made in heaven. (Смерть да жена Богом суждена.)
2. Marriage is a lottery. (Брак – это лотерея.)
3. A good husband makes a good wife. (Жена мужем красна. У доброго мужа
и жена досужа.)
4. First thrive and then wive. (Сперва оперись, а потом женись.)
5. Marry in haste and repent in leisure. (Женился на скорую руку да на долгую
муку.)
6. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. (Реже видишь, больше любишь.)
b. Pick one proverb and make up a short story based on its message. Make
use of the focus vocabulary.

II. a. Put down a detailed list of similarities and differences between the recent
developments in modern family life in Great Britain and the USA. Rely on the
information of 1) Texts A and B, 2) supplementary texts and 3) individually done
research.

41
b. Discuss and compare with your colleagues 1) your lists (objective approach);
2) possible opinions on the problem (subjective approach).
c. Choose a speaker to render a general conclusion on the subject.

III. Monologue Discourse Modelling

1. Individual Work: Prepare a short speech on a certain aspect of the problem of
modern family life. Compose a written plan to arrange the main ideas logically for
further reference. Frame your presentation in accordance with the following key
points.
a. Pick out a topically related position/profession (e.g. representative of a family-
oriented institution, a newspaper columnist writing on family-related issues); think
of a way to introduce yourself (a fictitious name and social status, brief
background information, etc.).
b. Make a careful study of the topical materials and vocabulary (basic and
supplementary texts, self-done research). Formulate a clear-cut message you are
going to communicate to the audience and sort out the relevant and additional
information in a logical order to develop the main idea.
c. Define your personal attitude to the main topic and its possible interpretation in
the context of the selected role; note the degree to which your subjective view of
the problem can and will influence your discourse (any implicit submessages,
personal implications, etc.).
d. Decide on the style (and genre) of your presentation, focusing on the
observance of the style-forming principles and style-markers. Parallelly, work out
and note down the structure of your discourse (text micro- and macrocomposition)
according to the chosen 1) message and 2) role. Estimate the length of the
presentation
e. Thoroughly plan the manner of your presentation. Consider the peculiarities of
the chosen role (decide whether you are going to be an assertive/passive/reasoning,
etc. speaker; choose an overall tone and mood for your speech; imitate a dialect;

42
possibly adjust the vocabulary to your social status, etc.) and the social setting
(social and gender characteristics of the listeners; the predisposition and
expectations of the audience; the degree of formality you will communicate, etc.).
Apply a variety of oratory skills to make your speech more audience-oriented and
observe the factors of convincingness and emotivity (intonation, speech tempo,
pausation, gestures, posture, etc.), the use of audio-visual aids (e.g. diagrams,
slide-shows, audio-referential materials, etc.).
f. Time (7-10 minutes), rehearse and preferably record your presentation, consult
the opinion of a second listener, if necessary; be prepared to reproduce it smoothly
in class.
2. Class Activities
a. Deliver your speech in class.
b. Provide consecutive translation for either one or several speakers on the
subject, be sure to focus on the intention of the speaker. Communicate the
presentation in the form of a critical extract both in the Source and Target
Languages.
c. Listen to the speakers carefully, evaluate all the presentations according to the
above-mentioned criteria and comment on them. Choose the most successful
speaker and interpreter; discuss with your colleagues and rate in order of relevance
the key success points of their discourses.

IV. Dialogue Discourse Modelling

1. Out-of-class Projecting: Team up with a partner to compose and interact a
public interview discussing the forecasts on prospective trends and developments
of the family unit. Distribute the roles of the Interviewer and Interviewee.
Develop your discourse along the following key points.
a. Pick out a position/profession (e.g. Interviewer – TV-journalist, newspaper
reporter; Interviewee – social worker, representative of a family-studies institution,
anyone concerned personally, etc.). Work out a way to introduce yourself (a
fictitious name and social status, brief background information, etc.)/(Interviewer)
43
your interlocutor.
b. Make a close study of the related materials and vocabulary (Text C,
supplementary texts, independently done research). Outline and discuss 1) the
general message to be communicated to the audience; 2) the key directions of the
conversation and sort out the relevant information. Put down the draft scheme of
the dialogue.
c. Discuss and compare your personal attitudes to the main topic and its possible
interpretations in the context of the chosen roles. Mark the point to which your
subjective views can and will influence your discourse (any implicit submessages
and intentions of the interlocutors, etc.).
d. Decide on the share of participation of each interlocutor, the overall strategy of
the discourse (non-/cooperativeness) and the distribution of communicative roles
(i.e. who dominated the conversation; speaker-leader vs speaker-follower).
e. Reshape your interview draft, marking the prospective speaker-change points,
formulating and posing questions, etc. Extend it, observing the main style-forming
features and, each interlocutor individually, work on the macro-/microcomposition
of your part. Estimate the length of your discourse, taking into account possible
questions from the audience.
f. Plan the manner of your presentation according to the chosen 1) message and
2) role. Make it 1) interlocutor- and 2) audience-oriented. Mind the
conversational context of the discourse (i.e. the number of the participants, their
social status, gender; their general expectations and interest in the topic, etc.).
Choose the mood (modality) of your speech to best disclose your message and
project a certain impression on the listeners (factors of convincingness, emotivity
and other submodalitites). Think of means to create it (possibly select the
vocabulary and grammatical patterns; choose the pace, pitch and intonation
contours of talk, imitate a dialect, if needed, etc.). Be ready to reframe the course
of the interview and face communicative challenges (side-questions, commentary
and unexpected reaction from the audience; overlapping talk, misunderstanding,

44
unwanted silent lapses, etc.).
g. Rehearse, time and preferably record your conversation. Discuss it with the
partner and make necessary changes. Provide a script-version of your discourse.
2. Class Activities
a. Act out your interviews. Keep to the required criteria.
b. Listen to and observe the speakers carefully; note down any questions you
would like to ask on the subject.
c. Provide consecutive translation for pairs of speakers; be sure to communicate
their intention.
d. Evaluate the interviews according to the forecoming criteria and comment on
them. Select the best 1) interviewer, 2) interviewee, 3) interpreter, 4) the most
active and involved listener and discuss their key success points.

45
 Unit 2. What Makes a Good Parent?
Family Discipline and Changes in Parental Authority

Study and learn the topical focus vocabulary list. Provide Russian equivalents to
the vocabulary items.
Focus Vocabulary List
1) permissive; permissiveness (excessive/extreme ~; syn. overindulgence; sheer
negligence); lax authority; (parental) laxity
2) authoritative; authoritativeness
3) prone to obey authority (syn. docile, n docility/obedient; to pressure smb into
obedience); ant. indocile/disobedient/recalcitrant
4) to rebel/make (adolescent) rebellion against parents (syn. resentment; to be
resentful of smth)
5) to roughhouse; roughhousing; to be at war with smb
6) to admonish smb for smth
7) to spank/paddle smb
8) to impose harsh rules on smb; to impose smth by authority from within/without
9) to persuade smb through fear; to be fearful of smth
10) to bring smth under control; to take/(re)assert control over smb; to set
controls/limits/strains on oneself; to put strains on smth
11) to degenerate into smth ( ~ deliberate cruelty or meanness); to inflict
(psychological) wounds on smb; to recover from smth (~ traumatic
experience)*
12) declining achievement (~ in classroom)
13) to hold smb responsible for smth; to take on/accept responsibilities for smth;
to take the blame for smth*
14) a broken/split home
15) to be in the workforce (Br.)/laborforce (Am.); syn. to be in the workforce

46
16) alarming/troubling statistics*
17) the root cause*
18) to zero in on smth; to give high/low priority to smth*
19) to take hold (about an idea, concept, etc.)*
20) to get (the) wind of smth*
21) a fad (in child care)*
22) a nationwide revival of interest in parental authority
23) to retain one’s faith in the “liberated child” philosophy
24) to resort to/to condone occasional (ant. permanent) resort to smth*
25) to be fanatical in smth (~ one’s desire)*
26) to baby smb
27) to downgrade (enthusiasm); ant. to reinforce (skepticism)*
28) to benefit visibly from smth; gratifying results*
29) to bridge/close/stop the gap*
30) intrusion of alien values (through television); to guide children away from
violence
31) to fit into life
32) to be independent of smb (ant. ~ dependent on smb)*
33) …whose name is a Legion…*

Study the texts, identify the active vocabulary items and discuss the questions
following the texts.

Text A

PERMISSIVENESS: “A Beautiful Idea” that Didn’t Work?

Recent fads in child care are on the way out as parents reassert their control
over offspring. Results, many families find, are gratifying.

47
 At the Theraplay Institute1 in Chicago, a small child from a “permissive”
home was gently but firmly admonished by an adult for misbehaving. The
youngster soberly conceded the point without a whimper – and her parents,
watching behind a one-way window from the next room, were amazed. “I can’t
believe it,” the father said, shaking his head.
“My kid is learning to behave without kicking and screaming in the
process.”
It was a typical session at the institute, which is teaching about 400 children
a year to overcome the effects of excessive permissiveness at home.
A nationwide revival of interest in parental authority and responsibility is
only one of many evidences that further the growing worry over the health and
future of the American family. Sociologists, psychiatrists and other scholars are
warning that a return to stability in national life cannot be achieved without a
strong balanced family base. More and more, too, critics are zeroing in on the
home – not society at large – as the source of troublesome youngsters.
Parents of juvenile criminals are sometimes finding themselves on the
receiving end of multimillion-dollar damage suits brought by the families of the
victims. Some communities are experimenting with the idea of holding parents
responsible for paying the costs of vandalism committed by their children.
Recently the president of the National Education Association announced that
educators are tired of taking the blame for declining achievement in classrooms,
when much of the root cause is lack of support and motivation in the home. He
said: “We must ask: Why are we seeing more of such students? And what is
happening to families and homes in this era of increased mobility and single-parent
split homes?” Alarming statistics reinforce skepticism about the way the
American family is functioning. One out of every 6 American children is living
with only one or neither parent. Half the mothers of school-age children are in the
workforce.

1
The Theraplay Institute – an institution in which children are taught to overcome the effects of too much
permissiveness at home.
48
 There are other factors that many see as putting new strains on family
solidarity and stability. Among them the intrusion of alien values into the home
through television, and – as much as anything else – the emergence of a permissive
theory of child rearing that became popular in recent decades through the writings
of Dr. Benjamin Spock2 and other classics on child-rearing. This theory was
critical of punishment in any form, or denial of rewards to indocile children.
Parents, instead, were encouraged to discuss problems with their youngsters,
resorting to persuasion rather than punishment.
Some family and child specialists retain their faith in the “liberated child”
philosophy. For instance, Dr. E. Gerald D., head of the child and adolescent
outpatient clinic at New York Hospital, says young people are “no longer in the
dark as they were 50 years ago.” He adds: “They know what goes on. I think
they are great – exciting and stimulating. One of the reasons that adults don’t like
them is that they ‘don’t know their place’ as they did 100 years ago, or even 20
years ago.”
Now many family advisers are intent to downgrade enthusiasm for other
popular trends such as raising children in communes by lone parents.
Dr. Dennis G. of the outpatient clinic at the University of Chicago Medical School
says: “A child needs two loving parents. When one parent is absent, physically or
emotionally, the child can face deep traumatic experience.” Permissiveness has
been strongly advocated.
The renewed emphasis on old methods has created many problems for
parents attuned to philosophy of the recent past. In some cases, a whole program
of re-education has been necessary.
At Chicago’s Theraplay Institute, parents are encouraged to learn from the
work of professional therapists. Ann J., director of Theraplay, advocates that
children should be raised with definite rules and strains in the household, or they
may become confused and embittered, unable to set controls on themselves. “A

2
A famous pediatrician. His book, Baby and Child Care, has been a primary source of information on children for
more than 50 years.
49
family is not a democracy,” she adds. “Children need a time to be babied, a time
to be told how to live, and a time to be loved physically before they are ready to
behave as adults.”
Her recommendation is that “parents should be the meanest mom and dad on
the block with rules, and the most loving mom and dad on the block with playful
physical activity.” That advice is echoed by many other counselors and scholars,
some of whom condone occasional resort to “paddling” the recalcitrant child when
all else fails. Many children, themselves, seem to agree that permissiveness is not
the sole culprit in parental shortcomings.
Many parents often are found to be too strict with their children, imposing
harsh rules without much thought to a particular youngster’s needs. Power-income
parents, fearful of outside pressures, tend to give low priority to time spent playing
with their youngsters or simply listening to them.
Nor is a return to authoritative households seen as likely, by itself, to solve
the disarray in today’s families.
What is needed, counselors say, are broad-scale adjustments in social and
economic institutions to provide support for family stability. As more parents
place their toddlers in day-care centers or nursery schools, such agencies are being
called on to provide for parental participation on a regular basis to keep each
child’s family in the picture. Day-care centers provided by employers for children
of working mothers have not taken hold in America as rapidly as in Europe.
Even so, counselors say, children can benefit visibly from visits to the
offices or factories where their parents work. Understanding more about their
elders’ activities is described as an effective way of bridging the gaps that exist
between the two generations.
Another major effort involves better preparation of teenagers and young
adults for parental responsibilities and children’s needs. One approach: the home
and family classes for high-school students, now being offered increasingly by
school systems across the country.

50
 Some experts say that help may soon be coming from yet another factor –
the tendency of today’s young people to marry and bear children at later ages than
in the past. This, the reasoning goes, could produce parents who are more mature
and better able to fit into the responsibilities of child rearing than their parents
were.
Even so, some scholars warn, changes within the family cannot achieve the
needed stability and effectiveness in child rearing without support from outside
institutions.
In the past, some critics feel, schools, courts and other institutions were all
too willing to take on responsibilities once those of the family, as evidenced by the
growth of counseling, psychiatric programs and nursery schools.
Now, they believe, the time has come for outside institutions to search for
ways to support the family in carrying out its functions, not take them over. Says
Sam L., a youth coordinator for the probate court in Pontiac, Mich.: “What we’re
seeing is a recognition that the courts, and perhaps the schools, have accepted a lot
more responsibility for raising youngsters than they should have. Now we’re
renouncing that.”

Answer the following questions on the text.

1. Instability of family as an institution of national life arouses nationwide concern

in the United States. Consider the following points:
a. Why is emphasis laid on parental responsibility?
b. Where do educational institutions come in?
c. How does the social structure affect family instability?
2. What are the basic components of the theory of permissiveness? What is the
origin of this theory traced to? What are some of the possible reasons why it
has been so popular?
3. What social evils does the author blame on permissiveness? Do you agree that
permissiveness is the root of the US nationwide upsurge of violence?

51
4. What wide-ranging measures are suggested by the author in order to achieve
family stability and effectiveness in child-rearing? As you speak, consider the
following points:
a. parents: working out a cooperative and flexible child-rearing approach;
b. social and economic institutions: 1) stimulating parental participation in
child-upbringing; 2) preparation of teenagers and young adults for parental
responsibilities and children’s needs.
5. What conclusion does the author arrive at? Do you agree with it? Find
arguments to prove your point of view?

Comprehension Check
Find the phrases from Section A in the article, then match them with the
corresponding synonymous expressions in Section B. Try to guess from the
context what each one means and give a suitable translation. If necessary, use
the definitions in Section B to help.

1) critics are zeroing in on the home 5) to downgrade enthusiasm

– not society at large 6) on the block with rules
2) parents of juvenile criminals are 7) on the block with playful activity
sometimes finding themselves on
8) some of whom condone
the receiving end of
occasional resort to “paddling”
multimillion-dollar damage suits
the recalcitrant child
brought by the families of the
victim 9) permissiveness is not the sole
culprit in parental shortcomings
3) declining achievement in
classrooms 10) authoritative households

4) the intrusion of alien values into 11) to keep each child’s family in the

the home through television picture

52
B

a) some of whom occasionally allow f) permissiveness is not the main and

beating the disobedient child with only parental shortcoming
a stick
g) parents of juvenile criminals
b) critics put the blame on the home, sometimes receive summons over
not institutions of society on the the multimillion-dollar damage
whole done by their children
c) deterioration in children’s progress h) families that command and
at school pressure the children rather than
d) (when) engaged in games and uses persuasion
physical activity i) interference of negative influence
e) to keep the child’s parents/family of television
members continuously informed j) (when) trying to impose rules
of how the child is doing in the
k) to reduce significance of
day-center
enthusiasm

Article Rendering: Basic Structure Build-Up

a. Theme Development: In each point, circle the letter next to the answer
which best relates the contents of the article.
1. The subject of the article is:
a) the life of the American family;
b) permissiveness as a theory of raising children;
c) the responsibility of courts and schools for rearing children.
2. The main idea of the article is that:
a) permissiveness has failed as a theory of the child rearing;
b) an authoritative household will not work;
c) parental responsibility is the only cure.
53
3. The author’s points in paragraphs 1-5 are:
a) a family is the nucleus of national life;
b) the home and not society is responsible for declining achievement in
classrooms;
c) statistics about the family are very alarming;
d) educators are aware of deteriorating standards;
e) television is a bad influence.
4. The best summary of paragraphs 7-9 is:
a) right things should come at the right time in raising children at home; also
broad-scale adjustments in social and economic institutions should
supplement family efforts;
b) early marriages are harmful for family life and often lead to a divorce;
c) home and family classes should be an essential part of high school education.
5. The main idea of paragraphs 10-12 is:
a) support from outside institutions is an integral part of effectiveness in child
rearing;
b) outside institutions have separated themselves from child rearing;
c) courts have accepted too much responsibility for raising youngsters.
b. Message Development: Match the thematic sub-aspects from the previous
task with the following ideas implying the message of the article.
1. A return to stability in national life cannot be achieved without a strong
family base.
2. Much of the root cause in social evils is lack of support and motivation in
the home.
3. The rise of a permissive theory of child rearing is a major factor that puts
new strains on family solidarity and stability.
4. An authoritative household cannot solve the disarray in a family.
5. The time has come for outside institutions to search for ways to support the
family in carrying out its functions, not take them over.

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Text B

Parents Are Too Permissive with Their Children Nowadays

Few people would defend the Victorian attitude to children, but if you were
a parent in those days, at least you knew where you stood: children were to be
seen and not heard. Freud and company did away with all that and parents have
been bewildered ever since. The child’s happiness is all-important, the
psychologists say, but what about the parents’ happiness? Parents suffer
constantly from fear and guilt while their children gaily romp about pulling the
place apart. A good old-fashioned spanking is out of the question: no modern
child-rearing manual would permit such barbarity. The trouble is you are not
allowed even to shout. Who knows what deep psychological wounds you might
inflict? The poor child may never recover from the dreadful traumatic experience.
So it is that parents bend over backwards to avoid giving their children complexes
which a hundred years ago hadn’t even been heard of. Certainly a child needs
love, and a lot of it. But the excessive permissiveness of modern parents is surely
doing more harm than good.
Psychologists have succeeded in downgrading parents’ confidence in their
own authority. And it hasn’t taken children long to get wind of the fact. In
addition to the great modern classics on child care, there are countless articles in
magazines and newspapers. With so much unsolicited advice flying about, mum
and dad just don’t know what to do any more. In the end, they do nothing at all.
So, from early childhood, the kids are in charge and parents’ lives are regulated
according to the needs of their offspring. When the little dears develop into
teenagers, they take complete control. Lax authority over the years makes
adolescent rebellion against parents all the more violent. If the young people are
going to have a party, parents are asked to leave the house. Their presence merely
spoils the fun. What else can the poor parents do but obey?

55
 Children are hardy creatures (far hardier than the psychologists would have
us believe) and most of them survive the harmful influence of extreme
permissiveness which is the normal condition in the modern household. But a
great many do not. The spread of juvenile delinquency in our own age is largely
due to parental laxity. Mother, believing that little Johnny can look after himself,
is not at home when he returns from school, so little Johnny roams the streets. The
dividing-line between permissiveness and sheer negligence is very fine indeed.
The psychologists have much to answer for. They should keep their mouths
shut and let parents get on with the job. And if children are knocked about a little
bit in the process, it may not really matter too much. At least this will help them to
develop vigorous views of their own and give them something positive to react
against. Perhaps there’s some truth in the idea that children who’ve had a surfeit of
happiness in their childhood emerge like stodgy puddings and fail to make a
success of life.

The arguments: key words

1. One can’t defend Victorian attitude to children, but position clear then:
children seen, not heard.
2. Freud and Co. have done away with this view.
3. Psychologists: child’s happiness important. Parents’?
4. Parents: fear and guilt; spanking forbidden; barbarity.
5. Not even shouting: psychological wounds; traumatic experience.
6. Parents try to avoid giving complexes unknown 100 years ago.
7. Love, yes, but excessive permissiveness harmful
8. Psychologists undermined parents’ confidence in authority.
9. Children aware of this.
10.Bombarded with child-care books, articles, etc., parents don’t know what to do;
do nothing.
11.Regulate lives according to children’s needs.

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12.Lax authority: adolescent rebellion all the more violent.
13.E.g. parties: parents not wanted.
14.Children: hardy creatures; most survive permissiveness.
15.Many don’t: juvenile delinquency; e.g. Johnny roams streets.
16.Dividing line, permissiveness and negligence very fine.
17.Psychologists to blame: leave parents alone.
18.If children knocked about a bit – not important.
19.Develop vigorous views, something positive to react against.
20.Surfeit of happiness: stodgy puddings.

The counter-argument: key words

1. If parents err today in bringing up children, they err on the right side.
2. There is no defence for Victorian harshness, hypocrisy, barbarity.
3. We can only be grateful to Freud and Co.: an age of enlightenment.
4. Child-care manuals: sensible and practical; not authoritarian.
5. We know too much to be authoritarian these days.
6. Of course love is all-important.
7. Love and care is not the same as permissiveness and negligence.
8. No one would defend parental laxity.
9. We are not concerned here with delinquent children, but with children from
happy home backgrounds.
10.Psychological wounds can be very real.
11.E.g. can later lead to mental illness.
12.Children today: healthy in body and mind; parents really care.
13.Develop more quickly than previous generation.
14.Soon gain independence from parents.
15.Grow up to be mature, responsible adults.

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Answer the following questions on the text.
1. What was the so-called Victorian attitude to children, according to the author of
the article?
2. How has the approach to child-rearing changed throughout the centuries? Who
contributed most to a new philosophy of child upbringing?
3. Describe and analyze the shifted roles of parents and children within the
framework of the permissiveness theory.
4. Why does the author persist in his opinion that excessive permissiveness and
lax authority are doing more harm than good? What factual proof does he
provide? Do you share the suggested view?
5. What are some of the arguments for reasonable parental authority in a
household?

Text C

Pre-reading exercise
1. Fill in the columns in the chart with the corresponding adjectives and
phrases from the list below. Some descriptions may fit into both columns.

CHILD PARENT

Happy Unhappy Happy Unhappy

(Problem)

Kind-hearted; uncompromising; self-willed; confused; polite; unable to cope

with difficulties, problems; loving; demanding; affectionate; humiliated;
confident; uninterested; prone to obey; balanced; indifferent; secure;
impatient; approving; getting along (comfortably) with others; insensible; self-
restrained; gregarious; reasonable; indulging; sociable; wrong-doing;
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restraining; insensitive; reassuring; submissive; communicative; aggressive;
delinquent; pampering; outgoing; misbehaving; unselfish; self-indulging;
hard-working; fussy; impersonal; hard; industrious; offensive; self-
disciplined; disapproving; cruel; self-possessed; permissive; obedient;
sentimental; understanding; harsh; disciplined; alert; destructive; timid;
undisciplined; disrespectful; motivated; arrogant; active; persevering; cold;
enthusiastic; unreasonable; sensitive; inconsiderate; courteous; belligerent;
considerate; resentful; responsive; insolent; thoughtful; unfair; helpfully able
to cope with difficulties; repressed/repressing; depressed; mixed-up; babying;
frustrated; consistent; disturbed; firm; neglected; self-centered; caring;
unsociable; tolerant; lonely; shy; fearful; sensible; sulky; kind; listless;
irresponsible; lenient; hurt; just; stubborn; self-interested; unmotivated; dull;
inactive; patient; bored; irritable; good-natured; wilful; annoyed; anxious;
loveless; restless; involved; naughty; inconsistent; partial; impulsive;
moralizing; conscientious; unruly; sympathetic; disobedient; impudent;
emotional; intolerant; bossy; possessive; friendly; unrestrained; rude;
compassionate; rough; open; coarse; protective; insensitive; recalcitrant;
selfish; unjust; docile; wise; nagging; bullying; violent; tough.

2. When you have completed the chart, pick out all the (1) synonyms and (2)
antonyms to the following characteristics.

1. Synonyms 2. Antonyms

1) affectionate – 1) balanced –

2) gregarious – 2) unselfish –

3) self-possessed – 3) courteous –

4) persevering – 4) responsive –

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 5) bored – 5) wilful –

6) impudent – 6) lenient –

7) rude – 7) bossy –

8) permissive – 8) obedient –

3. Make use of the completed chart to give a brief sketch of each child/parent
type. Use the following questions as a guide.
1. What traits of character would you name as typical of a normal happy child?
Consider the following points with regard to his attitudes to: a) his family, parents;
b) the school, teachers, studies, rules and regulations; c) his classmates; d) his
friends.
2. What are the dangerous symptoms of a problem child? Consider the points above.
3. What traits of character are brought about by excessively harsh discipline and
pressure?
4. What traits of character would be brought about by lack of discipline and control,
by pampering or permissiveness?
5. What traits of a parent would you consider most favorable for a child?
6. What kind of parents’ attitude may make a child irresponsive, and unable to cope
with difficulties?

Difficult Children
The difficult child is the child who is unhappy. He is at war with
himself, and in consequence, he is at war with the world. A difficult child is
nearly always made difficult by wrong treatment at home.
The moulded, conditioned, disciplined, repressed child – the unfree child,
whose name is a Legion, lives in every corner of the world. He lives in town just
across the street, he sits at a dull desk in a dull school, and later he sits at a duller
desk in an office or on a factory bench. He is docile, prone to obey authority,
fearful of criticism, and almost fanatical in his desire to be conventional and
60
correct. He accepts what he has been taught almost without question; and he hands
down all his complexes and fears and frustrations to his children.
Adults take it for granted that a child should be taught to behave in such a
way that the adults will have as quiet a life as possible. Hence the importance
attached to obedience, to manner, to docility.
The usual argument against freedom for children is this: life is hard, and we
must train the children so that they will fit into life later on. We must therefore
discipline and impose harsh rules on them. If we allow them to do what they like,
how will they ever be able to serve under a boss? How will they ever be able to
exercise self-discipline?
To impose anything by authority is wrong. Obedience must come from
within – not be imposed from without.
The problem child is the child who is pressured into obedience and persuaded
through fear.
Fear can be a dreadful thing in a child's life. Fear must be entirely done away
with – fear of adults, fear of punishment, fear of disapproval. Only hate can
flourish in the atmosphere of fear.
The happiest homes are those in which the parents are frankly honest with
their children without admonishing. Fear does not take hold in these homes.
Father and son are pals. Love can thrive. In other homes love is crushed by fear.
Pretentious dignity and demanded respect hold love aloof. Compelled respect
always implies fear.
The happiness and well-being of offspring depend on a degree of love and
approval we give them. We must be on the child’s side. Being on the side of the
child is giving a surfeit of love to the child – not possessive love – not
sentimental love – just behaving to the child in such a way the child feels you
love him and approve of him.
Home plays many parts in the life of the growing child, it is the natural
source of affection, the place where he can live with the sense of security; it

61
educates him in all sorts of ways, provides him with his opportunities of
recreation, it affects his status in society.
Children need affection and benefit visibly from it. Of all the functions of
the family that of providing an affectionate background for childhood and
adolescence has never been more important than it is today.
Recent child study fads have enabled us to see how necessary affection is an
ensuring proper emotional development; and the stresses and strains of growing
up in modern urban society have the effect of reinforcing the yearning for parental
regard.
The childhood spent with heartless, indifferent or quarrelsome parents or in
a broken home makes a child permanently embittered. Nothing can compensate
for lack of parental affection. When the home is a loveless one, the children are
impersonal and even hostile.
Approaching adolescence children become more independent of their
parents. They are now more concerned with what other kids say or do. They go
on loving their parents deeply underneath, but they don't show it on the
surface. They no longer want to be loved as a possession or as an appealing
little dear. They are gaming a sense of dignity as individuals, and they like to be
treated as such. They develop a stronger sense of responsibility about matters that
they think are important.
From their need to be less dependent on their parents, they resort more to
trusted adults outside the family for vigorous ideas and knowledge.
In adolescence aggressive feelings become much stronger. In this period,
children will play an earnest game of war. There may be arguments, rebellion
against parental authority, roughhousing and even real fights. Is gunplay good
or bad for children?
For many years educators emphasized its harmlessness, even when
thoughtful parents attempted to lay strains on their children and expressed
doubt about letting them have pistols and other warlike toys. It was a commonly

62
held assumption that in the course of growing up children have a natural tendency
to bring their aggressiveness more and more under control.
But nowadays educators and physicians would retain parents’ inclination to
guide children away from violence of any kind, from violence of gun-play and
from violence on screen.
The world famous classic on child care Dr. Benjamin Spock has this to
say in the new edition of his book for parents about child care:
“Many alarming evidences made me think that Americans have often been
tolerant of harshness, lawlessness and violence, as well as of brutality on screen.
Some children only partly see the dividing line between dramas and reality. I
believe that parents should flatly forbid programs that go in for violence. I also
believe that parents should firmly stop children’s war-play or any other kind of
play that degenerates into deliberate cruelty or meanness. One can’t be permissive
about such things. To me it seems very clear that we should bring up the next
generation with a greater respect for law and for other people’s rights, wary of the
intrusion of alien values.”

Answer the following questions on the text.

1. What makes a child unhappy?
2. Why do you think, a child who, according to the text, “sits at a dull desk at
school” will later sit “at a duller desk in his office”? What is implied here?
3. Why do many adults attach such importance to docility? Is it really in the
child’s interests?
4. What are the usual arguments put forward against giving more freedom to the
child? Are the arguments well-founded?
5. Why is it wrong to pressure a child into obedience?
6. What kinds of fear does a child experience?
7. What kind of atmosphere is necessary for a child’s proper emotional
development?

63
8. What new traits and habits emerge in adolescence?
9. How and why did Dr. Spock’s attitude change regarding the adolescents’
games of war?
10. Why is it so dangerous for children to be exposed to violence?
11. How should the new generation be brought up?

Text D

The Monster Children

A friend of mine told me this story several years ago and it’s a true one. He
said he bought a baby rabbit one spring and built a hutch for it out behind his
house. At first, when the rabbit was little and cute, he spent a lot time watching it,
but after a while he would just toss the lettuce and carrots in the cage without
really looking. One day, in the fall, a visitor caught sight of the rabbit and
screamed, so for the first time in months, my friend came to look. The animal’s
two front teeth had grown into fangs, and curved out of its mouth like elephant
tusks, to the point where they had begun to cut into the rabbit’s own neck.
I still have dreams about that rabbit, and they’re more frightening than any
my mind can construct about tigers or snakes. You expect those animals to be
sinister and threatening, after all. No villain is more frightening than the one you
had supposed to be your friend.
I saw a new movie last week in which a man tires to stab a 5-year-old boy to
death and when he raised his knife over the boy’s throat, the audience cheered.
This movie had to do with demonic possession, and once again the devil was
personified by a child.
The idea of a parent killing a child is not new. In fairy tales and legends,
and even in the Bible, there are stepmothers who send children out into the woods,
fathers who lead sons to mountaintops to sacrifice them. What has changed is that

64
parental violence no longer seems to be a source of guilt and shame – and its
objects are no longer depicted as innocents.
Parents who stood, proud and hopeful, at the hospital windows twenty years
ago, making plans for sleeping, soft-skinned infants, could hardly have bargained
for Quaaludes and David Bowie1 for daughters and sons who would live inside
stereo headphones or sit, silent, at the dinner table, opening their mouths only to
eat, or to say: “Do you know how much I hate you?”
What has happened to the children – not to all of them, but to large number –
must seem, to their parents, almost like the fairy tales where elves steal the real,
good infant and substitute a changeling. I suppose the parents of these changeling
children must be frightened, to be harboring strangers – enemies, almost – under
their roofs, feeding them, putting the sequined T shirts on their backs, and
receiving not the gratitude or respect they gave their parents but condescension and
contempt and maybe pity. Sometimes the children do not even seem quite human:
it’s difficult to picture the toughest, coolest ones crying, hard to believe they were
ever babies.
The result of this is a growing anti-child sentiment that makes me sad. I
read in woman’s magazine the results of a poll in which 10,000 mothers were
asked whether they would again choose to have children. Seventy per cent said
they would not. Newspapers play up stories of youth gangs and violence while the
public clamors for a “tighter rein”. Even the children we choose as our movie and
television stars are appealing, almost, for their very sinisterness.
A lot of parents now even seem to be turning on their own children. My
mother tells me that when she goes to a party there is always talk of the children –
but something has changed. Once the parents used to boast. Now they commiserate
and exchange examples of their own sons’ and daughters’ awfulness. There was
the case of the father who shot and killed his “uncontrollable” son, was tried for
the crime and set free.

1
Quaaludes and David Bowie – the names of children’s characters in films.

65
 That’s the large and frightening question troubling the parents who view
their children as monstrous strangers. And what is so appealing, I think, about
these demonic-possession movies is that they suggest some spontaneously
generated, innate evil in the children, something completely out of the parents’
control. Fault lies with the Devil, or the drugs, or the music, or the false guru, or
what is referred to as “the world we live in” and not with the parents themselves.
No doubt there are good and loving and conscientious people among the
parents of the “bad” children, and that no parent should take full blame for what
his child does. But the notion that a parent has no control over determining the
kind of person his child will be seems to me dangerous. It lets parents off the hook
too easily.
If children are worse now than they used to be, it isn’t that parents are
necessarily more inept than earlier generations were. But if they’ve done
something wrong they are lees likely to get away with it than they once were, in
the days when children’s demons, though no less present were less visible.
The reasons why a child “goes bad” are complicated, for sure. But when
there is a monster child, who appears determined to be as uncute, as unlovable as
possible, and his parents turn on him, I wonder if that suggests something about the
quality of their love. It doesn’t seem far, really, from the quality of feeling
evidenced by the purchasers of baby rabbits who stop visiting the hutch after the
animal outgrows the Easter basket. No wonder the fangs begin to sprout.

Answer the following questions on the text.

1. What is the main idea of the article?
2. How accurate is the title of the article with respect to the content of this essay?
3. How does the comparison with a baby rabbit relate to the author’s thesis?
4. What evidence does the author provide to show that now children are worse
than they used to be?
5. Where does the fault for monstrous children lie?

66
6. Does the author feel the parents should bear full responsibility for what their
children do?
7. How does the author account for a growing antichild sentiment of parents?

E. Video Comprehension and Discussion Guide:

Watch the video program. Make use of the following guide to

a) avoid comprehension problems;
b) assist you with further discussion in class.

Life Styles: “What Makes a Good Parent”?

(Gloria Hunniford’s TV Talk Show)
ULRIKA JONSSON AND GUN BRODIE
1. What kind of child was Ulrika (a TV presenter)?
extravert from the time she started walking and talking; to be off with other
families on holidays.

2. How does her mother look upon the fact that she left Ulrika and the home when
the girl was 8? Was it a hard and searching decision? Why? Any feeling of guilt?

everybody was against her at the time; never worried about the fact.
3. How does Ulrika look upon the same fact? Did it haunt her all her life?
to be like a long holiday; “I’ve might have found it more difficult to take in”; to be
adaptable; a new situation to deal with; to have to be the wife to her father: cook,
do things about the house; not to forgive inside (“Why did she leave me?”); still
trying to get her parents together.
4. Dr. Dennis G. of the outpatient clinic at the University of Chicago Medical
School says: “A child needs two loving parents. When one parent is absent,
physically or emotionally the child can develop great difficulties.” How did the
absence of Ulrika’s mother affect Ulrika over the years? Was it both physical and
emotional absence? Did she try to get her parents to reunite?
67
to learn a lot from living on one’s own;
But: “I wish she’d be with me. I’d have better security .What was lacking is the
support you get from both parents’ reliability. I would depend on people a lot,
whereas I am a terrible worrier, I’d be calmer.”
5. What does Ulrika point out as a very positive aspect in the relationship of her
parents, in spite of their separation? Is it a common situation?
never to speak badly of each other in front of smb.
6. When a parent marries again and has a new family do the children normally
feel jealous and resentful of their brothers and sisters in the new family? Was it the
case with Ulrika?

to feel maternal towards smb; to get straight to work; to be in a crèche, a kinder-

garten; to be taken to horseriding, ballet lessons; to learn to play the piano;
resentment going on, to be resentful of smth.
7. Now that Ulrika is married, analysing her own situation as a child, what does
she consider important for herself as a future mother?
to have plenty of children; to give them love and security; to come from a very
family-oriented family (unit); to be both there for one’s children.

RICHARD BRIERS, HIS DAUGHTER LUCY

TV comedian and theatre actor; an actress (classical theatre)
1. Was Lucy raised in both physical and emotional presence of both her parents?
Why was she more influenced by her mother at an earlier age?

Father: to be away a lot from the family and home; to delay the development of
their relationship; to be transferred to Mum, to be the rock; a remarkable wife and
mother (“the nicer part of her character comes from her”); a very female
household.
2. Counselors insist that children can benefit visibly from regular visits to the
workplace of their parents. Understanding more about the professional activities
their parents are involved in is described as an utterly positive experience and an

68
effective way of bridging the gaps that exist between the two generations. Did
Lucy’s experience prove the truth of such an approach?
to be bright academically; a marine biologist; both parents; to be well in the acting
business; to be pining to be in the building (theatre); to talk theatre at home; to be
lukewarm about smth; (“I always do what I do regardless of what other people
think or say”); to match up to one’s family tradition and popularity; pressure; the
opposite sex; to get away with it; to expect to be funny.
3. It is true that as children grow up they can understand their parents more?
a better grounding for understanding; to develop a relationship; to play together (to
put “The Tempest” on); to further one’s relationship; to be private about one’s
work; to open things up.
4. Things seem to be smooth and “charming” as you try to generally
characterize the relationships within the family in public. Are they as simple as
smooth and charming in actual fact, say in the Briers family?
to keep clashing; to be both stubborn, impatient, irritable; to be independent spiritually.
5. What is it that Lucy considers the most valuable thing about the way her
parents raised her and her sister? Why wouldn’t she change the pattern but rather
reproduce it when she marries and becomes a parent?
to be full of communication; to be very open about sex; to be healthy; to talk
everything out (“I would like to be the same as my mother, as she brought me and
my sister up”).
6. Do you think Lucy’s parents adhered more to the “permissive” theory of child
rearing, “the liberated child” philosophy?
to encourage parents to discuss problems with their youngsters; rely on persuasion
rather than punishment.
7. What conclusion does Lucy make about the main principle that good parents
should bear in mind in rearing children?
“The most important thing is to let your children know that you love them and the
security is there and they have the freedom to do or to be whatever they want.”

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FIVE GENERATIONS OF ONE FAMILY
Florence, 96; still going strong; to be slightly hard of hearing.
1. What proves that in spite of the differences in the age they have a lot of in
common?
a strong link; to be blood-related; it carries through the generations; to keep very
close together; a big get-together.
2. How do the 5 generations manage to keep up a good relationship? Without
disagreement, clashing?
a) to strive for independence; to be all powerful women; “Living together we
don’t necessarily get on very well”; to spark off; to be healthy; not to suppress and
pretend what you are not feeling, that you are a jolly happy family; to be part of
humanity;
b) to live separately; to have many interests in life; to live away from each other;
to get on very well.
3. Which period as the grandmother thinks was the toughest in her relationship
with her daughter? How does she account for it?
a teenager; to have battles; to cope with; to get smb into one’s way of thinking
before they get to 12 or 13; to be individuals; to want more freedom; to have
plenty.
4. Does the daughter admit that since she became a mother herself, her
understanding of and closeness with her mother has increased?
“Absolutely”; to do universally; “That’s the stuff women are made of.”

FOSTER PARENTS
to have 4 children of one’s own; to have fostered 40 over the years; to get an award
(much deserved)
1. How do the parents explain the fact that having 4 children of their own they
foster other peoples’, currently 15 at a time? What are they guided by?
to have an abundance of love and affection to give all these children; hard work;
hard to cope; to physically have enough time.

70
2. What important observation does the mother make? Is it a one-way benefit -
the relationship between parents and children?
“Children give you so much. You learn a lot from children.”
3. What is the main thing that they, as foster parents, try to give their foster
children and, in these efforts teach their own children to do?
different relationship; not fair; to be special; to feel insecure; to part; to prepare
smb.
4. What do you think of people who either have a lot of children of their own or
adopt many children?

IVAN SOKOLOV
1. What did a recent survey reveal concerning the number of single parent
families in Britain?
2. Why did I. Sokolov found the fund “Parent Link”? What is its purpose?
to change the patterns; to improve; to repeat the patterns; to do what was done to
us or the opposite; to need help; support and encouragement practically.
3. What is the biggest issue of the single parent family in I. Sokolov opinion?
to give security in feelings; to talk openly; to communicate; to listen to children; to
encourage to express their feelings; to jump down smb’s throat; to zip it up; to
keep it to themselves.
4. How does I. Sokolov prove the importance of a child’s communication with
both parents, even in a split family?
a balance; both sexes; to need the experience of living with men and women; to
need a switch, a balance of energy; “We don’t choose to be single parents.”
5. Can a relative of the nuclear family fill the gap?
single family/nuclear family; (not) to allow non-parents to come in contact with
one’s children (pseudo-parents).

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CAROL STONE
a TV presenter, programme “Mother of Mine”; to carry out interviews with smb
for TV
1. Do children need their parents’ approval or “sanctions” for their actions,
achievements, plans? Do they “rebel” in case they don’t get them?
2. What important, universally recognized observation does Carol Stone make
about the specific relationship between children and parents, particularly
mothers?
to be stripped of all pretence in the presence of one’s parents; to know smb
backward; to give unconditional love (“There’s nothing that my mother wouldn’t
have forgiven me for. It gives you security.”)
3. Why is it important, in Carol’s opinion, to give children security in their own
homes?
to wake up to the harsh world that won’t give it to you.
4. Why doesn’t Carol approve of “overprotective mothers”?
the danger of leading one’s life through the child, of wanting you to be what you
don’t want to yourself.
5. What proves that mothers are generally very possessive and even jealous of
their sons?
“No woman is good enough for her son.”

ANN RAEBURN (journalist)

to write extensively on the problem
1. Why does Ann think there can't be any universal concept of a good parent?
to strike smb most forcibly; to be totally unfair; “the lock of the drawer”.
2. What does she mean by saying that the interviews in the studio have highlighted
for her “the extraordinary accepting nature of children”?
to have no great retrospective (Ulrika); to throw things at smb; to be moved by the
differences.

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 Vocabulary Exercises

Ex. 1. Match the words and word combinations in the left column with the
suitable definitions in the right column.
1) surfeit a) to reduce to a lower grade or rank
2) recalcitrant b) formal to give a mild warning or gentle
reproof to smb
3) to jump down smb’s throat c) negligence; inattention; lack of strictness
or severity
4) day-care center d) to fix attention on smth
5) to baby e) indocile, disobedient, not prone to obey
authority; troublesome
6) permissiveness f) to make smth easy or easier
7) to roughhouse g) bold, courageous; strong, able to endure
suffering or hardship;
8) lukewarm h) colloq. to act or handle smb violently
9) to zip it up i) neither very warm nor cold; lacking
warmth of feeling or enthusiasm
10) laxity j) to treat like a baby; pamper
11) to downgrade k) disrupted by divorce
12) the Victorian attitude l) to talk openly; to talk smth out
13) to zero in on smth m) place where small children may be left
while their mothers are at work
14) hardy n) too great an amount or supply; excess of
smth
15) to admonish o) attitude revealing the middle-class piety,
respectability, bigotry, etc. generally
attributed to the period of the reign of
Queen Victoria (1837-1901)

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16) fad p) to keep smth to oneself; colloq. to keep
one’s mouth shut
17) to facilitate q) baby who walks with short, uncertain
steps
18) toddler r) colloq. to attack or criticize smb
suddenly and violently
19) to open smth up (colloq.) s) fanciful fashion, interest, preference,
enthusiasm, unlikely to last
20) broken/split home t) a theory in bringing up children by which
a child is encouraged to behave without
restriction

Ex. 2. Match the attribute (A) and the verb (B) on the left with nouns or
phrases on the right, making use of the focus vocabulary. Use each word only
once.
A dividing statistics
split/broken delinquency
gratifying creatures
recalcitrant line
hardy permissiveness
declining authority
excessive child
alarming homes
lax results
juvenile achievement

B to downgrade harsh rules

to reinforce resort to smth
to bridge traumatic experience

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 to inflict into obedience
to take on the gap
to pressure visibly
to impose skepticism
to benefit wounds
to face responsibilities
to condone enthusiasm

Ex. 3. Read the text and fill in the blanks with suitable words or word
combinations in the correct form from the box below.
fad increased mobility non-issue concede
come in contact strive whimper
parental authority adolescents retain one’s loyalty
renounce pressure into peers
quality-time set limits surfeit docile
lukewarm resentful have the upper hand

The Power of No
Today’s parents – who were raised on Greatest Generation 1 values of harsh
(1) … and self-denial – (2) … to a culture where “no” was a household word.
Eloise Goldman, a publicist, says that as a teenager, she had to beg for a phone in
her room. In a world of (3) … where families spend (4) … at the mall instead of in
the backyard, her request seems almost quaint. Today’s (5) … want much more,
partly because there’s a whole (6) … to want.
Goldman (7) … to hold the line. She was (8) … about spending $250 on a
mini iPod2 for her 9-year-old son Ben. The price tag was a (9) … for her and her
fund-raiser husband, Jon. Initially, she was (10) … of buying such an extravagant

1
The Second World War generation.
2
A portable Apple ® hard disk music player, small enough (about a height and width of a business card) to wear on
an arm band, but large enough to hold nearly 1,000 songs.

75
gadget for a kid still unaware of long division. If she (11) … , how would Ben
ever learn that you can’t always (12) … ? Goldman bore a hope the iPod would
soon be abandoned, just like Ben’s (13) …-of-choice from last year, a blue drum
set that now sits forlornly in the basement of their suburban New York home. But
Ben nagged and (14) … that “everyone has one”. Goldman was nearly (15) …
acceptance. She wanted Ben to have what the other kids had; he is a (16) … kid,
she reasoned. After (17) … with a neighborhood-mom community and finding
that Ben’s (18) … were indeed wired for sound, she caved – but attempted to
salvage some lesson about (19) … . She offered her son a deal. We give you an
iPod, you (20) … your birthday party. “Done,” he said. Then, without missing a
beat: “Now what about getting me my own Apple G4?”
The Newsweek

Ex. 4. Read the following text and decide which option (A, B or C) fits each gap.
It’s an (1) … legacy of the affluent ‘90s: parents who can’t say no. This
generation of parents has always been (2) … to giving their kids every advantage,
from Mommy & Me swim classes all the way to that thick envelope from an elite
college. But (3) … their good intentions, too many find themselves (4) …
“wanting machines” who respond like Pavlovian dogs to the marketing (5) …
that’s aimed right at them. Even getting the (6) … of it doesn’t satisfy some kids –
they only want more. Now, a (7) … of psychologists, educators and parents think
it’s time to (8) … away with the madness and start teaching kids about what’s
really important through (9) … values like hard work, delayed gratification,
honesty and parental regard. In a few (10) … , parents have begun to reassert
control by (11) … together to enforce limits and rules so that no one has to take the
blame for denying her 6-year-old a $300 Nokia cell phone with all the latest bells
and whistles.
While it goes (12) … saying that affluent parents can raise happy and (13)
… children, the struggle to put strains (14) … has never been tougher. Saying is
harder when you can afford to say yes. But the (15) … have also never been
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higher. Recent studies of adults who were (16) … as children paint a grim picture
of their future. Kids who’ve been given too much too soon (17) … into adults who
have difficulty fitting (18) … life. Psychologists say parents who are (19) … with
their kids may actually be setting them up to be more (20) … to future anxiety and
trauma. “The hazard of (21) … permissiveness is self-absorption, and that’s a
mental-health risk,” says William Damon, director of the Stanford University
Center on (22) … . “You sit around feeling anxious all the time instead of (23) …
in on what you can do to make a difference in the world.”

A B C
1) alarming gratifying irretrievable
2) furthered intent driven
3) in spite despite due
4) rearing upbringing breeding
5) novices news fads
6) turn wind spin
7) shoal flock herd
8) do make deal
9) renouncing recovering reviving
10) communions commitments communities
11) banding ganging hanging out
12) without out of beneath
13) self-possessed self-obsessed self-indulging
14) threads strains reins
15) points risks stakes
16) babied kidded toddled
17) degenerate descend debilitate
18) with into for
19) harsh lax hardy

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20) fearful prone intent
21) exclusive excretive excessive
22) adolescence juvenilia adulthood
23) zapping zooming zeroing

Ex. 5. Fill in the correct prepositions where necessary.

A. 1. Newspapers play (1) … stories of youth gangs and adolescent rebellion (2)
… authority while the public gets fanatical (3) … their desire (4) … a “tighter rein”.
2. A lot of parents now seem to be (5) … war (6) … their own offspring. There
was a case of a father who turned (7) … his “uncontrollable” son, shot him, was
tried (8) … the crime and set free.
3. It is (9) … (10) … the question that there are good and affectionate people (11)
… the parents of the “bad” children, and that no parent should be held fully
responsible (12) … what his child does.
4. Children need limits (13) … their behavior because they feel more secure when
they are persuaded (14) … a certain structure. Learning how to overcome
challenges is essential (15) … making (16) … a success (17) … life.
5. Getting (18) … contact with your children starts (19) … parents leading a life in
which high priority is given (20) … higher values, so you have credibility and are
stripped (21) … all pretence when you try to measure (22) … (23) … that standard
and teach it.
B. This generation of parents is uniquely ill-equipped to react (1) … the
relentless pressure of marketing aimed (2) … kids. Baby boomers, raised (3) … the
contentious 1960s and 1970s (the era of the “generation gap”), swore that they
strive (4) … a much closer relationship with their own children. (5) … the end,
many even wear the same Gap clothes as their kids and listen (6) … the same
music. “So whenever their children rebel (7) … them, it makes this generation
take (8) … the blame, never attempting (9) … bringing their violence (10) …
control. “They feel a lot guiltier than previous generations”, says Laurence

78
Steinberg, a psychologist (11) … Temple University and the author of “The 10
Basic Principles (12) … Good Parenting”. Today’s parents are well (13) … paid
work, too; (14) … the end of a long workweek, it’s tempting to buy peace (15) …
“yes”, rather than mar precious quality time and resort (16) … a conflict. But they
can’t tell the dividing-line (17) … permissiveness and love. Authors (18) … child
care agree: too much love won’t spoil a child, but too few limits will.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, more than 40,000 commercials
a year intrude (19) … the average American home (20) … television. (21) … the
end, they take complete control,” says Susan Linn, a Harvard psychologist. “The
marketers benefit visibly (22) … this “cradle-(23) … -grave” brand loyalty. They
want to get kids (24) … their mode (25) … thinking (26) … the moment they’re
born.”

Ex. 6. Give the English equivalents of the following words and phrases.
A. Полное безразличие; пособие по воспитанию детей; “крепкие орешки”;
помалкивать, держать язык за зубами (3); милые малютки.
В. Испытывать материнские чувства по отношению к кому-либо; знать
всю подноготную кого-либо; одаривать безвозмездной любовью; приобщить
кого-либо к своему образу мышления; быть туговатым на ухо; с прохладцей
относиться к чему-либо; быть лишенным всякого притворства.
С. Снижение уровня успеваемости среди школьников; трудные
подростки; первопричина; нянчить; непокорное чадо (3); периодически
прибегать к чему-либо; не уделять должного внимания чему-либо, не ставить
на первое место; ликвидировать разрыв, устранить пробел; уступить, сдаться
в каком-либо вопросе; преходящее, кратковременное увлечение; наставлять,
выговаривать.
D. Устроиться в жизни; постоянно подавленный, удрученный;
воинствующий; любить кого-либо в глубине души; насилие на экране (2);

79
принуждать к послушанию; убеждение через запугивание; буянить,
хулиганить, скандалить, дебоширить.

Integrated Discourse Skills Development

I. Agree or disagree with the quotations below. Be sure to provide solid

arguments.
1. When children are doing nothing they are doing mischief (H. Fielding).
2. Teach your child to hold his tongue and he will learn to speak fast (Benj.
Franklin).
3. Anger is never without a reason, but seldom without a good one (Benj.
Franklin).
4. If children grew up according to early indications, we should have nothing but
geniuses (Goethe).
5. We are all geniuses up to the age of ten (A. Huxley).
6. Children begin by loving parents, as they grow older they judge them,
sometimes they forgive them (O. Wilde).

II. Monologue Discourse Modelling

1. Individual Work: Compose a rendering of the article The Monster Children
(Text D). Be prepared to present it smoothly in class without referring to the
written copy. You can rely 1) on the questions after the text; 2) the basic
procedure outlined in Article Rendering: Basic Structure Build-Up following Text
A (Permissiveness: a Beautiful Idea ThatDidn’t Work), p.53. Frame your
rendering in accordance with the following key points.

Article Rendering Guidelines

a) Lead-Up: Introduce the article by stating the title, the author(s), the source and
the date of publication.

80
b) Structure Focus
1. Outline the theme and its sub-aspects. 2. Identify and formulate the message
the article carries.
c) Idea Development: Develop the rendering around the central message.
Paragraph it logically in accordance with the article’s macro- and micro-
composition.
d) Conclusion: Give the conclusion provided by the author.
e) Close-Up: Provide your personal commentary on and interpretation of the
article and the problem highlighted in it. Refer to your background knowledge and
give some predictions to the future.
NB: 1) Don’t confuse a rendered version of the article with its summary or
analysis of publicistic writing. Relate all the information through the eyes of
the author.
2) Attend every new paragraph with a corresponding phrase to review the
position of the author.
2. Class Activities: Present your rendering in class without referring to your notes.

III. Polylogue Discourse Modelling

Group Argumentative Techniques
1. Out-of-class Projecting
Individual Work: Prepare to interact a debate on a topically relevant issue.
a) Appoint a person in charge who will work out a rough step-by-step sketch and
conduct the debate in class.
b) Make a thorough study of the related sources and key vocabulary (Texts A, B,
C, D, supplementary texts and reference materials). Study carefully the following
guidelines on debate techniques and the sample debate project for reference and
helpful ideas.
Debate Techniques

Debates always have a rigid structure. There are two teams each consisting

81
preferably of three members1. One team is affirmative (A), that is, it plays pro; the
other one is negative (N), it plays counter.

Time Role
Speaker
5 min  Introduces and defines the proposition.
A1
 Presents all the team’s arguments in an organized way2.
3 min  N2 is to cross-examine A1, trying to undermine A1’s
N2
arguments.
5 min  Generally accepts the definition.
N1  Should not redefine.
 Presents all the team’s arguments in an organized way.
3 min  A2 is to cross-examine N1, trying to undermine N1’s
A2
arguments.
4 min  Refutes the arguments of the Negative team.
A3  Gives a final contrast of the cases to reinforce and prove the
Affirmative case.
4 min  Refutes the arguments of the Affirmative team.
N3  Gives a final contrast of the cases to reinforce and prove the
Negative case.

Each argument should be supported with evidence (facts, figures, but no

quotations or personal experience); it usually consists of maximum 3 sentences:
the very statement and 1 or 2 sentences providing evidence for it.
In order to be ready for cross-examination and final statements teams will be
given 1 or 2 minutes.
The winner is the team, which has more arguments that have been refuted
provided that it has at least tried to refute as many as possible arguments of their
1
If there are more than 6 people willing to take part in the debates, each team can be extended up to 4 members.
2
Arguments should not be enumerated, otherwise the task of the other team is made very easy. There’s still a
chance that the opponents will forget or miss out one of the arguments. It provides additional chances to win.

82
opponents.

Debate Sample Project

(Pro-authoritatively sided)
Introduction
Recent fads in child upbringing research and broad-scale nationwide
adjustments in social and economic institutions providing support for family
stability have brought about a major clash between the advocates of the
authoritative approach towards child-rearing and the proponents of “the liberated
child” concepts. As sociologists, psychiatrists and other scholars are warning that
a return to a balanced social life cannot be achieved without a reliable family base,
family advisers from both parties are simultaneously striving to overcome the
effects of too much permissiveness at home and to retain faith in “the liberated
child” philosophy.

Definitions
Authoritativeness – a theory in child upbringing promoted by a group of scholars,
which is based on harsh assertive parental authority, strict
order and ample application of punishment; in extreme forms
may be shifting towards familial dictatorship and
authoritarianism.
Permissiveness – a theory in bringing up children that became popular through
the writings of Dr. Benjamin Spock, by which a child is
encouraged to behave without restriction. The theory is critical
of any form of punishment and regards persuasion and
discussion the main methods in raising children.

Sample Story

83
 A lot of parents now seem to be turning on their own children. My mother
tells me that when she goes to a party there is always talk of the children – but
something has changed. Once the parents used to boast. Now they commiserate
and exchange examples of their own sons’ and daughters’ awfulness. There was
the case of the father who shot and killed his “uncontrollable” son, was tried for
the crime and set free.
There was a poll in woman’s magazine in which 10,000 mothers were asked
whether they would again choose to have children. Seventy per cent said they
would not. Newspapers play up stories of youth gangs and violence while the
public clamors for a “tighter rein”.
Sometimes the children do not even seem quite human: it’s difficult to
picture the toughest, coolest ones crying, hard to believe they were ever babies.
Even the children we choose as our movie and television stars are appealing,
almost, for their very sinisterness. In a new movie last week a man tried to stab a 5-
year-old boy to death and when he raised his knife over the boy’s throat, the
audience cheered. This movie had to do with demonic possession, and the devil
was personified by a child.

Arguments and Counter-arguments

1) Pro: The authoritative approach towards child-rearing is far from being a sheer
fad. Historically originating from Biblical fundamentals, further reinforced in
Victorian times (~ 1837-1901), it’s been theoretically developed and tested out
throughout centuries.
Con: Permissiveness is by no means a mere experiment. While it is a
relatively young child-rearing practice, it is an alternative fully grounded theory
backed up by such classics on the subject as S. Freud (1856-1939), Dr. Spock
(1903-1998) and other influential authors.
2) Pro: Strong parental authority has become a time-proof familial and societal
tradition. It’s been advocated by generation of parents all over the globe for an

84
 imposing period of time. It’s been a clearly dominant method of child
upbringing (~ 80 per cent of all households worldwide).
Con: The so-called Victorian values, which, above all, have been subjected to
reasonable doubt, are a thing of the past. There’s no sense to adhere to
primitive archaic views which are obviously incompatible with the pace and
requirements of the modern advanced society.
3) Pro: The family unit is an important societal institution and needs harsh
regulations and role teaching to be imposed from childhood. As proven by
psychologists and pediatricians, what’s learned in one’s green years serves as
the basis of the whole life.
Con: Most regulations and reservations are outdated in today’s advanced
society. Modern society is based on democratic concepts and a freedom of
personal choice. Imposed values are a latent form of pressure and violence,
according to psychologists.
4) Pro: The authoritative approach is justified by the fact that children are
psychologically immature. They need to be guided by a strong hand away from
the negative and into the positive. They are prone to be spoiled by parental
overindulgence. (“Too much love will kill you.” The Queen)
Con: Things should not be imposed and forced, but discussed. Children
should be encouraged to develop a distinct voice of their own. Similar to any
person, who possesses a freedom of will by birth, any child should be allowed
to make a personal choice of what she/he thinks is beneficial for her/him.
5) Pro: Harsh authoritativeness is the best springboard for a child starting a life in
the alien cruel world. In other words, it helps a child adopt an adequate
reaction to strict regulations, duties and denial of rewards. It provides the
optimal model of the stringent realities of the world from early childhood.
Con: In a permissive household, a kid has a greater potential for self-
fulfillment. Children are extensively encouraged to be active, creative,
responsive and independent, as their personal preferences, binds and aspirations

85
 are not suppressed. Consequently, they are most likely to make a success of
life.
6) Pro: Overindulgence makes a child helpless and infantile. Excessive
permissiveness eventually causes disappointment and degenerates into
complexes and psychological trauma originating from an adopted feeling of
social inadequacy.
Con: Permissiveness is psychologically less harmful than authoritativeness. In
the latter case deeper mental wounds are inflicted. Any form of compelled
authority inevitably regresses into authoritarianism and triggers hidden hatred,
rebellion and violent outbursts.
7) Pro: Lax authority leads to irresponsibility. It further degenerates into a sense
of social inadequacy, a disregard of laws and disrespect, an individual’s set of
values deteriorates, which pushes one to commit criminal acts. Juvenile
delinquency rates surge (~ 76 per cent of all juvenile criminals come from an
authoritative family environment).
Con: Permissiveness is not tantamount to sheer negligence and indifference.
A child who is reared in a permissive family environment feels content and
happy and is not prone to any criminal misdemeanor.
8) Pro: Parental authority is a sign of heightened attention and involvement.
When parents are permissive, they mostly have either no wish or time to spend
with their children and no incentive to bring them under control.
Authoritativeness is not tyranny, but reason and sense, which save a kid from
the negative outer influence.
Con: Permissiveness is not negligence, it’s based on love and care. The more
a child’s parents care for her/him, the more they are prone to permit.
Consequently, parental lenience serves as a measure of affection towards their
offspring, while authoritativeness, on the contrary, is based on fear.
9) Pro: Unruly kids could be dealt with by sole means of harsh authority and
corporal punishment. This is the only beneficial way to impose an idea of
86
 parental regard, respect of authority and the notion of fair punishment. Over 80
per cent of parents admit they resort to corporal punishment as the most
effective method of child treatment.
Con: Parental lenience is the best teacher. Peaceful methods like persuasion
and discussion attract children to their parents, facilitate a child’s perception of
the notions of respect and a positive problem-solving approach.
10) Pro: Authoritativeness zeroes in on parents’ happiness and psychological
comfort. On the reverse, permissive parents turn into their children’s slaves.
They feel constant fear and guilt and take excessive responsibility for their kids.
Con: Permissiveness intensifies the concept of a child’s well-being and
happiness. Parents should be subservient to their offspring as they should
assume the responsibility for rearing decent members of the future generation.

Questions
1. What is the dividing-line between permissiveness and negligence and
indifference towards one’s children?
2. With all the triumph of “the liberated child” philosophy, why do a vast majority
of parents worldwide resort to authoritative methods of child-rearing?
3. Doesn’t extreme permissiveness mean extreme openness? When a child is not
under his parents’ control, she/he is fully revealed to the negative influence of
the outer world (intrusion of alien values through mass media, interference of
non-parents, etc.).
4. In a permissive household, what are the lenient ways of restricting children,
showing and explaining to them the degree of strains put on them?
5. What should a lax parent do when a child cannot be persuaded in some matter
of principle? How should permissive parents teach a child the basics of
authority and subordination?

Final Statement (Conclusion)

Despite a commonly held generalized view, permissiveness is by no means
87
tantamount to sheer negligence, as well as authoritativeness shouldn’t be equated
to total suppression, both emotional and physical. When reasonably motivated and
combined, both are beneficial in child development, while on the reverse, their
extremes can be equally traumatic. An exclusively authoritative approach would
most likely cause ever more rebellion, violence, hate and instances of juvenile
delinquency; moreover, those are of a hidden, suppressed character. Likewise,
uncontrolled permissiveness would inevitably shift towards laxity and
carelessness.
In other words, a compromise, the so-called graded approach, seems a most
sensible alternative, which is actively practised by Japanese family specialists,
which is based on a fundamental concept that things should be taught, not
imposed. Until a child is 6, he is allowed anything, which is preconditioned by a
variety of reasons. A further move towards stricter rules is motivated by a parental
wish to introduce a child into a harsher adult environment, where she/he is
expected to develop into an independent, sensible and competitive person,
preferably immune to the potential hurdles of life.
c) Group Work: Split into two groups (affirmative and negative teams,
correspondingly). Team up with your partners to discuss your position in detail.
Distribute individual roles within the team and decide on the share of participation of
each member. Sort out the relevant information and discuss possible means in order
to communicate your message and defend your position most efficiently. Make all
the necessary arrangements with the opponent team and the person in charge.

2. Class Activities
a. Interact the debate in class.
b. Let the teacher announce the winner. Discuss the debate, comment on the two
team’s lines and share of participation.

IV. Monologue Discourse Modelling

88
Individual Argumentative Techniques
1. Individual Work: Prepare a project on the suggested Problem Situation to be
communicated in class. Declare it as Permissiveness is an effective way to rear an
independent, mature personality.
a) Make a thorough study of the related sources and vocabulary (Texts A, B, C, D,
supplementary texts, etc.). Sort out the relevant information in order to assert your
point in the most reassuring way. Note down a brief plan of your presentation.
b) Study carefully the following guidelines and the sample problem situation
project for reference.
Project on a Problem Situation
(Composition and Presentation Guidelines)

1. The formulated statement for a problem situation.

(e.g. Cohabitation Is a Good Way to Test Out a Relationship)

2. Introduction into the problem: Pose the problem, prove its importance and
debatable character, give the necessary definitions.

3. Provide a list of arguments with supportive evidence to prove them and a list
of counterarguments aimed at refuting the arguments if favour of the
formulated statement, provide substantial evidence to prove them as well.
a) the arguments in favour may be either immediately refuted by
counterarguments (horizontal arrangement):
pros: cons:
1. 1.
2. 2.
or presented vertically: first all the arguments in favour attended by their
supporting evidence are given. Then they are followed by a list of
counterarguments, substantiated by supporting evidence:
pros:
1.
2.
cons:
89
 1.
2.
4. Conclusion (comparative analysis of the presented arguments):
Note 1: The project should be presented in an objective way and have a
sociological focus. It may be supplied with relevant statistical data and allows
the use of some quotations from the Bible or other sources. The project proper
should not contain any personal information or commentary.
Note 2: For class presentation, see the detailed requirements in Monologue
Discourse Modelling (Unit 1, Integrated Discourse Development Skills), p.42.

5. Appendix: a well-grounded personal view of the problem.

Problem Situation Sample Project

MUM KNOWS IT BEST

Introduction
The issue of parental authority and its relative weight in the process of child
upbringing in a household has been a topic for heated debate for pedagogues,
childcare specialists, psychologists, society researchers and, most vitally, parents.
Logically, in male- and female-dominated homes kids correspondingly receive an
unequal degree of parental influence. However mutually complementary the
current distribution of gender roles is, mothers’ contribution is children’s life is
obviously more beneficial as their methods of child rearing are more effective and
psychologically justified.

Key words: familial weight, female-dominated households, female responsiveness,

gender roles, lenience, motherliness, paternal authority,
permissiveness.

Pros:
1. Female-dominated households are better organized.

90
About 10% of families are wholly dominated by women. Logically, children tend
to turn to a parent, who in their understanding possesses more authority and
familial weight. Family relations are a powerful model, especially in early
childhood.

2. Mothers are more emotive and responsive to child problems

and needs.
Mother is a permanent bosom friend and crying shoulder. Someone’s
personal response and involvement alone are often enough to cope with
half of the problem.
3. Females consider situations from all angles.
Mothers, like all women, are easily impressed and more emotional,
but they normally view a problem as a whole, relying on the extensive
female experience and, consequently, produce effective suggestions.
4. Mothers know their kids inside out.
Mothers have had their children at their fingertips since they were born, thus, they
assume the right to prior authority and complete involvement in their children’s
affairs and confidences.
5. Mothers are more protective of their children.
Maternal instincts won’t let a mother do or think bad for her child. Due to
mothers’ sacrificial disposition, children are more likely to turn to them for
support and – find it there.
6. Mothers are better psychologists.
It’s easier for a child to find a common language with Mother. About 75% of
children are more likely to confide in mothers. Among other things, women are
forgiving towards their children. No thing is fatal with Mom.

Cons:
1. Women-dominated households and female breadwinners are a social
distortion.

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Mother-leaders are, as a rule, more leaders, than mothers. Children of both sexes
are likely to get the wrong idea of gender roles distribution.
2. Female responsiveness lacks structure and sense.
Paternal attitude can be more reserved, but however positive, emotions can
disorganize and confuse one. They are more abstract and constitute no substitute
for logical solutions for a person in trouble or in need of advice.
3. Father’s approach is more logical.
Men’s approach to problem-fighting is sober and less chaotic, as proved
by sociologists. Fathers are more of use in practical things and on-spot
prompting. Paternal authority is an effective factor in child rearing.
4. Being one’s mother doesn’t mean a true view of a child.
Exhaustive knowledge of one’s children doesn’t necessarily presuppose mutual
understanding and trust. At the same time, mothers-know-all may possess
absolutely no authority over their child or have a wrong idea of his/her personality.
5. Overprotective mothers are dangerous.
Motherliness is often blind and unfair. A child is taught to perceive things in the
wrong light. He/she might grow up infantile and adopt inadequate reactions. A
vivid example is a notorious female assumption that “no woman is good enough
for her son” or “no man ever will be worth a thousandth of her daughter’s virtues”.
Moreover, fathers are by no means less protective, it is just that they are more
concerned with the material welfare.
6. Fathers are better therapists.
“No-sissies-at-home” slogan is a better training than lenience and
permissiveness. Real life is not all about psychology, it’s about
action and independent decision-making. Fathers teach how to fight.

Conclusion
In determining what is good for a child the participation of both parents
should be taken into consideration. The involvement of mother and father should
be equal, although they contribute differently in child upbringing. While mothers
are more responsible for the emotional development of a child's personality, men

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are commonly associated with more tangible things. As a rule, however, mothers
manage to preserve closer bonds with their offspring.
Personal view
Putting aside various deviations of a family model, I've come to a conclusion
that mothers are generally closer to their children than fathers. It originates from a
natural wish to stay with someone who gave you life, who provided care and
protection from the first moments of your life. Mothers may not be that helpful in
action, but their presence is essential for the statics of a human self, that is
psychology, one’s identity. Furthermore, mothers are continuously related to as
home-keepers, home-savers, which is a very powerful and important symbol for a
child. Men make houses, women make homes, they say.
To sum it up, researchers have found out that the whole societal model is
female-oriented, be it either direct or indirect domination. In other words, women
are connected with more universal, basic and life-related issues and functions,
while men are mostly responsible for smooth mechanics and ongoing processes.

c) Expand your basic plan and write down the final version of your project in rigid
conformity with the above-mentioned guidelines. Rehearse your presentation.

2. Class Activities
a. Render your Problem Situation project to the audience in class without resorting
to the written copy.
b. Listen to the other speakers carefully, note down any side-thoughts and
comments, as well as questions you might address to the speakers on the problem
highlighted and exchange your views on it. Evaluate all the presentations in
accordance with the forecoming criteria.
c. Comment on the given presentations and speaker performances. Choose the
most successful speaker and discuss with your colleagues the key success points of

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her/his presentation. Rate them in order of relevance.

V. Written Discourse Skills Development

Write a detailed analytical review of the TV talk show Life Styles: “What Makes
a Good Parent?” Make use of the questions and prompts in Video
Comprehension and Discussion Guide, p.67.
Unit 3. Problems of a Young Family

Study and learn the topical focus vocabulary list. Provide Russian equivalents to
the vocabulary items.
Focus Vocabulary List
1) a national preoccupation (with smth); to be in the forefront
2) (to tackle) an overriding (syn. wrenching) problem, syn. colloquial a crunch*
3) to be riddled with smth (~ potholes)*
4) to be faced/confronted with smth (~ a triple quandary); to be caught in a vise*
5) to research smth exhaustively; exhaustive research (syn. in-depth studies of smth)*
6) to fret about smth
7) to take a personal toll (about a problem, issue, etc.)*
8) a childcare option/arrangement/setup
9) full-time care; extensive day care, an acceptable day-care arrangement; a family-
care arrangement; a huge demand for infant care; (to provide, purchase) after-
school/after-hours supervision (syn. out-of-school care)
10) a care-giver/child-minder/(baby) sitter; an au pair; an in-home caregiver/at-
home sitter; a neglectful sitter
11) to apply for a spot (~ at a day-care facility); to put/switch children into day
care; communal approaches to child rearing
12) to be under smb’s supervision (syn. to be in the care of smb); to entrust smb to
smb (~ children to siblings)
13) to be in self care (syn. to be left on one’s own; to spend time all by oneself); a

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 wastrel, latch-key kids (syn. waifs and strays)
14) to get in with the wrong crowd, ant. to get (also – smb) on the right path
15) expectant mothers; to time smth for smth (~ one's pregnancy for an anticipated
opening)
16) to be in the labour force; to pour into/enter/go in the workforce; ant. to give up
on work*
17) to seek fulfillment in smth ( ~ a career)
18) unaffordable; to afford (hefty) fees; to cost upwards of (high-quality
supervision costing upwards of $100 a week)
19) poverty-level income/low-income parents; dual income; a lower socioeconomic
class
20) to settle for smth (~ for things not being perfect)*
21) to maneuver to maintain smth*
22) to work alternating shifts; to work by remote control
23) the right to a leave of absence; sick leave; maternity leaves with job security; a
year of unpaid “hardship” leave for childcare
24) on-site or near-site day-care centers
25) to engender (company) loyalty and low turnover; to reduce absenteeism; to pay
off handsomely
26) (direct) day-care subsidies; to invoke a provision; the fringe benefits; backers
(~ of after-school programs)
27)disappointingly few (the choices are ~); of distressingly poor quality; a
vanishing breed*
28) to accelerate (about a trend, process, etc.)*
29) to outnumber smb by 10 to 1*
30) to plummet (syn. to decrease, shrink, drop, fall steeply)*
31) to fill the void (syn. to fill/close/stop/bridge the gap)*
32) to be rooted in smth (~ the quaint assumption that ...); the root cause*

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B
Additional Vocabulary List
1) babywatch/a nanny videotaping service/a hidden video camera; to tape smb
through babywatch (in secret); to check up on smb (by using hidden video
cameras)
2) to sign up with (an agency); a nanny placement agency; a reputable
(syn. reliable) agency
3) to be on safe ground (syn. to play it safe; to be on the safe side)
4) prescreening of candidates
5) to get a master’s degree in child development/to have child development
training
6) to grow close to smb; to band together
7) verbal interaction, engaging/enriching activities
8) to sing smb’s praise (syn. to think the world of smb)
9) to pay smb “off the books”; to offer handsome salaries/cushy benefits
10) poor job performance
11) to pull the wool over smb’s eyes (syn. to be hoodwinked); to create a totally
false image of oneself
12) to know smb fractionally
13) to look closely into smb’ s past; criminal checks; a clean criminal check/record;
to check out smb’s reference/a reference check; to check on smth; to have smth
on one’s record
14)petty and serious crime; child molestation, child abuse
15) to go unreported
16)to surface
17) the “gut feeling”
18) Idle hands are the Devil’s workshop.

Study the texts, identify the active vocabulary items and discuss the questions

96
following the texts.

Text A

The Child Care Dilemma

As more women enter the workforce, families are faced with the problem of
who will care for the children. Unfortunately, the options are rarely ideal.
The smell of wet paint wafts through the house on a tree-lined street on
Chicago’s North Side. Marena McPherson, 37, chose a peach tint for the nursery: a
gender-neutral color. But the paint had a will of its own and dried a blushing shade
of pink. With the baby due in less than a month, there are too many other concerns.
Like choosing a name, furnishing the baby’s room, reading up on infant care and
attending childbirth classes (занятия для будущих родителей). Above all,
McPherson must tackle the overriding problem that now confronts most expectant
American mothers: Who will care for this precious baby when she returns to work?
An attorney who helps run a Chicago social service agency, McPherson has
accumulated two months of paid sick leave and vacation time, but then she must
return to her usual full schedule. So for several months she has been exhaustively
researching the local child-care scene. The choices, she has learned, are
disappointingly few. Only two day-care centers in Chicago accept infants, both are
expensive, and neither appeals. “With 20 or 30 babies, it’s probably all they can do
to get each child’s needs met,” says McPherson. She would prefer having a baby-
sitter come to her home. “That way there’s a sense of security and family.” But she
worries about the cost and reliability: “People will quit, go away for the summer,
get sick.” In an ideal world, she says, she would choose someone who reflects her
own values and does not spend the day to settle for things not being perfect.
That anxiety has become a standard rite (процедура) of passage for
American parents. Beaver’s1 family, with Ward Cleaver off to work in his suit and

1
A character on a popular 1960s television show. Beaver was the younger son of the Cleaver family, an idealized
American family in which the father worked and the mother stayed home.
97
June in her apron in the kitchen, is a vanishing breed. Less than a fifth of American
families now fit that model, down from a third 15 years ago. Today 62 per cent of
mothers with children under 14 are in the labor force. Even more striking: about
half of American women are making the same painful decision as McPherson and
returning to work before their child’s first birthday. Most do so because they have
to: seven out of ten working mothers say they need their salaries to make ends
meet.
With both Mom and Dad away at the office or store or factory, the child care
crunch has become the most wrenching personal problem facing millions of
American families. In 2000, 9 million preschoolers spent their days in the hands of
someone other than their mother. Millions of older children participate in programs
providing after-school supervision. As American women continue to pour into the
work force, the trend will accelerate. Says Jay Belsky, a professor of human
development at Pennsylvania State University: “We are as much a society
dependent on female labor, and thus in need of a child-care system, as we are a
society dependent on the automobile, and in need of roads.”
At the moment, though, the American child-care system – to the extent that
there is one – is riddled with potholes. Throughout the country, working parents
are faced with a triple quandary: day care is hard to find, difficult to afford and
often of distressingly poor quality. Waiting lists at good facilities are so long that
parents apply for a spot months before their children are born. Or even earlier.
Apparently some women hope to time their pregnancy for an anticipated opening.
The Jeanne Simon center in Burlington, Vt., has a folder of applications labeled
“preconception”.
Finding an acceptable day-care arrangement is just the beginning of the
struggle. Parents must then maneuver to maintain it. Michele Theriot of Santa
Monica, Calif., a 37-year-old theatrical producer, has been scrambling ever since
her daughter Zoe was born 2 years ago. In that short period she has employed a
Danish au pair, who quit after eight months; a French girl, who stayed 2 months;

98
and an Iranian, who lasted a week. “If you get a good person, it’s great,” says
Theriot, “but they have a tendency to move on.” Last September, Theriot decided
to switch Zoe into a “family-care” arrangement, in which she spends seven hours a
day in the home of another mother. Theriot toured a dozen such facilities before
selecting one. “I can’t even tell you what I found out there,” she bristles. In one
home the “kids were all lined up in front of the TV like a bunch of zombies.” At
another she was appalled by the filth. “I sat my girl down on the cleanest spot I
could find and started interviewing the care giver. And you know what she did?”
asks the incredulous mother. “She began throwing empty yogurt cups at my child’s
head. As though that was playful!”
Theriot is none too sure that the center she finally chose is much better.
Zoe’s diapers aren’t always changed, instructions about giving medicine are
sometimes undermined, and worse, “she’s started having nightmares.” En route to
day care on a recent day, Zoe cried out, “No school! No school!” and became
distraught (безумный, сумасшедший). It is time, Theriot concludes, to start the
child-care search again.
Fretting (недовольство, боязнь) about the effects of day care on children
has become a national preoccupation. What troubles lie ahead for a generation
reared by strangers? What kind of adults will they become? At least one major
survey of current research, by Penn State’s Belsky, suggests that extensive day
care in the first year of life raises the risk of psychological trauma, a conclusion
that has mortified already guilty working parents. With high-quality supervision
costing upwards of $200 a week, many families are placing their children in the
hands of untrained, overworked personnel. “In some places, that means one
woman taking care of nine babies,” says Zigler. “Nobody doing that can give them
the stimulation they need. We encounter some real horror stories out there, with
babies being tied into cribs.”
The US is the only Western industrialized nation that does not guarantee a
working mother the right to a leave of absence after she has a child. Although the

99
Supreme Court ruled that states may require businesses to provide maternity leaves
with job security, only 45% of working women receive such protection through
their companies. Even for these, the leaves are generally brief and unpaid. This
forces many women to return to work sooner than they would like and creates a
huge demand for infant care, the most expensive and difficult child-care service to
supply.
The premature separation takes a personal toll as well, observes Harvard
Pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton, heir apparent to Benjamin Spock as the country’s
preeminent guru on child rearing. “Many parents return to the workplace
grieving.”
New York City Police Officer Janis Curtin resumed her assignment in south
Queens just eight weeks after the birth of Peter. She tried everything, from leaving
Peter at the homes of other mothers to handing him to her police-officer husband at
the station-house door when they worked alternating shifts. With their schedules in
constant flux (постоянное изменение), there were snags every step of the way.
Curtin was more fortunate than most workers: police-department policy allows a
year of unpaid “hardship” leave for child care. She decided to invoke that
provision.
The absence of national policies to help working mothers reflects traditional
American attitudes: old-fashioned motherhood has stood right up there with the
flag and apple pie1 in the pantheon of American ideals. To some people day-care
centers, particularly government-sponsored ones, threaten family values; they seem
a step on the slippery slope toward an Orwellian socialist nightmare. But such
abstract concerns have fallen steeply as the very concrete need for child care is
confronted by people from all walks of life.
Without much federal help, the poorest mothers are caught in a vise.
Working is the only way out of poverty, but it means putting children into day
care, which is unaffordable. “The typical cost of full-time care is $3,500 to $5,500

1
A supposed symbol of American life. Motherhood is usually mentioned along with the American flag and apple
pie as being “sacred” to Americans.
100
a year for one child, or one-third of the poverty-level income for a family of three,”
says Helen Blank of the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington. As a result,
many poor mothers leave their young children alone for long periods or entrust
them to siblings only slightly older. Others simply give up on working.
Child care has always been a burning issue for the working poor.
Traditionally, they have relied on neighbors or extended family and, in the worst of
times, have left their children to wander in the streets or tied to the bedpost. In the
mid-19th century the number of wastrels in the streets was so alarming that
charity-minded society ladies established day nurseries in cities around the
country. A few were sponsored by employers. Gradually, local regulatory boards
began to discourage infant care, restrict nursery hours and place zero in on a
kindergarten on Montessori-style1 instructional approach. The nurseries became
nursery schools, no longer tailored to the needs of working mothers. During the
Second World War, when women were mobilized to join wartime industry, day
nurseries returned, with federal and local governments’ sponsorship. Most of the
centers vanished in the postwar years, and the Donna Reed 2 era of the idealized
nuclear family began.
Two historic forces brought an end to that era, sweeping women out of the
home and into the workplace and creating a new demand for child care. First came
the feminist movement of the ‘60s, which furthered housewives to seek fulfillment
in a career. Then economic recessions and inflation struck in the 1970s. Between
1973 and 1983, the median income for young families fell by more than 16%.
Suddenly the middle-class dream of a house, a car and three square meals for the
kids carried a dual-income price tag. What was once a problem only of poor
families has now become a part of daily life and a basic concern of typical
American families. Some women are angry that the feminist movement failed to
foresee the conflict that would arise between work and family life. “Safe, licensed

1
Pertaining to the educational approach developed by Maria Montessori, an Italian physician and educator. The
Montessori system stresses individual guidance of children, not strict control.
2
An actress who starred in “The Donna Reed Show”, a popular 1960s television show about the Stone family.
Donna Stone was the idealized American mother who stayed at home to care for her family.
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child care should have been as prominent a feminist rallying cry as safe, legal
abortions,” observes Joan Walsh, a legislative consultant and essayist in
Sacramento.
In the early 1970s, there was a flurry of congressional activity to provide
child-care funds for the working poor and regulate standards. But under pressure
from conservative groups, Richard Nixon vetoed a comprehensive child-
development program in 1971, refusing, he said, to put the Government’s “vast
moral authority” on the side of “communal” approaches to child rearing. The
Regan Administration has further reduced the federal role in child care. In
inflation-adjusted dollars, funding for direct day-care subsidies for low- and
middle-income families has dropped by 28 per cent.
California, Minnesota, Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut are
among the few states that have devoted considerable resources to improving child-
care programs. Most states have done virtually nothing. Thirty-three have lowered
their standards and reduced enforcement for licensed day-care centers.
Nor have American business stepped in to fill the void. “They acknowledge
that child care is an important need, but they don’t see it as their problem,” says
Kamerman. Of the nation’s 6 million employers, only about 3,000 provide some
sort of child-care assistance, but most merely provide advice or referrals. Only a
small number of employers provide on-site or near-site day-care centers. “Today’s
corporate personnel policies remain stuck in a 1950s time warp,” charges David
Blankenhorn, director of the Manhattan-based Institute for American Values.
“They are rooted in the quaint assumption that employees have ‘someone at home’
to attend to family matters.
There are basically three kinds of day care in the US. For children under
five, the most common arrangement is “family” or “home-based” care, in which
toddlers are minded in the homes of other mothers. According to a Census Bureau
report called Who’s Minding the Kids, 32 per cent of preschool children of working
mothers spend their days in such facilities. An additional 17 per cent are in

102
organized day-care centers or preschools. The third type of arrangement, which
prevails for older children and for 17 per cent of those under five, is supervision in
the child’s own home by a nanny, sitter, relative or friend.
Experts worry that a two-tier system is emerging, with quality care available
to the affluent, and everyone else setting for less. “We are at about the same place
with child care as we were when we started universal education,” says Zigler of
Yale. “Then some kids were getting Latin and Greek and being prepared for
Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Other kids were lucky if they could learn to write
their own name.”
A few companies are in the forefront. Merck & Co., a large pharmaceutical
concern based in Rahway, N.J., invested $100,000 seven years ago to establish a
day-care center in a church less than two miles from its headquarters. Parents pay
$550 a month for infants and $385 for toddlers. Many spend lunch hours with their
children. It’s very reliable, and, consequently, important in terms of getting one’s
job done.
Elsewhere in the country, companies have banded together to share the costs
of providing day-care services to employees. A space in Rich’s department store in
downtown Atlanta serves the children of not only its own employees but also of
workers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the First National Bank of
Atlanta, Georgia-Pacific and the Atlanta Journal and Constitution newspapers.
Businesses that have made the investment in child care say it pays off
handsomely by reducing turnover and absenteeism. A large survey has shown that
parents lose on average eight days a year from work because of child-care
problems and nearly 40 per cent consider quitting. Studies at Merck suggest that
the company also saves on sick leave due to stress-related illnesses. At Stride Rite
Corp., a 16-year-old, on-site day-care center in Boston and a newer one at the
Cambridge headquarters have engendered unusual company loyalty and low
turnover. “People want to work here, and child care seems to be a catalyst,” says
Stride Rite Chairman Arnold Hiatt. “To me it is as natural as having a clean-air

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policy or a medical benefit.”
The generation of workers graduating from college today may find
themselves in a better position. They belong to the “baby-bust” generation, and
their small numbers, says Harvard Economist David Bloom, will force employers
to be creative in searching for labor. Child-care arrangements, he says, will be the
“fringe benefits of the 21st century”. The economics of the situation, if nothing
else, will provoke a change in the attitude of business, just as the politics of the
situation is changing the attitude of government. In order to attract the necessary
women and men employers are going to have to help them find ways to cope more
easily with their duties as parents.

In a poll done by the firm Yankelovich Clance Shulman, 80% agreed with the
statement that “many women today are having a hard time balancing the demands
A Woman’s
of raising children, marriage and work..” The findings are based on a telephone
Place survey of 1, 014 adult Americans. The potential sampling error is ±3%. Here are
some of the findings:
More women are working outside the home these days. Do you think this is good or bad for:
TOTAL WOMEN MEN
Good Bad Good Bad Good Bad
Marriages 45% 36% 46% 34% 44% 39%
Children 24% 57% 26% 53% 22% 61%
The workplace 66% 12% 69% 10% 62% 15%
Women in general 72% 14% 70% 14% 73% 13%
In your view, most married women who work do so primarily:
TOTAL WOMEN MEN
Because they want to 19% 16% 23%
For economic reasons 66% 68% 64%
If one of you had to give up your job for some reason, whose job would it be?
TOTAL WOMEN MEN
Husband’s 10% 11% 9%
Wife’s 84% 84% 83%
Should husbands provide day care?
TOTAL WOMEN MEN
Yes 51% 56% 46%
No 39% 34% 46%
Should government do more to provide day care?
TOTAL WOMEN MEN
Yes 54% 56% 51%
No 43% 39% 45%

Comprehension and Discussion Guide

1. What was the ideal model of a typical American family until recently, say, in the
104
60s or 70s, and what was called to symbolize it?
man: the breadwinner, off to work;
woman: to stay at home, to care for the family; motherhood along with the
American flag and apple pie – “sacred” to Americans.
2. What two factors brought women back to the workplace in the 1960s and 1970s?
to sweep women out of the home and back into the workplace;
the feminist movement; to encourage housewives to seek fulfillment in a career;
the economic recessions and inflation; to need a dual income to afford a house,
a car and three square meals for kids.
3. How has the family scene changed as more women pour into the work
force?
a vanishing breed; not to fit the model.
4. What overriding, wrenching personal problem do millions of American
families consequently face as soon as they have children?
people from all walks of life (not just the poor); to be confronted with; to need
daytime/after-school supervision for one’s children; “Who is minding kids?”; “Who
can I trust to care for my child?”
to have to return to work/to resume one’s assignment; to go back to full schedule; to
find an acceptable family care arrangement; to maneuver to maintain it.
5. Why are American women compelled to go back to work after having a
child? Are there any legal provisions for a maternity leave?
the USA, the only western industrialized nation; not to provide maternity leaves with
job security; not to guarantee a working mother the right to a leave of absence after
she has a child; only 40% of working women receive protection through their
companies; brief, unpaid leaves; to force to return to work sooner than they would like.
NOTE: the police department; a year of unpaid “hardship” leave for child care.
6. How can you account for the fact? Doesn't it seem strange for such an advanced
and civilized nation?
the absence of national policies to help working mothers; to reflect the traditional

105
values and the traditional American attitudes: “old-fashioned motherhood has stood
right up there with the flag and apple pie in the pantheon of American ideals”, to
threaten family values; a step to Orwellian socialist nightmare.
7. Has the government encouraged the development of a child day-care system
over the years?
not to encourage or financially support the development of day-care centers; to
refuse to put the Government’s “vast moral authority” on the side of communal
approaches to child rearing; to veto a comprehensive program of child development;
to reduce federal role in child care; funding for direct day-care subsidies for low-
and middle-income families; to drop by 28% (Nixon, Reagan).
8. Do the arguments in favor of the national policies stand to reason? Why are
Americans so much preoccupied about the effects of day-care on children (and parents)?
a whole generation of children; to raised the way it has never been done before; to
be reared by strangers; (a major survey of current research suggests ...); extensive
day-care in the first year of life; to raise the risk of emotional problems; to mortify
guilty parents; to take a personal toll; premature separation; to return to the
workplace grieving; to develop stress-related illnesses.
9. Besides, the day-care system itself is riddled with potholes. What are the triple
problems facing working parents as regards child day-care?
a) hard to find; the choices disappointingly few (e.g. 2 in Chicago); the options are
rarely ideal; long waiting lists; to apply for a spot in a day-care center; to
extensively research the local scene; to time one’s pregnancy for an anticipated
opening; expectant mothers; a folder of applicants labeled “preconception”; an
especially huge demand for infant care; the most difficult child care to supply;
b) difficult to afford; the typical full-time care for one child ($3,500 – $5,500 a
year); one-third of the poverty-level income for a family of three; infant care
prices ($550), toddlers ($400 a month); high quality supervision costing upwards
of $ 100 a week;
Why do they say that a so-called two-tier system is emerging in the USA?

106
the quality care available to the affluent, and everyone else settling for less; to have
always been an issue for the working poor; to be caught in a vise; to find it
unaffordable; to put their children into day-care;
What comparison can be made between the affordability of child care and universal
education in the USA considering the striking social difference in the USA today?
to learn Latin and Greek; to prepare for Yale, Harvard or Princeton/to be lucky to
be able to write one own name;
c) often of distressingly poor quality; to place one's children in the hands of
untrained and overworked personnel (e.g. one woman taking care of 9 babies);
to encounter horror stories/with babies tied into cribs/to be appalled by the filth;
not to reflect the parents’ educational values; to be lined up in front of the TV
like zombies; not to give the children the stimulation they need;
10. So how do working parents solve the problem? What are the options if they fail
to switch their child into a day-care arrangement?
to work part-time; to alternate shifts; to leave alone; to wander/roam in the streets;
wastrels; to tie to the bed post; to rely on neighbors or extended family; to entrust to
one’s siblings only slighter over.
11. What three kinds of day-care are currently available?
children under 5:
a) family or home based care; 32%; preschool children of working mothers; to be
minded in the homes of other mothers;
b) (an additional 17%) to be in organized day-care centers (preschools);
government- or business-sponsored;
c) supervision in the child’s one home by a nanny, sitter, au pair, relative or
friend; a sense of security and family; but: to quit; to get sick; to go on holiday;
the caregiver; cost and reliability.
12. Why do you think business and industry have been slow to provide day-care
centers facilities for their workers?
to acknowledge that child care is an important need, but not to see it as a problem; to

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provide advice and referrals; corporate personnel policies; to be rooted in the quaint
assumption that ... ; employees; to have someone at home to attend to family
matters; labor and management.
13. Still, there are companies and employers that promote the development of day-
care facilities for their employees. What are they guided by? Are they really so
caring or do they see it as a mutually beneficial arrangement?
to be in the forefront; to fill the void; to band together; to share the cost of
providing day-care services to employees; on site or near site day-care centers; to
spend lunch hours with one’s children; to be profitable in the end; businesses, to
have invested/made investments in child care; to pay off handsomely by...; to
reduce turnover and absenteeism; parents, to lose an average eight day a year from
work because of child care problems; (40%) to consider quitting; to engender
company loyalty and low turnover; to save on sick leave due to stress-related
illnesses; lessened stress and unexpected leave time; as natural as having clean-air
policy and medical benefits.
14. Do such progressive employers and companies also think ahead? Are they
shrewd entrepreneurs thinking into the future? Why?
women, to continue to pour into the workplace; the need for supervision
(daytime/after-school); to grow; the trend; to accelerate; by the year 2000; women
make half of the workforce; the “baby-bust” generation; to force employers to be
creative in searching for labor; to be the fringe benefits of the 90s; the economics of
the situation; to provoke a change in the attitude of business employers; to attract;
to help employees find ways to cope more easily with their duties as parents.

Text B

It’s 10:00 a.m.: Do You Know What Your Sitter’s Doing?

Across the country, more and more parents are spying on their sitters with
hidden video cameras. Out-and-out abuse, like that hyped on TV, turns up
infrequently. But there’s a much more widespread crunch that’s leaving families
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outraged.

After Sydelle Tabrizy learned she was pregnant, she looked into several
different childcare options, and eventually decided on an in-home caregiver. The
woman had been completely reliable and Tabrizy, 31, a psychotherapist in Irvine,
California, had grown close to her. But a year and a half later, she still felt uneasy
about leaving her child. When she heard about Babywatch, a nanny videotaping
service, from a friend, – Tabrizy signed up. “I was hoping to see great things on
the tape,” she recalls.
What Tabrizy saw instead: “Six hours of silence.”
She was stunned as she viewed her caregiver reclining on the couch, watching
TV, while her 18-month-old daughter walked around an ottoman and played with
her toys. Tabrizy had specified that her daughter could watch only public
television, in limited amounts; the sitter had Spanish-language TV on all day. The
woman fed the child, put her down for her customary two-hour nap, but barely
spoke to her.
“When my daughter woke up and cried, the sitter went to get her. The baby
could walk down the stairs at the time, but she needed help – and the caregiver just
kind of dragged her down the stairs, ordered her to put her shoes on in a tone
different than any I’d heard her use. And that was the main interaction on the
tape,” Tabrizy recounts. Deeply upset, she fired her sitter the next day.

The “other” abuse

With that experience, Tabrizy joined the growing ranks of parents who check
up on their in-home caregivers by using hidden video cameras, only to find out that
the sitter hasn’t measured up to their expectations. Not by a long shot. In fact, 70
per cent of the parents who tape their caregivers through Babywatch end up firing
them, according to the service. But not because the sitter has physically abused her
charges. The horrifying clips shown on Primetime Live, Oprah, and other news
and talk shows make riveting TV, but, say experts, they misrepresent the true
problem parents are finding with their sitters. “The fact is, only 1 to 2 per cent of
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these cases are sheer physical abuse,” notes Richard Heilweil, vice president of
Babywatch Corporation, the leader in the nannycam field with providers in more
than 25 US cities. “The real issue is poor job performance by caregivers: neglect,
lack of interaction, or simply misleading the parents.”
Indifferent treatment may not formally qualify as “child abuse.” But clearly,
children in such cases are not receiving the kind of positive, frequent verbal
interaction that widely publicized new research shows is important to a young
child’s intellectual and language development.
Owners of “nannycam” services insist that the majority of their clients are
parents who believe they have a good and reliable caregiver but – frightened by
news reports – just want to make sure. Time and again, the services say, new
clients explain that their sitter is wonderful, warm, and loving to their child. “She
definitely is,” they say, “a part of our family.” Instead, close to three-quarters of
the tapes reveal that none of those warm and enriching activities actually took
place. And, in one of the creepiest aspects of the whole phenomenon, the tapes
show that a caregiver who is loving and attentive when a parent is present shifts
into a new and different mode as soon as the parent leaves. “It’s like a switch
going off,” says Heilweil. “The caregiver thinks her audience is the parent, not the
child.”

Who’s minding the sitter?

No one is really certain how many in-home caregivers are at work in the US
today – the best estimate is between 1 and 3 million. “The numbers are constantly
shifting as mothers go in and out of the workplace,” explains Wendy Sachs, former
president of the International Nanny Association in New Jersey. And numerous
nanny jobs go unreported because many parents pay their sitters “off the books” to
avoid paying Social Security and other taxes.
To date, only a small percentage of parents who employ in-home caregivers
videotape them – Heilweil estimates that perhaps 1,000 clients have used his
services so far – but anecdotal evidence suggests that number is growing. “There

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are two reasons,” says Kevin Hooks, owner of Interprobe, a private investigative
firm in Fairfax, Virginia. “Parents are becoming more aware that these services are
available. And the technology is becoming cheaper as time goes on, making this a
more cost-effective way of getting answers.” Even now, videotaping sitters is
relatively affordable, with equipment rental prices starting at $50 a day.
And it’s legal, though some restrictions apply in a few states. However,
audiotaping of private conversations is illegal – meaning that if you inadvertently
tape a sitter’s private phone conversation, you have technically broken federal law.
Parents who use videotape without sound are, in general, on safe ground.

“She was our best babysitter yet”

Still, most parents play it safe and tape in secret. “Eileen Adams”, a
suburban Bostonian mother of three, one of the many parents who refused to give
her name because she fears reprisal (ответная мера) from her former sitter,
videotaped her children’s caregiver after the woman had been working for the
family for a year and a half. “As far as I was concerned, the caregiver was as crazy
about my kids as I was,” Adams recalls.
Nonetheless, something – a chance comment by her 4-year-old that
indicated he’d been told to “shut up,” an increasing sense of unease – led Adams to
arrange for two days of taping with a hidden “nannycam.” On day one, after the
kids had gone to bed, Adams and her husband settled down to watch the videotape.
Adams saw herself kissing the 16-month-old baby good-bye and heading out the
door at 8:30 that morning. Door closes. Sitter takes the child upstairs, presumably
to put him in his crib. Moments later, she comes down, gets herself a bowl of
cereal, and begins watching television.
It was at this point that Adams felt her blood begin to run cold. Why was the
baby being put down for a nap when he’d only gotten up an hour and a half
before? Almost equally upsetting were the cereal and the TV. “I don’t care that she
sits on my couch and eats cereal. But I offered her food many times and she always
refused. She also said she never watched TV. She created an image for me that was

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totally false. It made me crazy. What else was she lying about?”
The caregiver’s lackluster performance continued for the rest of the day. At
noon, the sitter answers Adams’s check-in-call and assures her that she and the
baby played in the backyard all morning and the baby loved it.
Adams is galled by her sense of having been fooled despite her best efforts.
She’d checked out her sitter’s reference, a respectable professional couple with
four children, who sang the woman’s praises. Adams spent days with her sitter
while on maternity leave with her youngest child; back at work, she called
regularly to check on how things were going. And her oldest child, 11, was of an
age to be able to report any problems. “But my sitter was shrewd,” Adams Says.
“She was perfectly fine to the younger children when my oldest was around.”
Adams now believes that the reference the sitter gave was either faked – the couple
were friends of hers – or that her sitter pulled the wool over her previous
employers’ eyes as well. “I really believe that if I, being such an experienced
working parent, could be hoodwinked, anybody could,” Adams says. “And it
haunts me to know that that woman is probably watching somebody else’s children
right now.”

Whose fault is it?

There are people who would say Adams and other parents who’ve had
neglectful sitters simply didn’t hire right. Wendy Sachs, who also owns a nanny
placement agency in Philadelphia, thinks videotaping is largely media hype and
says only one or two families who’ve used her placement service have ever
expressed any interest in it. The families who are having problems are the ones
who are not using the really pristine agencies,” claims Sachs. Jeff Jones, owner of
the Elite Alternatives nanny placement agency in Dallas, says in three years only
three families have used hidden videotaping. And the result? “Everything was
fine,” Jones says. He attributes his successful placement record to his rigorous
prescreening of candidates, which includes medical exam, a psychological
evaluation, a detailed reference check, and Jones’s own “gut feeling” about a

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person. His candidates, he says, tend to be highly motivated in their work because
they do it in conjunction with other professional goals, such as getting a master’s
degree in child development.
Joy Shelton, founder and president of the American Council of Nanny
Schools, says she’s had no reports of videotaping from the 600 nannies who’ve
graduated from US schools. In any case, a nanny school graduate, she notes, would
have nothing to fear. “They are trained to use the soundest behavior-management
techniques for children,” she says, “whether it’s potty training, developing good
eating habits, or building a sense of responsibility.” According to Shelton, a
professional nanny follows a structure much like that of a good day care center,
with a varied schedule, creative thinking exercises, and activities designed to build
gross and fine motor skills.
“The real problem,” Shelton says, “is that there are many more placement
agencies than there are [trained] nannies to place. I think many times, parents are
so desperate for childcare, they settle for far less than they should.”
She’s got that right, says Judith S. Lederman, a suburban New York mother

of three and a public relations executive. In the past decade, she has had more than
25 child-care situations, including nannies, au pairs, day care centers, and family
day care setups, and she admits her choices were often driven by pressure.
“Working mothers don’t have the luxury of waiting 3 or 6 months for the perfect
person to finally surface,” she says. According to Lederman, author of Searching for
Mary Poppins: Childcare Chills & Nightmare Nannies, “There’s a real temptation
to hire somebody just because she’s living, breathing, and can start on Monday.”
As for training and education – well, the paragons (образцы, модели
совершенства) cited by Jones and Shelton are few and far between. And they’re
being snapped up (расхвачены) by families who can offer handsome salaries
and cushy benefits. By contrast, many in-home sitters are simply local women or
moms who need to earn extra money. And since most parents haven’t had child-
development training themselves, they’re willing to cut their sitter some slack on
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this point. They count as experience the fact that she may have raised children of
her own – even though they might not know how she raised them.
“If you look at who many caregivers are, and how they brought up their
own children, that would be strikingly different from how the average middle-
class American parent raises her children,” says Julia Wrigley, Ph.D., associate
professor of sociology at the City University of New York Graduate Center and
author of Other People’s Children, one of the few in-depth studies of the modern
American nanny setup. “For example, intensive language use is a class-related
phenomenon. A middle-class view of what constitutes good childcare is to talk
to the children a lot, joke with them,” Dr. Wrigley explains. A babysitter from a
lower socioeconomic class, on the other hand, may believe she’s doing a fine job
even though she doesn’t speak much to the child.
Even the parent who signs up with what she believes is a reputable agency –
assuming she can afford the hefty fees – gets limited guarantees. References, as
Eileen Adams found, can be wildly misleading. Moreover, the criminal checks so
proudly advertised by agencies are usually inadequate, because most cover only
the state in which the caregiver currently claims residence. Therefore, a person
who has, say, shoplifting, traffic violations, or even child molestation on her
record in Illinois can move to Texas and come up with a clean criminal check –
unless a private investigator is hired to look closely into her past.
“Ken Unger,” father of a 7-month-old boy, rejected the agency route
when it came time to hire childcare for his son. “I wouldn’t have minded spending
the $1,000 or $1,500 fee if I thought there was a guarantee,” the Hackensack,
New Jersey, sales executive says, “but the best they would promise is a replace-
ment in 30 to 60 days if the sitter you hired didn’t work out.”

Good Parents, bad bosses?

“I’m not surprised that so many parents are disappointed when they
videotape their sitters,” says Dr. Wrigley, who interviewed both caregivers and
their employers for her book. “Parents do construct a fantasy that this sitter is

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solving their problems about being in the workplace and needing to leave their
child with someone. They feel they know her, but they only know her fractionally.
They may also have a very demanding set of expectations which they themselves
can’t always live up to.”
Some experts think that parents are simply poor managers. “Parents think,
‘She’s done this before, she’ll know what to do,’ but they don’t take the time to
train the caregiver in the ways of their household,” says Sachs.
Employees need direction, Sachs stresses. “A lot of parents tell the
caregiver, ‘I want you to do all kinds of activities with my child.’ In the parent’s
mind, that translates into ‘I told her what I wanted her to do.’ But that’s different
from, “On Thursday, go to story time at the library. On Friday, do painting,” she
says.
No doubt many parents do make mistakes when it comes to interviewing,
and monitoring their caregivers. That still doesn’t let some sitters off the hook. 90
percent of all findings come back in some negative fashion. Yet even preschoolers
seem to accept this behavior – not that they have much choice – and never mention
it to their parents. Babies, of course, are too young to tell.

A matter of luck?
So far, the news from the nannycam front is not as reassuring as many
working parents had hoped. But the reports aren’t all bad. Some clients are indeed
delighted to discover that their instincts weren’t wrong after all. “Ann Brown”
agreed to talk about her experience only on the grounds of strictest confidentiality,
because she and her husband can’t bear the thought that their sitter might find out
what they did, get mad, and quit. The Browns videotaped their sitter after watching
a news program that showed a video clip of a caregiver abusing her charge. They
thought the world of their sitter – but so had the parents interviewed on TV.
Reluctantly, the Browns decided to go ahead.
And they were delighted. “I saw love on the tape,” Brown says. “She hugged
him, told him she loved him, was constantly paying attention to him. She read him

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books, they threw the ball, they did ABCs. At one point he was acting up, being a
bit of a devil – which I know he can be – and she handled him beautifully.
“I had wondered, all this hugging and kissing she did with my child when I
was there – could it be an act? But it went on all day.” And for the second and third
days of taping, too.
“So now,” Brown says cheerfully, “I go out the door in the morning and I
feel great about the person I’m leaving my child with. We got lucky.”
The problem is, it shouldn’t have to be a matter of luck. In the long run,
consistently high standards of childcare will require major changes in society:
More respect for childcare issues on the part of employers. Training and certification
requirements for caregivers. Access to accurate criminal background checks.
Higher pay and more respect for the childcare profession in order to make it an
appealing career option for bright, capable people. That’s the long run. The reality
is that parents have to go to work in the short run, like tomorrow. If the nannycam
controversy proves anything, it’s how hard parents have to work – asking the right
questions, seeking documentation, seeing for themselves – to make sure their
childcare arrangements are up to par. We all take a leap of faith when we hand our
children over to another adult. The trick is to make that leap a little shorter –
sometimes using any means at our disposal.
SMART WAYS TO CHECK ON YOUR SITTER
Does the thought of using a nannycam go against your grain? Plenty of experts believe parents can
keep on top of their childcare situation without cameras. Some tips:
 BE VERY SPECIFIC ABOUT HOW YOU  OBSERVE THE SITTER IN ACTION AS
WANT YOUR CAREGIVER AND CHILD MUCH AS YOU CAN. Perhaps by working
TO SPEND THEIR DAYS. Ask her to keep at home one afternoon a month with an ear
a written log of their activities, or make up a open. The way a caregiver disciplines a child,
daily worksheet with places she can fill in for or reacts under stress, can be picked up
different segments of the day. Either way, a without a video-tape.
daily log is a sort of thing that’s hard for a  ENLIST THE HELP OF THE OTHER
slacker to take on an ongoing basis. OBSERVERS. Candidly solicit the watchful
 SET ASIDE TIME FOR A WEEKLY eyes of trusted people in your neighborhood.
CATCH UP. Talk about everything from Tell them you are trying your best to evaluate
whether there’s been enough milk in the your sitter and would appreciate any input
house to how to keep Johnny from climbing they can pass along.
on the table.

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Answer the following questions on the text.
1. What wrenching social problem concerning in-home childcare options in the
USA is tackled in the article?
2. What is Babywatch? Is it a mere fad or an objectively needed effective
service?
3. What are the reasons why the statistics on in-home caregivers in the USA are
constantly in flux (2 reasons)?
4. Enumerate the reasons for the growing number of parents invoking the
Babywatch service?
5. Define the essence of the quandary parents are confronted with. Is sheer
physical abuse the root cause for their unease?
6. Expand on hidden dangers that a caregiver’s poor and misleading job performance
poses to 1) the intellectual and language development of a child; 2) parents.
7. Why so some nanny placements agency owners call videotaping media hype?
What can their successful placement records be attributed to? What are the
major qualifications of a professional nanny, as suggested in the article?
8. Enumerate the reasons why some parents resort to unqualified child care.
Consider the following points:
1) time pressure;
2) financial disadvantage;
3) disregard of class-related differences.
9. Do affluent parents signing up with a reputable nanny placement agency
always get full guarantees? What is the common alternative to an inadequately
performing child minder?
10. While certain experts tend to blame parents for lame in-home childcare
situations, analyze some widespread parental misconceptions causing further
disappointment at the caregiver. Make use of the prompts:
1) a sitter – an illusionary solution to problems;
2) fractional knowledge of a person;

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 3) an over-demanding set of expectations;
4) scarce and inaccurate instructions.
11. Outline the current picture of childcare arrangements in the USA. How would
you characterize it?
12. Comment on the methods to check on a caregiver (see box). Share your own
recommendations and babysitting experiences (if any) with your groupmates.
13. Are services similar to those described in the article available in out country?
Is there an urging demand for them?
14. In the author’s opinion, what long-term changes in the whole society would
high standards of child care require?
15. What is your attitude to the problem discussed in the article? What ways of
solving it would you suggest?

Text C

It’s 4:00 p.m.: Do You Know Where Your Children Are?

The most dangerous time of day for kids isn’t late at night. It’s from 2 p.m. to
8 p.m., when children are out of school and their parents are still working. This
can be crime time, and prime time to get them on the right path.
It’s 4 p.m., and Sgt. Mike Gwynes of the Jacksonville, Fla., police department
is maneuvering his squad car past Jack Homer and Goldilocks toward Cinderella
Street, where some teens are hanging out at a bus stop. Down in the Sweetwater
section of town, the streets have fairy-tale names, but it’s the kids who risk turning
into pumpkins. And not at midnight. “The problem’s 3 p.m. till about 8 p.m., when
they go home unsupervised and get in with the wrong crowd,” Gwynes says,
making a sharp left. Over on Bo Peep, a few teenagers are playing some rough
basketball in a driveway; on Tinkerbell, the activity looks a bit more suspicious.
Drugs are a big problem here.
Up on Wilson Boulevard sits a big solution, an innovative charter school, a

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police substation and a Boys & Girls Club all rolled into one. At 4 p.m. the 5- to
9-year-olds are playing kickball, the 10- to 12-year-olds are playing board games
or finishing up Power Hour homework help and the older kids are in the teen
center, playing pool and flirting, under adult supervision. Cursing risks a fine (25
cents) and boomboxes aren’t allowed, which means some kids won’t show up. But
plenty of others do, including some just out of juvenile detention. Youth crime in
the area has plummeted.
It doesn’t take a PhD to figure out that young people need some place positive
to go after school to stay off the streets and out of their empty homes. If they end
up in jail, in drugs treatment or pregnant, we all pay. And even if they’re good kids
from good neighborhoods, we’re anxious. A NEWSWEEK Poll shows that the
number of Americans who worry “a lot” that their kids will get involved with
troublemakers or use drugs or alcohol was up by a full one third since 1990. With
17 million American parents scrambling to find care for their school-age children
during work hours, the problem keeps accelerating.
More than a decade after the media discovered “latchkey kids,” the answers
are still elusive. When budgets get tight, after-school programs – wrongly
dismissed as “frills” – are often cut first. When talk turns to society’s worst
problems, it’s easy to shrug off concerns about kids home alone watching
afternoon television or hanging with friends. After all, many of their parents did
the same, and turned out just fine.
But times have changed, and not just because Jerry Springer has replaced
Jerry Mathers (the star of Leave It to Beaver) as the TV baby-sitter. Among cops,
social-service types and policymakers, there’s a new awareness that structured
activity during out-of-school hours is absolutely critical of confronting many of the
country’s most vexing social preoccupations. For years, local TV-station public-
service announcements sternly intoned: “It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your
children are?” It was the wrong question. The answer was usually yes; relatively
few kids are allowed to roam freely at that hour. Only one seventh of all juvenile

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crime is committed in the late night and early morning. But substitute “4 p.m.” and
millions of parents would have to answer no.
If idle hands are the Devil’s workshop, the hellish consequences are being left
in the American heartland. Crime is down in metropolitan areas, but up in
hundreds of small communities, especially among kids. Drug use in suburban
middle schools is surging. Many rural counties now report teen-pregnancy rates
equal to those in big cities. Sixty percent of the cases of sexually transmitted
diseases are contracted by teens. The absence of parents from the home in the
afternoon has made it much more convenient to get into trouble. More than three
quarters of first-time sexual encounters occur at someone’s house (usually the
boy’s). “We had to use Chevys,” says criminologist James Alan Fox of
Northeastern University. “Now kids don’t need cars. When the cat’s away, the
mice will have sex.”
And commit crimes, both petty and serious. Juvenile crime triples starting
at 3 p.m. In fact, the 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. period – Crime Time – now accounts for
more than 50 percent of all youth offenses. Not your kid, you say? Well, he or she
might be a victim; they outnumber perpetrators of crime by 10 to 1. Juvenile
homicide, which has doubled in a decade, is usually connected to after-school
fights, not late-night crime. But even for those who don’t worry about a potential
Jonesboro massacre in their neighborhood, everyday teen problems of all kinds
get worse when the last school bell rings.
The research confirms common sense. According to one University of
Southern California study, eighth grader wastrels were more prone to smoke,
drink and use marijuana than those who have some supervision after school.
Another study of sixth graders showed those in “self care” were more likely to get
poor grades or behave badly.
Good youth-development programs not only keep kids safe, they often
change their lives. Finally, social policymakers are getting the message, as
foundations were funded by Charles Stewart Mott and George Soros planted some

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seed money. Organizations like Save the Children (which until recently
concentrated its efforts overseas) are also turning to this issue. So is Colin
Powell’s America’s Promise, an umbrella group for hundreds of nonprofits and
corporations that’s working to secure millions more “safe places” for kids.
The struggle starts in the schools, which in many places still close in
midafternoon. Even wealthy communities are beginning to recognize the folly of
locking buildings for large chunks of the day when they’re needed for recreation,
tutoring and arts. Some districts embrace change: for years, Murfreesboro, Tenn.,
has kept schools open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Others are actually moving in the wrong direction. Recently, Atlanta horrified
child-development experts by canceling academic recess on the misleading theory
that there wasn’t “enough time” for a break between classes. But the school day
extends only until 2:30 p.m. Why? The current school schedule – six hours a day,
nine months a year – was invented when the United States was predominantly an
agrarian nation and children were needed in the fields.
Today, three out of four mothers of school-age children are in paid work
outside the home. So it’s not so surprising that by the time they are 12 years old,
nearly 35 per cent of American children are regularly left on their own. For the
rest – the lucky ones – parents work by remote control to pull together a
patchwork of supervised activities: soccer on Tuesdays, Scouts on Wednesday.
Some child-care programs provide terrific enrichment; others amount to little
more than warehousing. TV and videogames usually fill the gap. The average
American child spends 900 hours a year in school – and 1,500 hours a year
watching television.
For the working poor, having their kids watch TV at home is often the best
option – far better than the streets. But the child-care arrangements can be
alarming. According to a study sponsored by Wellesley College, more than 15 per
cent of low-income parents reported that their 4- to 7-year-old children regularly
spent time all by themselves, or in the care of a sibling under the age of 12.

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Neighbors – who for generations helped out absent parents by shushing the kids –
are no longer around much, either.
The schools that poor children attend are unlikely to have after-care.
Currently only 30 per cent of American schools offer after-hours supervision
(группы продленного дня), and the vast majority of them charge fees. The
average cost to parents is $45 a week per child, or more than $2,000 a year, which
is too much for many who need it most. The YMCA, the largest provider of after-
school activities, serves half a million kids a day from all backgrounds. But even
Y’s cost an average of $36 a week. The equation is
Sources: FBI, Ntl. Center for Juvenile Justice, Fight
Crime: Invest in Kids.
straightforward: “If parents are well off, they purchase after-school care. If they’re
poor, [the kids] often get nothing,” says Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith,
one of many mayors now trying to find new solutions.
Among the biggest backers of after-school programs are the nation’s police
chiefs, who argue that recent reductions in crime, while gratifying, are temporary.

Answer the following questions on the text.

1. Formulate the problem dealt with in the article. Does a similar problem exist in
Belarus?
2. What is the so-called “crime-time” for school-age youngsters? Speak on some
The Troubled Hours:
percentage of violent juveile of the dangers an unsupervised child is
crim e occuring by hour on
school days confronted with.
All Juveniles Gangs
3. What is the average age of American “latchkey
12%
10% kids”? Enumerate the popular options which
8%
are commonly invoked by working parents to
6%
4% keep their offspring under control.
2%
4. Is after-hours supervision a commonly
0%
6 a.m . 12 p.m . 6 p.m . 12 a.m .
Tim e of Day affordable arrangement for the majority of
parents? Why is the situation particularly difficult for low-income parents?
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5. What are some of the statistics revealing a close connection between a lack of a
nationwide out-of-school supervision system and juvenile crime rates?
6. Has there been any notable governmental action so far aimed at solving the
problem of “latchkey kids”?
7. Is there a new social awareness of the relevance of structured after-school
activity? What are some of the steps taken by social policymakers and NGOs
towards it?
8. Do al schools locally recognize their primary role in after-school care?
9. How would you comment on the availability of after-school facilities in
Belarus?
10. What ways of solving the problem of out-of-school care would you suggest?

Vocabulary Exercises

Ex. 1. Match the words and word combinations in the left column with the
correct definitions in the right column. Then complete the sentences below
with words in the suitable form from the left column.
1) fringe benefit a) post-Second-World-War generation in the USA
with a great increase in birthrates
2) to surge b) (e.g. of a job) not requiring much effort
3) quandary c) to hoodwink; deceive; trick; mislead smb
4) hefty d) homeless child
5) toddler e) to move forward; to increase suddenly or
abnormally
6) to fret about smth f) state of doubt; dilemma
7) wastrel g) to resort to or put into use (e.g. a law, ruling,
penalty) as pertinent
8) to invoke smth h) child who has just begun to walk
9) wrenching i) to worry; to be troubled
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10) the “baby-bust”/ j) payment or service received in addition to the
baby-boom generation salary earned at a job; usually includes health
and life insurance
11) to pull the wool over k) colloq. big and strong
over smb’s eyes
12) cushy l) causing emotional stress and anguish

1. President, Congress and state legislatures have provided more generous … to

indigent working mothers with dependent children. But they have made it
more difficult for non-working mothers to … public assistance.
2. Economists have detected an increase in wages among never-married single
mothers, even as the supply of such low-wage workers … .
3. The situation is most … for middle-income parents who cannot afford quality
care and who are not subject to government assistance.
4. An in-depth study shows that a sixth of all school-age children turn into … for
part of every day to fend for themselves.
5. One of the … policymakers are faced with is the fate of commercial day-care
centers, as those make up nearly 40 per cent of the licensed spaces across
Canada.
6. Some parents enroll their children in baby-sitting cooperatives, as they … the
kids’ being isolated with a nanny.
7. According to an ongoing study on … by the National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development, children in high-quality center-based care
outperform kids in other kinds of care in verbal interaction and cognitive skills.
8. What’s most important, is that the caregiver be responsive – and that she take
her job not as a … piece.
9. The revived interest in center care follows a … infusion of cash that has, in
some places, improved its quality and affordability.
10. … might prefer to think of their generation as the leaders of social progress,

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 but the facts show otherwise.
11. The vast majority of some 2 million Canadian children receive care from
untrained sitters, who often try … parents’ eyes by submitting fake references.

Ex. 2. Match the words and word phrases on the left with synonyms or
synonymous expressions (A)/antonyms or antonymic expressions (B) on the
right.
A 1) to fill the void a) neglectful, indifferent
2) exhaustive research b) to think the world of smb
3) to plummet c) to hoodwink smb
4) “latchkey kids” d) to be at the heart of the issue
5) to get in with the wrong crowd e) to bridge/fill the gap
6) lackluster f) to fall steeply; shrink
7) to be in the forefront g) unsupervised kids; kids in “self-care”
8) child-minder h) to get involved with troublemakers
9) to pull the wool over smb’s
eyes i) in-depth studies
10) to sing smb’s praise j) a nanny/care-giver/sitter

B 1) to go out of the workplace a) to surge/escalate

2) an overriding problem b) to be stripped of all pretence
3) to take a personal toll c) to get in with the wrong crowd
4) to band together d) in the care of a sibling
5) to create a totally false image
of oneself e) a non-issue
6) (childcare) of distressingly
poor quality f) to disintegrate
7) to know smb fractionally g) high-quality supervision
8) to get smb on the right path h) to pour into the laborforce

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 9) under adult supervision i) to become a national preoccupation
10) to plummet j) to know smb backwards

Ex. 3. Read the text and fill in the blanks with suitable words or word
combinations in the correct form from the box below.
family-care setup be riddled with potholes verbal interaction
low-income reputable agency high-quality supervision
full-time vanishing pay off handsomely sign up
childcare option entrust to switch smb into in-depth
dividing-line turnover and absenteeism caregiver preschool
enriching activities fit in with nursery hours invoke
“gut feeling” affluent visibly beneficial day care arrangement
Back to Day Care
As new (1) … research shows that children in day care develop faster than
their peers, more parents are (2) … .
The (3) … was supplied by a (4) … . She was responsive and responsible,
and Joan Hocky was confident that her infant son, Ben, was (5) … a qualified
sitter. Even so, when he was 11 months old, she (6) … a popular baby-sitting
facility in Brooklyn which provided (7) … day care. Hocky liked the idea of Ben
being exposed to new toys and (8) … . “My (9) … was that it was (10) … ,” says
Hocky, a consultant on community development. “It helps him with (11) ... . To
date, I’ve seen a big shift in his general confidence and curiosity.”
All over the country, parents are (12) … the benefits of a centre-based (13)
…: social stimulation, as well as multiple caregivers to provide (14) … . Now,
more parents are choosing day care than any other (15) … , including relatives or a
(16) … in a neighbor’s home. In addition, the comeback to centre-based care
reflects the (17) … line between education and caregiving. Where (18) … families
used to send their children to nursery school and the (19) … parents were stuck
with day care, it’s becoming harder to draw a (20) … now. Both are striving to

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(21) … the work schedules of harried parents, who don’t want mere (22) … two or
three mornings a week.
But for all its advances, centre care is still (23) … . Kids in group care tend
to get sick more often. (24) … are more restricted than in an at-home arrangement.
And (25) … among workers is high, largely because it rarely (26) … ; the average
annual salary is under $15,000.

Ex. 4. Read the following text and decide which option (A, B or C) fits each
gap.
Nanny and (1) … sitter scare stories have no doubt influenced some
families’ choices of an acceptable childcare setup. Most (2) … , in 1997 British
(3) … Louise Woodward was convicted (4) … manslaughter in the shaking death
of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen. Other cases are less tragic – but (5) … just the
same. Sherry Yandow, executive director of Vermont’s PlayCare Centers, says
(6) … a recent day, one family (7) … up after returning home unannounced to find
their baby (8) … down for her nap at 9 a.m., while the nanny watched TV. That’s
far more typical than (9) … abuse, says Lori Shechter, who runs a nanny (10) …
service in Manhattan to families who want to (11) … their nannies in secret, to be
on safe ground. (12) … the 5,000 videotapes she’s done, about 10 showed
physical abuse and child (13) … , she says. “Most of what people learn is a totally
(14) … image of the sitter in the presence of Mom and Dad and poor job (15) … .
As (16) … day care is a major threat to the development of young children,
the quality of nanny (17) … agencies is a national (18) … . In one Florida study,
Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute, found that (19) … to
get obligatory child development training has dramatically improved the quality of
child care. The most important is that the sitter be involved – and not just rush for
(20) … salaries. Sounds like a good rule of thumb for parents, too.
The Newsweek

A B C
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1) negligible neglectful neglectant
2) notoriously notifiably notedly
3) au pair charge at-home sitter
4) for with of
5) distressing disappointing distraught
6) in by on
7) signed checked snapped
8) settled put switched
9) sheer shear seer
10) videocasting videoscreening videotaping
11) display monitor screen
12) from out of among
13) molestation violation vexation
14) forged fraud false
15) engagement fulfillment performance
16) downstandard substandard understandard
17) placement replacement settlement
18) preconception precaution preoccupation
19) suggesting offering proposing
20) handsome cushy fringe

Ex. 5. Fill in the correct prepositions where necessary.

1. The federal health department of Canada estimates that children (1) …demand
(2) … day care outnumber the spaces available in licensed centers (3) … almost
ten (4) … one.
2. While many parents still feel guilty (5) … entrusting their children (6) …
strangers and admit that it would be smarter to give (7) … (8) … working, most
give a higher priority (9) …fulfillment (10) … a career.

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3. Many parents use day care as a kind of an escape and are forced to resort (11)
… communal approaches (12) … child-rearing, rooted (13) … the quaint
assumption that it fits (14) … the typical model of a perfect day care
arrangement.
4. Few employers go (15) … great lengths to settle (16) … a huge demand (17) …
infant care (18) … among their employees. Only a small percentage of private
employers provide (19) …-site or (20) …-site day-care facilities for the
workers.
5. While a specific degree (21) …child development is required (22) … a
caregiver in some states, parents should expect ongoing training (23) … infant
education, (24) … a minimum, according (25) … the American Council of
Nanny Schools.

Ex. 6. Translate the following text into English, focusing on the italicized
words and phrases. Make use of the key vocabulary.

Что творят с детьми няни

(…или Как проследить за процессом воспитания)
О. Шаблинская, О. Костенко-Попова
Слежка или контроль за нянями – проблема совсем не «новорусская»,
как может показаться на первый взгляд. Тем не менее на сегодняшний день к
услугам нянь, в среднем, прибегают в каждой десятой семье, хотя
малообеспеченные семьи не всегда могут позволить себе внушительные
расценки (от 1,5 до 4 долларов в час). И далеко не всегда круглая сумма в
300–400 долларов, набежавшая за месяц, оправдывает себя. Родителям
стоит начинать тревожиться о качестве ухода за ребенком, если:
 ребенок не радуется пришедшей няне; за несколько месяцев не
привязался к ней;

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  няня чересчур заискивает перед вами, будто пытаясь обмануть либо
скрыть что-то;
 няня клянется, что целыми днями читает со своим «питомцем» и
выбирает развивающие игры и занятия, а ваш милый кроха не
демонстрирует никаких свежеприобретенных речевых и творческих
навыков.
Отчеты о скрытом наблюдении за нянями, собранные в солидном
агентстве по устройству и проверке нянь, не зарегистрированы
официально, но от многих фактов, изложенных в личных делах нянь, кровь
стынет в жилах. Что же делать, если серьезная видеопроверка (а она
обходится в 300 долларов) вам не по карману?
Попытайтесь выверить подлинность рекомендаций, предъявленных
няней, и навести подробные справки о возможном уголовном прошлом.
Выясните, не нанимается ли она к вам в расчете на «легкий хлеб». Наконец
попросите соседей приглядывать за няней на прогулке.
Главное – не доверяться слепо «шестому чувству», ведь далеко не все
няни – черствые злюки. Тем более что в результате крупномасштабных
исследований, профинансированных правительством Великобритании, было
доказано, что дети, находящиеся под присмотром няни, учатся гораздо
лучше, чем «бабушкины детки».
Шутки шутками, но наболевшая проблема выбора порядочной няни
намного серьезнее, чем может показаться, и вполне может
квалифицироваться как один из национальных приоритетов. Задумайтесь:
кому вы ежедневно доверяете своего ребенка?
«Аргументы и факты»

Integrated Discourse Skills Development

I. Written Discourse Modelling

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1. Individual Work: Compose a detailed written summary of Text A (The Child
Care Dilemma) to be presented in class.
a. Make a profound analytical study of Text A and 1) the Focus Vocabulary
preceding the article, as well as 2) the Comprehension and Discussion Guide
following the text.
b. Note down a plan of your paper, focusing on the key points to be developed
which will help you to frame the structure of your paper .
c. Develop your summary in accordance with the plan. Focus on the use of the
key vocabulary. Put down the final version (and rehearse it for class
presentation).
2. Class Activities:
a. Present your summary in class without referring to the written copy.
b. Provide consecutive translation, be sure to focus on the intention of the speaker.

II. Polylogue Discourse Modelling

Guided Discussion Techniques
Prepare for an analytical class discussion of Text B It’s 10:00 a.m.: Do You Know
What Your Sitter’s Doing?
1. Appoint a person in charge of the discussion who will 1) compose a set of
questions on the article in order to cover its contents and major problems and will
2) conduct the discussion in class, i.e. introduce the topic, guide the talks, stimulate
the speakers and deliver a generalized conclusion.
2. Individual Work: Study closely Text B, the Focus and Additional
Vocabulary. Optionally, in order to tackle the major issues in further detail, refer
to additional sources.
3. Class Activities: Discuss the article in class; use it as a basis for a more
expanded treatment of the major problems.

III. Monologue Discourse Modelling

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Compose a rendering of the article It’s 4:00 p.m.: Do You Know Where Your
Children Are? (Text C) and rehearse it for class presentation. For more precise
instructions on rendering techniques, see Article Rendering Guidelines (Unit 2,
Integrated Discourse Skills Development), p.80.

UNIT 4. Hazards of Teenage Sex

Study and learn the topical focus vocabulary list. Provide Russian equivalents to
the vocabulary items.

Focus Vocabulary List

1) nine in ten/nine out of ten Americans – девять из десяти Американцев

2) to fall into opposing camps* - подразделяться на два лагеря
3) a debate over smth*/to debate smth, debatable
4) premarital chastity – сохранение невинности до брака
5) chaste – целомудренный, непорочный
6) pro-chastity programs
7) abstinence; to abstain; abstemious approach; abstinence-only curriculum –
воздержание/воздерживаться
8) “secondary virginity” – «вторая девственность»
9) puberty; (the average age of ~) ['pjuːbətɪ] – половая зрелость,
пубертатный период
10) the reproductive system/function – репродуктивная сис-ма/функция
11) birth control; to distribute/dispense birth control devices – контроль над
рождаемостью
12) teen pregnancy; teen birthrates; teen pregnancy prevention
13) birth to (births to unmarried girls)- рождение у (незамужних девушек)

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14) sexual involvement (syn. sexual intercourse/act) – половой акт
15) easy access to (~ abortion)
16) sexual abuse (syn. sexual assault/violence)
17) to molest; molestation; molester (syn. harass; harassment) – заигрывать,
приставать, домогаться
18) sex-for-points score keeping
19) to pressure smb for smth – давить на кого-либо с какой-л целью
20) a sexually transmitted disease (STD) - ИППП
21) to contract a disease – подхватить болезнь, заболеть
22) incidence (~ of STDs in teens) – процент, доля (случаев ИППП среди
подростков)
23) to instill smth in smb (syn. to induce smth in smb) – внушать что-л в
кого-л
24) to exceed; media excess; excessive - превышать
25) to glamourize smth in the media – приукрашивать что-л в СМИ
26) to discard (~ the old-fashioned approach); syn. to dismiss smth –
отказываться от старомодного подхода
27) to thwart smb’s advances
Text A

Teenage Sex: Just Say “Wait”

Nine in 10 Americans agree: Schools should teach kids about sex. That,
however, is the end of the consensus. Most adults fall into opposing camps on
exactly which of the facts of life to teach. Some concede, with value-free
resignation, that having sex is normative teen behavior and the most that adults can
do is teach young people how sperm meets egg, toss out loads of condoms and
hope for the best. Meanwhile, the “stop it” forces call for scaring teens into pre-
marital chastity with horror stories of shame and disease.
Since 1981, the federal response to teen pregnancy has been to teach

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students to remain chaste until marriage. In 2006 Washington spent $176 million
on restrictive abstinence-only curricula or, as some of these programs put it,
“secondary virginity” for those who have already lost theirs.
The main criticism is that such programs are unrealistic and ineffective
because they never discuss birth control and simply expect teens to avoid sex,
sometimes using almost comically out-of-touch techniques. “Pet your dog, not
your date” is the slogan of the popular Sex Respect program, conducted in 1,100
school districts nationwide. While it is important to stress abstinence, notes Jerry
Bennett, acting director of Health and Human Services office that administers
these programs, none of the “abstinence only” programs has a proven record of
success. He favors the middle road supporting newer hybrid programs that “stress
abstinence,” particularly for the youngest teens. But Bennett believes it is
unrealistic to demand abstinence only. He wants to “give kids the tools” to resist
peer and societal pressures to have sex and aims to induce a new sense of social
values in the young and teach children as early as kindergarten age that they have
the right to decide who touches their bodies. “We need to have our kids understand
that sex is good but it has to be appropriate,” he says. Teens should be taught to
make sound decisions about sex if they choose to have it, says Bennett – including
informed choices about birth control. But, says Family Research Council Director
Gary Bauer, that approach sends a mixed message, akin to saying “it’s illegal to
shoplift, but if you do it, here are some tips on how to avoid getting caught.”
Still, decades of the abstinence-only approach have failed to end the long
claim of the United States to the highest teenage pregnancy, abortion and childbirth
rates in the West. They are twice as high as those of England, Wales and Canada
and eight times as high as those of the Netherlands and Japan. Each year, more than
750,000 girls under the age of 20 become pregnant. Eight in ten of these pregnancies
are unintended and 81 per cent are to unmarried teens. More than one-quarter end in
abortion.

Who is to blame?

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 Social critics identify a welter of culprits, from media excesses and declining
family values to – depending on which side is making the case – easy access to
abortion (because it lets teens think sex can be risk-free) or the decline in abortion
providers (because it leads to unwanted pregnancies). Even physiological reasons
conspire: In the past 100 years, largely owing to improved nutrition, the average
age of puberty for girls has dropped from 17 to 14.
America has been bombarded recently with harrowing scenes that confirm
something is out of control when it comes to the way many teens think about sex.
Most disturbing is the involvement of the youngest teens and even preteens. The
molestation (растление) of a 10-year-old girl led to arrests of members of the Spur
Posse, a group of middle-class boys in Lakewood, Calif., who proudly bragged of
sex-for-points score keeping. In Yonkers, N.Y. police charged nine elementary-
school pupils, ages 9 to 13, with sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl. School
officials had casually dismissed the incident as a “let’s play rape” game. In most
schools, sex education begins too late to instruct such young students – or even
many older ones. One survey shows that among sexually active 15-year-olds, only
26 per cent of boys and 48 per cent of girls had had sex education by the time they
first had intercourse.

Finding an Answer
That it is the youngest who most need the abstinence message was clear to
two Cincinnati doctors. For Dr. Reginald Tsang, the moment of recognition came
as he watched a 13-year-old mother and father – who could have walked out of any
junior-high school in America – peer over the rim of an incubator at their baby, no
bigger than Tsang’s hand, and confide they had no idea what to do next? Tsang
began to think about how “our societal chaos has overwhelmed our technological
advances.” After all, a computer-controlled neonatal unit like Tsang’s at
Cincinnati’s Children’s Hospital Medical Center now almost routinely saves 9 of
every 10 babies born weighing as little as 2 pounds. At the same hospital, Dr.
Joseph Rauh, an adolescent-medicine specialist, was similarly frustrated. He

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provided birth control to teens, but, he noted, 13- and 14-year-old girls were
coming back pregnant, “bewildered and confused.”
So Tsang (conservative and opposed to abortion) and Rauh (liberal and in
favor of abortion rights) joined forces to find local funding for a new kind of sex-
education program. The one they brought to Cincinnati grew out of a surprise
discovery by Dr. Marion Howard while she was surveying teens who received
birth control information at her Atlanta clinic. Her clients wanted birth control, she
says, but “84 per cent wanted to know how to say no to someone pressuring them
for sex – and to say no without hurting their feelings.”
As a result, Howard developed a curriculum called Postponing Sexual
Involvement. Discarding the old-fashioned approach – a gym teacher with a
pointer and a reproductive-system poster giving rote lectures on sexual plumbing –
Howard opted for a peer system that relies on teens as teachers. In PSI, older
teens – especially school leaders and athletes – are chosen as believable
messengers for the spiel: “I can postpone sex and still be cool.” And teen leaders
must also embrace abstinence themselves. “I’m happy because of my beliefs,” says
Monique Chattah, a Cincinnati peer leader. “I have a better self-image.” The heart
of PSI is role-playing. In a recent PSI class in Cincinnati, seventh graders played
out a classic confrontation: Boy takes girl on an expensive date and then insists on
sex. The girls practiced handling the pressure, and then the exercise was reversed,
with the girl as the aggressor. This led to an open discussion of respect, values and
even the way sex is glamorized in the media to sell products.
There are signs that PSI is filling an important need. National studies show
that only 17 per cent of girls say they planned their first sexual intercourse –
meaning most apparently have sex because they don’t know how to thwart
advances, says Christopher Kraus, the coordinator of Cincinnati’s PSI program. A
survey of Atlanta students found that those who had gone through PSI training
were five times less likely than other teens to have started having sex by the end of
eighth grade.

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 Sex education can play a major role in helping teens to make healthy and
responsible decisions about sex, but the divisiveness surrounding teen-sex
programs threatens their effectiveness. There is currently no federal program
dedicated to supporting comprehensive sex education that teaches young people
about both abstinence and contraception. Federal law establishes a stringent eight-
point definition of “abstinence-only education” that requires programs to teach that
sexual activity outside of marriage is wrong and harmful – for people of any age.
Funded programs must exclusively promote abstinence meaning they cannot
advocate contraceptive use or discuss contraceptive methods.
At the same time, sex-educators and public-health workers support more
comprehensive forms of sex education that include information about both
abstinence and contraception for the prevention of teenage pregnancy and STDs.
They believe that such programs can help delay the onset of sexual activity among
teens, reduce their number of sexual partners and increase contraceptive use when
they become sexually active. Only a comprehensive approach can provide young
people with the tools they need to protect themselves and become sexually healthy
adults.

Answer the questions on the text.

1. What approaches to teen-sex education are there in the USA?
2. What has the federal response to the problem of teen pregnancy been since
1981?
3. What are the main drawbacks of abstinence-only curricula?
4. What do newer hybrid programs involve?
5. Has the federal policy of “abstinence only” been successful? What do the
statistics on teen pregnancy reveal?
6. Who is to blame? What is the welter of culprits that social critics identify?
7. Why do the youngest teens and even preteens get involved in sex? What can
this be accounted for?

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8. What prompted two Cincinnati doctors (Dr. Tsang, Dr. Rauh) to join their
forces and start a new kind of sex-education program?
9. Comment on the statement made by Dr. Reginald Tsang “Our societal chaos
has overwhelmed our technological advances”. How can you spell it out?
10. What kind of curriculum did Dr. Marion Howard develop?
11. Has the PSI proved effective, so far?
12. What is meant by political divisiveness surrounding teen-sex programs?
13. What is your own approach to the problem of teenage sex?

Text B

Lower the Age of Consent

Britain’s sex laws are in a muddle. An age of consent (совершеннолетие,
брачный возраст) of 16 criminalises more than half the teenage population. This
isn’t protection; it’s persecution. Even one of the top law lords, Lord Millett, be-
lieves the time has come to legislate a lower and more realistic age of consent.
His proposal has prompted protest from child protection agencies. But what
about the right of young people under 16 to make their own decision about when
they are ready for a sexual relationship? Sixteen is a totally arbitrary age of consent.
It originates from 1885, when consent was raised from 13. There is, however, no
medical or psychological evidence that 16 is the age of sexual or emotional
maturity. The law says that no person under 16 is capable of giving their consent to
a sexual act. Two 14-year-olds who have a mutually agreed relationship risk
maximum penalties ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment. A Home Office
report published this week confirms that teenagers involved in a loving relation-
ship, where one or both partners are below the age of 16, are being placed on the
sex offenders register alongside predatory paedophiles. If a 13-year-old Romeo and
13-year-old Juliet were living in Britain today, they would be branded criminals.
Their feuding families, the Montagues and Capulets, would not have to worry. They

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could get rid of Romeo by reporting him to the police and having him jailed.
Although the number of young people under or just over 16 arrested for
consenting sex is small, that’s no consolation to those who are arrested. Moreover,
the current consent law sends out a highly alarming message: that people under 16
have no sexual rights. This is exactly what child abusers believe. It plays into their
hands.
Whether we like it or not, 14 is now the average age of first sexual experience
(not necessarily intercourse), according to the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes
and Lifestyles 1994. Any sexual act involving a person under 16 is a crime, even
caressing and fondling by partners of similar ages. An age of consent of 16
therefore criminalises more than half the teenage population. This is an odd way of
protecting them.
Consent at 14, for both gay and straight relationships, would be fairer and
more realistic. It might also be sensible to introduce a policy of not prosecuting sex
involving youngsters under 14, providing they both consent and there is no more
than three years difference in their ages.
A similar policy already exists in Germany, Israel and Switzerland.
This sliding-scale approach to the age of consent would take into account the
reality that lots of young kids occasionally engage in innocent sexual
experimentation with each other.
Critics say that 14-year-olds are not mature enough to have a sexual
relationship. Some are; others are not. Many are having sex anyway. Maturity is
most likely to be ensured by improved sex education. Most young people back a
reduction in the consent law.
Last November, a poll of 42,000 girls aged 12 to 16 found that 87 per cent
think the age of consent of 16 is too high. Four out of five teenagers responding to a
similar survey by the British Youth Council a few years ago favoured a lower legal
limit. Many of the sexually active under-16s are sexually illiterate because of
inadequate sex education. Few receive detailed safer sex advice, and most have no

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ready access to condoms. The age of consent is often used as a justification for
denying them this information and protection.
Critics also say an age of consent of 16 is necessary to safeguard the
vulnerable. The consent laws are, however, a wholly inadequate protection. But
abusers ignore the law. Even if consent were raised to 25 it would not stamp out
abuse. The key to protecting teenagers is education and empowerment. A reduction
in the age of consent to 14 must go in tandem with extending sex education to
tackle abuse issues. Schools should be required to teach pupils how to deal with
sex pests, and to offer sexual assertiveness training so they feel confident to say
“no” to people who try to pressure them into having sex.
Canada, Germany, Italy and eight other European countries already have an
equal age of consent of 14, which applies either in all or some circumstances.
Compared to Britain, most of these countries have fewer teenage pregnancies,
abortions and HIV infections. They also have a higher average age of first sexual
intercourse. In Britain, even the former Bishop of Glasgow, Derek Rawcliffe has
backed 14. Although I rarely agree with Anglican bishops, in this case he is right:
we do not protect young people by threatening them with arrest and
imprisonment.
Vocabulary Exercises

Ex. 1. Match the words and word combinations in the left column with the correct definitions in the right column.

140
1) puberty a) the condition or practice of abstaining
from sex on moral grounds
2) chastity b) to refuse to give consideration to
something because you think it is not
important
3) abstinence c) self-denial: restraint from indulging a
desire for something, e.g. alcohol or
sexual relations
4) incidence d) to catch or develop an illness or disease
5) to contract e) to force unwanted sexual attentions on
somebody, especially a child or physically
weaker adult
6) to molest f) the stage in human physiological
development when somebody becomes
capable of sexual reproduction.
7) to thwart g) to prevent somebody or somebody’s plan
from being successful
8) to dismiss h) to teach someone a way of thinking or
behaving over a long period of time
9) to instill i) the frequency with which something
occurs

Ex. 2. Match the attributes (A) and the verbs (B) on the left with nouns or
phrases on the right, focusing on the use of the key vocabulary. Use each word only
once.

141
A
pre-marital techniques
declining unit
mixed labor
abstinence-only decisions
comprehensive pregnancy
neonatal birth weight
alarming health and social outcomes
out-of-touch statistics
sound family values
unintended approach
premature message
low sex-ed programs
poor chastity

B
to contract societal and peer pressure
to stress birth-control devices
to engage in advances
to attain contraceptive methods
to resist welfare
to discuss advantages
to dispense sex
to pressure for a child
to get on abstinence
to outweigh sexual activity
to thwart social acceptance
to molest STDs

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Ex. 3. Read the text and fill in the blanks with suitable words or word
combinations in the correct form from the box below.
increasing rate misguided message teen pregnancy driving force
abstinence communication sex education incidence of STDs
sexual involvement peer pressure sexual intercourse reproduction
premarital and extramarital sex sexual behavior declining
family values instill expose cater to overlook
dispense frown upon social acceptance troubling trend
maturity outnumber outweigh

Teenage Sex: An Almost Unnoticeable Problem

Teenagers in the US are experimenting with sexual activities more and
more, and the alarming thing about this issue is that it is becoming commonplace
in our society, because it is not being (1) … . There is no denying that the majority
of high school aged boys and girls would have engaged in some sort of sexual
activity by the time they graduate from high school. The (2) … of children having
(3) … before they are of the age of thirteen is also a (4) … .
A vital factor that contributes to teenagers having early sex is (5) … . Both
in sexual behavior and in all other areas of, teenagers strive to attain (6) … by their
peers, which is common at their stage. The desire to be loved or to love may result
in the decision to be sexually intimate. This motivation can be a very strong (7) …
that pushes teenagers to start having sex as the notion of “since everyone is doing
it” has been (8) … in their heads. Adolescents who have (9) … at this stage often
do so out of the need to prove to themselves that they are lovable and acceptable.
Moreover, lack of good (10) … between parents and teenagers is closely
related to the problem of teenage sex. Teenagers often turn to their peers for advice
on most issues affecting them. And when questions about sex arise, instead of
talking to their parents or a trusted adult, they talk to their friends and receive a
clear yet terribly (11) … : Sex is an accepted and expected part of any relationship.
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 One more significant factor that influences teenagers is the media.
Adolescents are (12) … to the sexual behavior patterns they may not have
observed elsewhere. On prime time TV, the occurrence of (13) … far (14) … sex
between spouses, with the rate soaring to 24:1 in soap operas and 32:1 in R-rated
movies. By (15) … our basic sexual desires, the media can easily manipulate and
adjust the attitudes and actions of its watchers, listeners, and readers.
(16) … is now given in most American schools, public and private, from
grades 2 to 12. Teachers are told to give the technical aspects of sex education
without telling the students about moral values, how to make the right decisions,
and (17) … . After describing the male and female anatomy, and (18) … , the main
emphasis is on the prevention of venereal diseases and (19) … . This has now led
to some schools having to start (20) … free birth control devices to students who
go to the school’s health clinics. Nevertheless, sex education still has not helped
decrease (21) … in teenagers or teenage pregnancy. Each year in the US about
750,000 teenage girls become pregnant and three million teens get an STD.
The price teenagers are paying for being sexually active greatly (22) … any
advantages, and the consequences of teenage sexuality cannot be (23) … by
society. (24) …, peer pressure, and the media play the major part in gearing
adolescents to finding out about, knowing, and finally engaging in sexual
intercourse before they are both physically and mentally capable of handling the
reality that accompanies sexual activities. Input and guidance from parents may
help adolescents make healthy and appropriate decisions regarding their (25) … .
Understanding that these are decisions that require (26) … and responsibility will
increase the chance that they make good choices.

Ex. 4. Fill in the correct prepositions where necessary.

A. The debate (1) … whether to have sex education in American schools is
over. A new poll (2) … the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard's Kennedy
School of Government finds that only 7 per cent of Americans say sex education

144
should not be taught (3) … schools. However, this does not mean that all
Americans agree (4) … what kind of sex education is best. There are major
differences (5) … the issue (6) … abstinence. Fifteen per cent of Americans
believe that schools should teach only (7) … abstinence (8) … sexual intercourse
and should not provide information (9) … how to obtain and use condoms and
other contraception. A plurality (46 per cent) believes that the most appropriate
approach is one that might be called “abstinence-plus” – that while abstinence is
best, some teens do not abstain, so schools also should teach about condoms and
contraception. Thirty-six per cent believe that abstinence is not the most important
thing, and that sex ed should focus (10) … teaching teens how to make responsible
decisions (11) … sex.
B. Statistics can be boring. But the statistics (1) … teenage pregnancy are
alarming. Some 560,000 teenage girls give birth each year. Almost one-sixth of all
US births are (2) … teenage women.
The high rate (3) … teenagers having babies is a national health and social
problem that demands attention. The death rate (4) … pregnancy complications is
much higher among girls who give birth (5) … age 15 than among older mothers.
The teenage mother is more likely to be undernourished and suffer premature or
prolonged labor. During the first three months of pregnancy; seven (6) … … ten
pregnant teenagers do not see a doctor or go to a clinic.
Two (7) … … three pregnant teenagers drop (8) … … school. With her
education cut short, the teenage mother may lack job skills. The income of teen
mothers is half that of those who first gave birth in their 20s. The teenage mother is
more likely to become financially dependent (9) … her family or get (10) …
welfare.
Babies born (11) … teenage girls are (12) … higher risk of being born
prematurely and of having a low birth weight. They also have disproportionately
high infant mortality rates. Children born (13) … teenage mothers face an
increased risk (14) … physical neglect and abuse, growing up (15) … poverty and

145
experiencing poor health and social outcomes. The children of teenagers who are
(16) … welfare are also prone (17) … engage in sexual activities in their teenage
years. The sons of teen mothers are 13 per cent more likely to end up (18) …
prison while teen daughters are 22 per cent more likely to become teen mothers
themselves.
Teenage marriages have a much greater chance of ending (19) … divorce.
The number (20) … births (21) … teenagers has decreased considerably (22) …
the last few decades. This decrease is most likely due (23) … the increased
availability (24) … contraception and abortion, rather than a decrease (25) …
sexual activity. Some teenage pregnancies occur as a result of young women’s
sexual inexperience and an inadequate understanding of their reproductive cycle.
Public health workers suggest that knowledge about reproductive matters and
access (26) … contraception are necessary to prevent unintended adolescent
pregnancy.

Ex. 5. Give the English equivalents of the following words and phrases.
Всесторонняя программа полового воспитания; средний возраст
полового созревания; репродуктивная функция; целомудрие; девственность;
воздержание; секс до брака или вне брака; противозачаточные средства (2);
болезни, передающиеся половым путем; число случаев заболевания среди
подростков; откладывать начало половой жизни; вступать в половые
сношения; представлять секс как нечто привлекательное в СМИ;
пропагандировать использование противозачаточных средств; противостоять
давлению со стороны сверстников и общества; добиться общественного
признания; незапланированная беременность; нежелательная беременность;
предотвращение подростковой беременности; высокий уровень количества
абортов; уровень рождаемости; смертность; недоношенный ребенок;
мертворожденный; преждевременные роды; бросить школу; жить на пособие.

146
Ex. 6. Translate the following text into English, focusing on the italicized
words and phrases. Make use of the key vocabulary.

Дочки-матери
Демографическая ситуация в республике уже несколько лет как объяв-
лена неблагоприятной. С 1993 года Беларусь превратилась в регион, где
рождаемость не покрывает возрастающей смертности населения. И его
количество неуклонно снижается. Ученые делают неутешительный про-
гноз: в XXI веке первенство по убыли населения будет принадлежать Рос-
сии. Наша страна не слишком от нее отстанет: убыль населения составит
2–2,6 миллиона человек. В 1998 году в республике разработана концепция
демографической политики. Работает комитет по народонаселению. Эти
государственные меры предпринимаются для того, чтобы в наступившем
новом веке мы сохранили себя как нация. А на уровне житейском, бытовом
это означает, что надо бы побольше детей рожать. Желанных и здоровых.
Как же выполняется эта важнейшая социальная задача?
Говорит врач-гинеколог Галина Иващенко, чей медицинский стаж со-
ставляет 45 лет: «Молодые, социально стабильные семьи сегодня отклады-
вают рождение ребенка: дорого, тревожно, время не то. Таких семей, по
данным социологов, процентов 30, остальные ограничиваются обычно одним
ребенком. Снижение рождаемости наблюдается сегодня во всех возрастных
группах женщин. Кроме одной: от 14 до 17 лет.
Во взрослую половую жизнь сегодня вступают фактически дети,
подростки 12–13 лет. Для ребенка, особенно девочки, ранняя половая жизнь
– непомерная физическая и психическая нагрузка на неокрепший организм.
Без последствий для здоровья ранняя сексуальная жизнь не проходит. Даже
если девочкам удастся избежать нежелательной беременности и аборта,
венерических и гинекологических заболеваний. Но это, как показывает мой
опыт, случается крайне редко. И никто из них уже не будет здоровой

147
женщиной, а соответственно, не сможет родить здорового ребенка. Если
вообще сможет его в дальнейшем родить…»
Врачи-гинекологи отмечают сегодня грустную статистику: 70 процен-
тов рожениц имеют отклонения в здоровье, меньше половины родов проте-
кают нормально. Почему? Конечно, мы живем в неблагоприятной экологи-
ческой и социальной обстановке, что отражается на здоровье будущей ма-
тери. Но есть еще одна важная причина – ранняя половая жизнь и ее послед-
ствия для здоровья женщины и ребенка. Если репродуктивную функцию
женщина начинает не с рождения ребенка, а с аборта, возрастают осложне-
ния во время родов. Заболеваемость у родившихся младенцев в 2–3 раза
выше.
Кроме несовершеннолетних, есть еще одна социальная группа, которая
довольно активно рожает детей, – пьющие женщины… Появление на свет их
младенцев вызывает больше горечи и тревоги, чем радости. Медики дают та-
кую статистику. У каждых из 100 родителей-пьяниц рождается примерно 37
недоношенных детей, 7 – мертворожденных, 18 – плохо развитых, 58 – с
психическими расстройствами.
Без здоровой и счастливой женщины не получаются здоровые, желанные
и счастливые дети. Не получается претворить в жизнь и самые замечатель-
ные демографические концепции и программы. Лишь 5% юных девочек-
матерей вступили в брак или сохранили отношения с отцами своих детей.
Около полутора тысяч детей в республике родили за год несовершенно-
летние мамы. Большинство из них отказалось от своих младенцев прямо в
роддоме. Статистику роста венерических заболеваний тоже «делают» в ос-
новном пьющие да несовершеннолетние.
Если такая ситуация сохранится и дальше, то демографические катак-
лизмы – убыль населения, проблемы со здоровьем потомства, социальное си-
ротство – нам в полной мере обеспечены в новом веке без войн и природных
катастроф. По некоторым прогнозам, уже лет через 10–15 на каждую средне-

148
статистическую женщину в республике (включая младенцев и бабулек) будет
приходиться примерно 0,9 ребенка. На языке ученых-демографов это называ-
ется полным исчерпанием демографического потенциала. На обычном быто-
вом языке это означает, что попросту некому будет обеспечивать старость –
пенсии, медицинские и социальные услуги – нынешнего трудоспособного
поколения.
Детские вопросы о взрослой жизни
Углубляться в эту деликатную тему сама жизнь заставляет, да вот все
никак не заставит серьезно, по-государственному отнестись к проблеме, ко-
торая на канцелярско-педагогическом языке называется «половое воспитание
детей и подростков», сексуальная грамотность. Именно они определяют то,
что специалисты называют репродуктивным поведением женщины. Проще
говоря, ее отношение – ответственное или безответственное – к рождению
детей и здоровью своего потомства. Формируют репродуктивное поведение
детей взрослые: родители, учителя, медики. Но их совместные воспитатель-
ные усилия и отеческие назидания выливаются в шараханье из стороны в
сторону.
В прошедшем году в Минске на конференции «Пагубные последствия
международных проектов полового просвещения» ответственные лица из
разных белорусских ведомств уверяли, что в республике таких программ нет
и не будет, хотя проблемы, мол, есть, но их «отслеживают». Этот процесс,
вероятно, состоит в том, что курсы по этике и психологии семейных отноше-
ний то вводят в школах, то отменяют. Книгу главного специалиста-
сексолога Дмитрия Капустина «Молодежный секс» сначала запрещают даже в
свободную продажу, потом разрешают как учебное пособие для школьников.
А даже для столичного центра здоровья, где работает видеолекторий для под-
ростков, который посещают в год до 10 тысяч человек, не находится средств
на новые плакаты, фильмы, видеомагнитофон взамен заезженного… Вот и
остаются детские вопросы о взрослой жизни без ответов. Точнее, ответ –

149
практический – ищут сами школьники. И находят. Девочки 13–14 лет, как
свидетельствуют социологические опросы, обычно вступают в интимные от-
ношения с «любимым мальчиком» на третьем свидании. К 16 годам почти
50% школьников имеют сексуальный опыт.
– При этом практически никто их них не имеет даже приблизительных
знаний о гигиене интимной жизни, о контрацепции. Так было 10 лет назад,
такой же остается ситуация и сегодня, – считает врач-гинеколог Галина Ива-
щенко.

Невинность – хит сезона

«Бэби, подумай как следует!» – так называется электронный малыш, изо-
бретенный в Калифорнии. Он выглядит, как настоящий, и ведет себя, как
живой ребенок: плачет, есть просит, писает. Таких «младенцев» вручают в
американских школах ученицам, чьи интересы к противоположному полу
кажутся учителям и родителям слишком активными. Девочки получают до-
машнее задание: ухаживать за «бэби», чтобы он был доволен. Занятия в
школе не отменяются. Самое большое через 3 дня и 3 ночи «мамы» сдаются.
Эта электронная экзотика – новое слово в половом воспитании школьников.
В 70–80 годы угробили на нее миллионы долларов. Сегодня платят еще
больше на «обучение воздержанию». Так называется американское ноу-хау,
на которое ежегодно расходуется 50 миллионов долларов. Школьницам
втолковывают старую, даже старомодную истину: спать с мальчиками до
брака вредно, единственный верный способ предотвращения беременности и
венерических заболеваний – девственность. Мода на девственность культи-
вируется, из нее делают эдакий хит, и что самое интересное, – успешно де-
лают! Звезды шоу-бизнеса активно новую моду поддерживают. Красавицы
Уитни Хьюстон и Брук Шилдс создали себе имидж на сохранении невинно-
сти. Школьники, как и положено, следуют предписанной моде. Проблем с
беременностью подростков и вензаболеваниями стало за океаном значи-
тельно меньше.
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 «Эта мода и у нас уже внедряется,» – говорит член ассоциации «Куль-
тура и здоровье» кандидат медицинских наук Г. Старшенбаум. «Объяснить
моду на девственность можно тем, что в нашем обществе постепенно меня-
ется система ценностей. Еще два-три года назад опросы школьниц показы-
вали, что многие из них мечтали выйти замуж за богатого и «крутого», а
иные не прочь были стать путанами. Сегодня анкеты дают совсем другой ре-
зультат: девочки хотят зарабатывать умом и способностями, получить хоро-
шую специальность. Это – аспект моральный. Но нельзя забывать о матери-
альном. Сегодня невинность – пусть это прозвучит грубовато – товар, кото-
рый можно выгодно продать, но не кому попало, а мужу, любимому чело-
веку».
Не сделать ли такие «товарные» отношения, моду на девственность
среди подростков хитом сезона? А если получится, то на последующие годы?
Может, хоть это изменит, наконец, безалаберное репродуктивное поведение
13-летних школьниц, собирающихся запросто сдать своего ребнка в
детдом?..
«Советская Белоруссия»

Integrated Discourse Skills Development

I. Polylogue Discourse Modelling

Pair/Group Discussion
Prepare for an extended class discussion of the following letters presented by the
Guardian “Parents’ Forum” column entitled “Am I wrong to say ‘no’ to mixed-
gender sleepovers for 14-year-old daughter?” For more precise instructions on
discussion, see Guided Discussion Techniques (Unit 3, Integrated Discourse Skills
Development), p.131.
Individual Work: Make a detailed study of the texts below and be ready for a
group discussion on the problem in accordance with the above-mentioned
guidelines.
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 B. W, mother, Hastings, East Sussex
This seems to be the new “must-do” for 14-year-olds – my daughter has
just received a similar invitation. She seemed relieved when I said “no”, as she
was not entirely comfortable with the idea. Of course you are right to put your foot
down. Whatever are the host parents thinking of? That is assuming that they
know. And even if they are present, it is a recipe for disaster: if the enjoyment of
smuggled-in alcohol and/or drugs accompanies the huddling together under
duvets watching questionable videos, I don't "need to spell out what might ensue.
Give your daughter the face-saving excuse that Mum says no and fake
squarely on the chin any taunts of “party pooper” – you probably won't be the
only one.
Your daughter will have enough moral dilemmas to face alone when she is
older. At least give her your protection while she is still, after all, a child.

Helen Sharman, mother, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire

Relax. There will be no orgy – I speak from the experience of a minimum
of two sleepovers a month for the past six years, and still counting. Left to their
own devices, teenagers listen to music and talk till the small hours.
They then fall asleep wherever they are, usually the floor, so buy your
daughter a washable sleeping bag. Perhaps consider hosting a sleepover
yourself. But don’t hover, or try to send them to bed at 10.30 pm. Leave them to
it. Show them trust and respect and they will repay you in kind.
Teaching yourself and your daughter to handle these events responsibly is
a much better option than becoming a late-night taxi driver for the next four
years.

Cindy Gillen, mother and former primary teacher, Suffolk

You sound like a concerned and sensible-mother, certainly not someone
who is being “too protective”. The fact is that children in their early teens (and I
have raised four of them) still need guidance and discipline and by saying “no”
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you are providing her with this.

Clare Abbott, mother, Oxford

With prior notice we were quite happy for any number of our sons’ friends
to sleep in the lounge (on the floor or the two pull-out sofa beds). At least all the
parents knew where their children were and that we would be upstairs.
Our only problem was trying to sleep over the noise. I cannot imagine any
of the first, shy steps of sexual experimentation taking place in front of the gang.

Briony Wilkes, daughter, Cambridge

I am 18 years old – somebody’s one-time 14-year-old daughter. At this
influential age I, too, was asked to attend, mixed-sex sleepovers, and was duly
allowed to attend by my parents. This liberal-minded attitude on their part
showed me that there was/is nothing wrong with being good, close friends with
males, without there being any need for any sexual contact.
At 14, I doubt that your daughter craves anything more than friendship
with the boys who will be there. Indeed, you should be delighted that your
daughter feels able to tell you, and even to ask your permission. This suggests
that you have a close relationship with her, and one in which your daughter feels
able to discuss such matters with you, her mother.
Friends of mine who were taught that it was “naughty” or “abnormal” to
mix with the opposite sex by their parents were the ones who had to lie.
They were also the ones whose parents knew nothing of their lives, other
than what their children led them to believe. What is more, it is those parents
who are now the ones who are effectively shut out of their children’s lives. It is a
part of growing up," maturing, and realising that men are not to be seen as
anything more than friends, in the primary instance.

Audrey Kelly, grandmother, Poole, Dorset

It might be worth bearing in mind that “the worst” can happen during a
walk in the park on a Sunday afternoon – and who would prohibit that?

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II. Monologue Discourse Modelling
Compose a rendering of the article Lower the Age of Consent (Text B) and
rehearse it for class presentation. For more precise instructions on rendering
techniques, see Article Rendering Guidelines (Unit 2, Integrated Discourse Skills
Development), p.80.

III. Dialogue Discourse Modelling

1. Out-of-class Projecting: Read the following interview. Team up with a
partner to prepare it for further class presentation and consecutive translation.
Distribute the roles of the Interviewer and Interviewee. For more detailed
instructions on the manner of presentation and dialogue discourse development,
see Monologue Discourse Modelling (Unit 1; Integrated Discourse Skills
Development), p.42.

Интимная жизнь современных российских подростков начинается уже в

14–15 лет. Каковы последствия? На вопросы отвечает руководитель
Московского городского центра по вопросам сексопатологии профессор
Ростислав Беледа.
– Ростислав Васильевич, по долгу службы вы часто беседуете с
подростками и студентами «про это», отвечаете на самые деликатные
вопросы. Как можно сформулировать суть отношения юношей и девушек ко
всему, что связано с сексом?
– Суть можно выразить двумя словами: вседозволенность и безграмотность.
В советские времена мы часто говорили о том, что у нас фактически
существует двойная половая мораль. То, что для мужчины – очередная победа на
личном фронте, для женщины – стыд и позор. Согласитесь, ведь не случайно
родилось словосочетание «падшая женщина» – о мужчине так не скажут. Ну а
сейчас наступило полное равенство: юноши и девушки одинаково рвутся к

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сексу.
В целом порог вступления в первую интимную близость снизился на
два-три года и у мальчиков, и у девочек. При этом они не знают элементарных
вещей: ни о болезнях, передающихся половым путем, ни о
противозачаточных средствах. Результат? А вот недавно получил письмо:
«Мне 14 лет, у меня трое детей, все от разных отцов»... Cейчас роды в 15– 16
лет – обычное дело. Недавно пришло еще письмо, очень типичное. 15-летняя
девочка рассказала, как от скуки пошла на дискотеку, познакомилась с
парнем. В тот же вечер случился «интим», а теперь она ждет ребенка и не знает,
как быть. Таких девочек сегодня великое множество.
– Что означают роды в 15 лет – и для организма мамы, и для здоровья
малыша?
– В 15 лет мама не готова к ним ни физически, ни психологически.
Организм выходит из таких ранних родов в надломленном состоянии: резко
падает иммунитет, работоспособность. А дети, как правило, рождаются
недоношенные, слабые, с отклонениями в развитии. Психологические
трудности – отдельный разговор. Не секрет, что беременные девочки иногда
доходят даже до суицидов. Или рожают и бросают ребенка. Потому что мама
говорит: «Принесешь в подоле – убью».
– Ростислав Васильевич, вы упомянули про письмо от 15-летней
девочки. Так что же все-таки вы ей посоветовали? Не рожать?
– Безусловно, рожать! Да, ранние роды – это не слишком полезно. Но
аборт в 15 лет (да и в любом возрасте) еще хуже, это просто катастрофа!
Поймите, при беременности весь организм перестраивается, идут сложнейшие
процессы в эндокринной системе. И прервать беременность – все равно, что
на полном ходу остановить поезд. Может оказаться, что женщина потом
никогда не сможет родить: примерно каждая третья женщина, перенесшая
аборт, становится бесплодной. Но даже если родит, все равно ее
репродуктивная система серьезно пострадает. И дети потом родятся

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ослабленные.
– Неужели современные юноши и девушки не знают о презервативах
или таблетках?
– Знают, но пренебрегают этой «мелочью». Просто полагаются на
авось. И вообще ничего не знают ни о собственном организме, ни о болезнях,
передающихся половым путем, а их более 20. С изумлением узнают о том,
например, что в США общество, в том числе и молодежь, все активнее
выступает за сохранение девственности до замужества. Потому что это
полезно, это часть «моды» на здоровье.
– У нас были попытки организовать сексуальное просвещение в школе.
Ничего хорошего из этого обычно не получается, родители протестуют.
– Потому что этим должны заниматься не учителя, а только
профессионалы. Раньше мы собирали мальчиков и девочек в школах или
клубах, обязательно порознь. Рассказывали, чем отличаются мужской и
женский организм, как возникает влечение. Помимо этого мы отвечали на
любые вопросы. И даже «пэтэушники» слушали нас в полной тишине. Кстати,
учителям вообще лучше не присутствовать при таких беседах, иногда
подростки стесняются при них задавать деликатные вопросы. Хотя сейчас нам
задают вопросы, которые раньше были просто невозможны.
– Что же, призывать к скромности и воздержанию от секса до брака?
– Я понимаю, что это бесполезно. И печать в паспорте – дело десятое.
Гораздо важнее другое: осознанное отношение к физической близости и
бережное отношение друг к другу.

ТОЛЬКО ФАКТЫ
По данным Научного центра акушерства, гинекологии и перинатологии
РАМН, частота гинекологических заболеваний у 15-летних девочек
составляет 77,6%, а к 17 годам – 92,5%. У девочек-подростков, живущих
половой жизнью, патология встречается в три раза чаще, чем у их сверстниц,

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не вступивших в сексуальные отношения.
Результаты социологических опросов говорят о том, что в 16 лет почти
50% мальчиков и 25% девочек имеют сексуальный опыт (по данным больших
городов). При этом не более 18% подростков пользуются контрацептивами.
Результаты анонимного анкетирования показали: 35% девушек-
учащихся ПТУ и 25% школьниц считают допустимой интимную жизнь до 16-
летнего возраста. 42–43% вообще не задумываются о причинах начала
половой жизни. 9 1 –9 3 % никогда не обращались к гинекологу.
Данные НИИ гигиены и охраны здоровья свидетельствуют: девушки все
более негативно относятся к материнству. По результатам прежних
исследований, только 0,7% опрошенных московских девушек вообще не
хотели иметь детей. Сейчас это 6,5% школьниц.

2. Class Activities
a. Appoint an interpreter for each pair of the speaker. Act out the interviews in
class.
b. Listen to and observe all the speakers carefully; note down the possible
comments on their presentations.
c. Discuss and evaluate the interviews according to the corresponding criteria
and comment on them.

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 Unit 5. Problems of a Young Family
Young Adults: Living in Parental Homes or Living Away?

Study and learn the topical focus vocabulary list. Provide Russian equivalents to
the vocabulary items.
Focus Vocabulary List
1) the Boomerang Generation; to set off the “boomerang effect”
2) to need a refuge; parental shelter/nest; the empty-nest syndrome
3) a put-upon parent
4) growing career instability
5) an increasingly dismal economic outlook
6) soaring rates of smth; to soar (syn. to skyrocket/surge/escalate/accelerate)
7) to walk out on one’s marriage; a failed marriage
8) to go to pieces, syn. to disintegrate, dissolve, break up, come apart/asunder,
collapse
9) to clip one’s wings; to find one’s wings clipped
10) to move back in with smb (~ parents); to be forced back together
11) to revel in smth ( ~ one’s retirement) наслаждаться (чем-л.) ; получать
удовольствие от (чего-л.)
12) to have one’s well-earned space invaded by smb
13) to make a go of smth (Am. to succeed in smth) добиться успеха, преуспеть
14) to face up to smth ( ~ responsibilities) быть готовым встретить (что-л.)
15) to be bogged down with smth ( ~ responsibilities) – встречаться с
трудностями, погрязнуть в трудностях
16) to be unhappy with smth ( ~ the arrangement)
17) exorbitant expenses; to admit to smth ( ~ expensive tastes) – непомерные
затраты
18) hassles over smth – преграда, трудность перед чем-л
19) to cut smb off
20) to wind up with smth – выходить из себя из-за чего-л
21) the final straw – последняя капля
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22) to go through a bad patch переживать трудное время
23) a cooling-off period
24) to sort oneself out – разобраться, наладить
25) to be on an equal footing; to manage the delicate balancing act – быть в
равных условиях
26) to be supportive of smb – быть лояльным по отношению к кому-л
27) to find a new lease of life - прилив жизненных сил, возрождение надежд
28) to pay for one’s family’s upkeep – содержание семьи
29) to have a say in smth - участвовать в обсуждении какого-л. вопроса, влиять
на что-л.
30) to get back on one’s feet; to stand on one’s two feet; to support an independent
lifestyle
31) intermittently (to see smb ~) – периодически, время от времени
32) to condemn smb to smth
33) up to a point - частично
34) in the long term/run
35) a heaven-sent solution; a godsend неожиданное счастливое событие; удача,
счастье; находка

Study the texts, identify the active vocabulary items and discuss the questions
following the texts.

Text A

Show Me the Way to Go Home

The 1970s trend for young adults to live independently from their parents is
changing. For a variety of reasons, many are returning home or are not leaving home at
all. Families are reacting in different ways to this societal change.
First Maggie, then 20, asked Stepmom and Dad if she could store a few boxes
with them in Washington while she looked for another place to live. Then Maggie
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said she would like to move in to be with her boxes until her boyfriend Joe bought
a condominium1. Next Maggie asked whether Joe could move in “temporarily”
until the condo deal was closed. When Lucy and Pablo Sanchez returned home
from vacation last Christmas, they found their small living room crammed with his
boxes and a second welcome mat2 next to their own on the front porch. Lucy
Sanchez immediately did what any loving but put-upon parent would do: “I had a
migraine,” she says.
Such tales are becoming abundantly familiar as American parents are forced
to make room for their adult children. “There is a naïve notion that children grow
up and leave home when they’re 18, and the truth is far from that,” says
Sociologist Larry Bumpass of the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Today,
according to the US Census Bureau, 59 per cent of men and 47 per cent of women
between 18 and 24 depend on their parents for housing, some living in college
dorms but most at home. Also, 14 per cent of men and 8 per cent of women ages
25 to 34 are dependent on their parents for housing. “This is part of a major shift in
the middle class,” declares Sociologist Allan Schnaiberg of Northwestern
University. He should know: Schnaiberg’s stepson, 19, moved back in after an
absence of eight months.
Analysts cite a variety of reasons for this return to the nest. The marriage age
is rising, a condition that makes home and its amenities particularly attractive to
young people, say experts. A high divorce rate and a declining remarriage rate are
sending economically pressed and emotionally battered survivors back to parental
shelters. For some, the expense of an away-from-home college education has
become so exorbitant that many students now attend local schools. Even after
graduation, young people find their wings clipped by skyrocketing housing costs.
Notes Sociologist Carlfred Broderick of the University of Southern California in
Los Angeles, who has a son, 31, and a daughter, 27, in residence: “They are
finding that the good life is not spontaneously generated out there.”
1
An apartment that is owned, rather than rented. The owner pays a monthly fee to the condominium association for
repairs and maintenance of the building and grounds.
2
A small rug placed in front of the door of a house or apartment; often has the word “welcome” printed on it.
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 Sallie Knighton, 26, moved back to her parents’ suburban Atlanta home to
save enough money to buy a car. Her job as a teacher provided only enough money
to cover car payments and an additional loan she had taken out. Once the loan was
paid off, she decided to take a crack at (попытаться) a modeling career. Living at
home, says Knighton, continues to give her security and moral support. “If I had
lived away,” she says, “I would be miserable still teaching.” Her mother concurs,
“It’s ridiculous for the kids to pay all that money for rent. It makes sense for kids
to stay at home.” Bradley Kulat, 25, makes about $20,000 a year as an equipment
technician in a hospital. That is enough to support a modest household, but he
chooses to live at his parents’ split-level ranch house outside Chicago, as does his
sister Pamela, 20, who commutes to a nearby college. He admits to expensive
tastes. He recently bought an $8,000 car and owns an $800 stereo system, a $300
ten-speed bike and an elegant wardrobe. Says his mother Evelyn: “It keeps you
thinking younger, trying to keep up with them.”
Sharing the family home requires adjustments for all. There are the hassles
over bathrooms, telephones and privacy. Some families, however, manage the
delicate balancing act. At 34, Esther Rodriguez dreaded returning to her parents’
Denver home after three years of law school forced her $20,000 into debt. “I
thought it was going to be a restriction on my independence,” she recalls. Instead,
she was touched when her father installed a desk and phone in the basement so she
would have a private study. The Sanchez family too has made a success of the
arrangement. Says Lucy Sanchez: “Family is family, and we believe and act on
that.” But for others, the setup proves too difficult. Michelle Del Turco, 24, of
Englewood, Colo., a Denver suburb has been home three times – and left three
times. “What I considered a social drink, my dad considered an alcohol problem,”
she explains. “He never liked anyone I dated, so I either had to sneak around or
meet them at friends’ houses.”
Just how long should adult children live with their parents before moving
on? Lucille Carlini of Brooklyn returned home with her two daughters after a

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divorce. That was almost twelve years ago. She is now 37 and her daughters 18
and 16. They still live with Carlini’s mother Edie, who has welcomed having three
generations in the same house. Still, most psychologists feel lengthy homecomings
are a mistake. Offspring, struggling to establish separate identities, can wind up
with “a sense of inadequacy, defeat and failure,” says Kristine Kratz, a counselor
with the Personal Development Institute in Los Angeles. And aging parents, who
should be enjoying some financial and personal freedom, find themselves bogged
down with responsibilities. Says Debra Umberson, a researcher at the University of
Michigan: “Living with children of any age involves compromise and obligation,
factors that can be detrimental (вредный, губительный) to some aspects of well-
being. All children, even adult children, require accommodation and create stress.”
Brief visits, however, can work beneficially. Five years ago Ellen Rancilio
returned to the Detroit area to live with her father after her marriage broke up. She
stayed only seven months, but “it made us much closer,” she says. Indeed, the
experience was so positive that she would not hesitate to put out the welcome mat
when her own three sons are grown. Declares she: “If they needed help like I did,
yes.”

Comprehension and Discussion Guide

1. Why does the author claim that single and married young adults no longer
choose to live away from their family home? What statistic data prove the
point?
2. Was the situation different until recently? What are (were) adult young people
motivated by when they leave their parental shelters and start living on their
own?
to vie for independence; to hate restriction on one’s independence; to struggle to
establish one’s own separate identity.
3. Analysts cite a variety of reasons for these changes in lifestyle. So what makes
adult young people – single and married – stay on or in back, return to the

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 nest?
housing problems: to depend on one’s parents for housing; skyrocketing housing
costs; ridiculous to pay all that money for rent to have to keep/support one’s own
modest household; to be economically pressed; to take out loans; to cover
payments on smth; to save to buy smth; to admit to expensive tastes; to be forced
into debts; not to be able to pay off the debts, loans; to find one’s wings clipped;
exorbitant expenses of an away-from-home education: to attend local schools;
to commute to a nearby college;
moral, social, psychological: marriage age rising; “Home and its amenities
particularly attractive to young people”; high divorce rate; marriage break-up;
declining remarriage rate; emotionally vulnerable; emotionally battered; to feel
miserable;
advantages of living at home with one’s parents: to need help; to give financial
and moral security and moral support; to make the family closer; (to welcome) to
have 3 generations in the same house; to make success of the arrangement.
4. Why do some psychologists believe that it is unhealthy for several generations
of a family to live together for a long period of time?
to share the family home; to require adjustments for all/to require accommodation;
to manage the delicate balancing; to involve compromise; to create stress; hassles
over bathroom, telephone, privacy, etc.
single adult young people: difficult setup; to dislike/hate constant control,
pressure, restriction on one’s independence (drinking, dating, friendships, home
duties, relationships, etc.); to never really grow up; infantile; to have difficulty in
achieving one’s own separate identity; wind up with a sense of inadequacy, defeat
and failure;
married adult young people: to stir up tensions, hostility; to have three
generations living in the same house. Why can it be a disaster sometimes? Provide
your own arguments;
parents: aging parents; to return to the nest; put-upon parents; to make room for
one’s adult children; to enjoy some financial and personal freedom; to find oneself

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bogged down with responsibilities.
Conclusion: (made by researcher Debra Umberson, University of Michigan)
Living with children of any age involves compromise and obligation, factors that
can be detrimental to some aspects of well-being. All children, even adult
children, require accommodation and create stress.
5. How long should adult children live with their parents before moving on?
What do most psychologists feel about lengthy homecomings? What alternative
do they suggest?
brief visits; to work beneficially; a positive experience; to need help; to make
much closer; to put out the welcome mat.
6. What are some of the situations that have caused the young adults in the article
to return to their parents’ homes?

Text B

Back to Mum After All This Time

They are the Boomerang Generation: middle-aged people who are forced to
live with their parents again
What do a 39-year-old building surveyor, a 44-year-old insurance broker and
a 53-year-old charity coordinator have in common? The answer, after two decades
running families of their own, is that all have returned home to live with their
parents.
The trend towards moving back in with parents after such a long gap is a new
phenomenon of the 21st century. A study by the Office for National Statistics has
revealed that among people aged 65 to 69 who had experienced a change in their
living arrangements, 17 per cent said it was because an adult son or daughter had
moved back in. Only 2 per cent had moved in with children.
Jane Falkingham of the London School of Economics, a coauthor of the
report, pinpointed soaring rates of relationship breakdown and growing career
instability as the two main causes of what is being called the “Boomerang

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Generation”.
The prospect of having their well-earned space invaded by children they were
happy to see settled elsewhere could be daunting for those reveling in their
retirement. Having long overcome the empty-nest syndrome, they now have to
negotiate a new and unforeseen parental test.
So, can two generations forced back together make a go of it? Up to a point,
says Angela Baker, a 53-year-old mother of four grown-up children who, two
years ago, walked out on her marriage. Without a job to support an independent
lifestyle, she had to move in with her parents. Home is now their six-bedroom
house in Sussex, so space is not a problem. But in spite of advantages on both
sides, it is by no means a smooth relationship.
Angela, now a charity coordinator, says: “My mother is caring for my father,
who is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, and she was pleased to have someone
around to help apart from my 37-year-old brother, who never left home. But there
is a difficult area we haven’t quite resolved. She wants to know everything, which
is hard – especially after so many years wanting to get away from that in my
marriage. I don’t expect to be looked after. I do my share of the chores and give
her half my salary. Unfortunately she doesn’t think it is enough, but I can’t afford
any more. This is not a situation I thought would happen, and it can feel rather
humiliating.”
Jonathan Scales, a research fellow at the Institute of Social and Economic
Research at Essex University, believes that financial hardship sets off the
“boomerang” effect. He predicts that in the long term, with an increasingly dismal
economic outlook, the number of boomerang “children” will increase.
Going home may seem a heaven-sent solution, but Scales warns: “The
psychological effect could be damaging unless the relationship moves on. It cannot
be a parent-child anymore; it has to be on a more equal footing or it will all go to
pieces. That can be hard for parents, who want to continue having the most
powerful say in how their home is run. It is equally hard for someone who is used

165
to having their own space, status and wishes met to – in effect – become the child
again.”
Angela’s mother, Tina, 78, admits that she likes to know where her middle-
aged children are going, which can lead to arguments. “I know they are adults, but
they live here and I sometimes feel excluded”, she says. “I love hearing about what
they are doing, who they are seeing. They are my children, aren’t they?” For Joyce
and Jonathan Patterson, retired teachers from Riding Mill, Northumberland, the
return of their 42-year-old daughter is not something they want to celebrate. “Alice
came back needing a refuge nine months ago and she is welcome,” says Mrs.
Patterson. “Our granddaughter is here too. We love them, but it is a strain
financially and emotionally. There is also uncertainty about their future – none of
us knows how long this situation is going to last.”
On the other hand, for a parent living on his or her own, the return of a
grown-up child can be a godsend. Charles Parker, 44, an insurance broker with two
children at university, rented a Pimlico townhouse when his marriage broke up, but
could not stand the loneliness and the exhaustion of caring for himself. A year ago
he moved in with his widowed mother in Henley-on-Thames. In doing so he has
created a fresh problem. “She has now found a new lease of life caring for me,” he
says. “The idea of getting my own place again is becoming more difficult. I don’t
want to hurt her.”
But for every Charles with a financial choice, there is John with no choice at
all. With a failed marriage behind him, the 39-year-old building surveyor from
Hastings with three children, aged 18, 16 and 12 to support, has no option but to
live with his parents.
His mother, Christine Edwards, 58, while sad that her son’s marriage seems to
be over, is glad she can be supportive. But she knows that John’s 58-year-old
father, Peter, is unhappy with the arrangement.
“He likes it to be just me and him,” says Christine. “We had ten years on our
own after they all left. But then you also have to support your children. It is the

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weekends when my husband feels it most. But it isn’t for ever and John is no trouble.”
“My father doesn’t say anything, but I know he thinks it’s wrong I am back,”
John says. “I understand. After seeing all five of us off, this was going to be ‘their’
time. I just can’t afford anywhere else to live. I earn £23,000 a year, pay for my
family’s upkeep and give my mother £100 a month. There is nothing left.”
John joined a self-help group, Aquila, whose aim is to help people who are
separated and divorced to get back on their feet. “I sometimes wonder how I
ended up like this,” he says.
“You don’t expect to leave home full of plans and hopes and 20 years down
the line find yourself back in your old room playing music and trying not to annoy
your dad.”

Answer the following questions on the text.

1. With what current societal trend does the article deal with? What is the
Boomerang Generation?
2. What are the two reasons which set off the “boomerang effect”?
3. Think of the pros and cons that a parent-child reunion poses to 1) parents;
2) grown-up children.
4. What are some of the ways to keep up the delicate balance in a new familial
arrangement? What should be required of both parents and children in order to
maintain their relationship on an equal footing?
5. What is your personal attitude to the problem covered in the article? Would
you rate the Boomerang Generation as an inevitable phenomenon?
6. Does a similar trend exist in Belarus? Ground your statement.

Text C

Could You Throw Out Your Child?

Sometimes relationships with your kids can reach breaking point. These

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women felt they had no choice but to ask their children to leave home.
When Mary Carson’s elder son Paul was 16, he left school and started work
as an electrician. It was the start of his parents’ nightmare. Every Friday, on
payday, he’s come home drunk, scream abuse at his mother and play music until
4 a.m. On one occasion, he even picked a fight with his dad. “When he was sober,
he promised us he wouldn’t drink again but he always did,” says Mary, a 57-year-
old personal assistant who lives in London with her husband Charles, 58, a security
officer. “He was normally a very gentle, loving person but when he had a drink, he
turned into a monster. It affected our family terribly – we never knew what Paul
would do next and the atmosphere at home was tense.”
Then Mary discovered Al-Anon, an organization which gives support to
families of drinkers. “They helped me understand that if I really wanted to help
Paul, I had to make him stand on his own two feet,” explains Mary, who has
another son, Anthony, 27. “If I continued to give him money, food and shelter,
he’d carry on drinking.” Mary and Charles decided they had no choice but to ask
Paul to get a place of his own. When he refused, she found a B&B and asked him
to leave. “He asked me how I could do such a thing and said we were cruel. He
wasn’t drunk at the time and was being reasonable. When he left it felt as though
I’d torn my arm from its socket.”
Paul moved from hostel to hostel and continued to drink. Initially, Mary and
Charles kept in touch with him, and occasionally he’d move home for a few weeks.
But he went back to his old ways so Mary felt she had no choice but to cut him off.
“We learnt not to think about Paul and I even changed my phone number,” she
says. “It sounds harsh but nobody can understand unless they’ve been in the same
position.” By the time Paul reached his mid-20s, he’s become a heroin addict.
“Although Paul got worse, I got better – because by now he’s stopped asking
to come home. We wanted him to go into rehab but he wouldn’t.” Then, four
years ago, Paul was arrested for shoplifting. One of the conditions of his probation
was that he got help for his addiction. After treatment, his parents finally took

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him back – he was so weak from the drug-taking they feared he’d die. Now 30,
Paul’s been clean for seven months and is still living at home. “We’re taking one
day at a time but we’re crossing our fingers that things will work out this time,”
says Mary. But she doesn’t regret throwing out Paul. “If I hadn’t, none of us
would have survived. I had to think of the whole family and not just one person.”
NHS consultant clinical psychologist David Spellman has counselled many
troubled teenagers and their parents. “If a child threatens violence or is aggressive,
I can understand why a parent might ask them to leave,” he says. “There comes a
point when it’s not in anyone’s interest to live together.” But it’s possible, he says,
to have a relationship with a teenager from a distance. “Ideally, I’d suggest a
cooling-off period. Send your child to a friend’s house for two nights rather than
kicking them out and locking the door. This can act as a wake-up call.”
Yet even this doesn’t always work as Joanne Young, a 39-year-old
pharmaceutical operator, discovered. She asked her son Daniel, now 22, to leave
when he was 16. Now she regrets it. “He’d got his girlfriend pregnant, and I
thought he should face up to his responsibilities, so I suggested he go to hers for a
while. I was also fed up with him not getting a job. He’d come in late and be rude
to me and to my partner, Simon. Two weeks later, I found out from a friend that
Daniel had gone to a hostel and he was going through a bad patch with his
girlfriend. I went round immediately and asked him to come home but he
wouldn’t. He was too angry and hurt. My daughter, who’s five years younger than
Daniel, was really upset, too. It had a terrible impact on the whole family.”
Although Daniel was in contact with his dad, he wasn’t so close to him that
he was able to go to live with him. Then, to Joanne’s horror, Daniel disappeared
from the hostel and she spent weeks scouring the streets trying to find him. “I was
terrified he’d been hurt or left town and I’d never see him again”, she says. “I
blamed myself. About two months later, I spotted him down a side street. He
looked unkempt and ill and I just cried. I said I was sorry about asking him to go
but he wouldn’t come back.” For two years, Joanne saw Daniel intermittently;

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sometimes she wouldn’t see him for weeks. Then, a year ago, Daniel turned up on
her doorstep. “He broke down in tears and said he wanted to come home. I cried
with relief. He lived with me and Simon for six months. Mercifully, they got on
well, which they hadn’t before, and we were all glad to be back together.” Then
Daniel heard about a local organisation called Foyer, which provides training and
help for young people. Wanting more independence, he moved into one of their
hostels, although the family see each other regularly.
Joanne wishes she could turn back the clock. “Parents should stop and think
before they ask their child to leave. Don’t cut ties, however angry you feel. We’re
close now but I lost five years of my son’s life.” But Daniel, who sees his son
regularly, thinks his mother did the right thing. “I was hurt and angry at first –
that’s why I refused to come back,” he says. “But it made sort myself out. If Mum
hadn’t asked me to go, I might have continued to have a bad relationship with her.”
Joanne’s case zeroes in on a big problem – if you throw out your child, you
never know what you’re condemning them to. “I think we need to be more
understanding about the dilemmas young people face,” says David Spellman.
Psychologist Charles Wells, who also works with adolescents, agrees.
“Being thrown out can shame children and harm their confidence. On the other
hand, I’ve known at least two cases where this has brought a child to their senses.
Both eventually made up with their parents’. But there isn’t always a happy
ending.
Three years ago, Janice Wilding told her 17-year-old daughter Kaylie to leave
when she could no longer handle her drink and drugs problem. “She was on heroin
and would steal money from me to buy her supplies,” says Janice, a 42-year-old
cleaner. “She was rude and nasty to me.” Janice, who lives in Manchester and has
two other children aged 15 and 10, admits she was a difficult adolescent herself.
“My mother made me find my own place when I was 16 and it taught me to be
independent. I thought it would do Kaylie good. The final straw came when she
went to a rock festival for a week without telling me. If she behaved like that, she
was old enough to live on her own.”
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 Janice, who split from Kaylie’s dad when she was a baby, knew a friend of
Kaylie’s needed a flatmate. Alternatively, she could find a room through the paper.
Kaylie worked in a shop so she could afford it. Kaylie was furious and told Janice
she never wanted to see her again. “I know she’s all right because she keeps in
touch with a friend who lives nearby. Apparently she’s living in London and
working in a shop. I asked the friend for an address but she said Kaylie didn’t want
to know. At times, I feel guilty. But I’ve also got my other children to think of. We
all miss her but I had to draw the line somewhere and I’d like to think that when
she’s older, she’ll understand why I threw her out.”

Answer the following questions on the text.

1. Enumerate the most typical reasons why some parents have to cut off their
children at a certain point. Do they form a kind of a negative behavioral
pattern?
2. What are milder alternatives to kicking one’s child out? Do you think they are
always effective?
3. Speak on the advantages and disadvantages which a relationship from a
distance presents to 1) parents; 2) teenagers.
4. Are broken relationships with children a painful issue to a vast majority of
parents? Are cut ties easy to endure?
5. Does a parents’ decision to throw out their child always help to bring the
teenager to her/his senses and get them on the right path? Why isn’t there
always a happy ending, in your opinion?
6. What methods of dealing with unruly and troubled teenagers would you
suggest? Whose side would you take in a situation similar to those hassles
rendered in the article? Give your reasons.

Vocabulary Exercises

Ex. 1. Match the words and word combinations in the left column with the

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correct definitions in the right column.
1) nest a) to have a lively time; to take great delight
in smth
2) to clip a person’s wings b) addition to a task, burden, etc., that
makes it intolerable
3) exorbitant c) slang to abandon or desert smb
4) to skyrocket d) to recognize smth and deal with it,
honestly and bravely
5) hassle e) to try to do smth which is difficult
6) to take a crack at smth f) (of a price, charge or demand) much too
high or great
7) bogged down g) to doom, send, appoint (to smth painful
or unwelcome)
8) to revel in smth h) a disagreement; an argument
9) godsend i) to limit smb’s movements, activities,
expenditure, etc.
10) intermittent j) to grow rapidly; to accelerate; to escalate
11) to face up to smth k) fig. shelter; hiding-place; secluded
retreat
12) to have/take/make l) stuck; slowed down; overwhelmed
a go of it m) stopping and starting again
13) the final/last straw n) anything unexpected and needed or
14) to walk out on smb desired that comes at the opportune moment,
as if sent by God
15) to condemn smb to smth o) Am. colloquial to succeed

Ex. 2. Match the attributes on the left with nouns and phrases on the right,
focusing on the use of the key vocabulary. Use each word only once.
put-upon rates

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 the final space
cooling-off mat
exorbitant straw
the empty-nest act
failed expenses
bad footing
well-earned parents
heaven-sent syndrome
equal period
the boomerang patch
soaring marriage
breaking effect
welcome point
balancing solution

Ex. 3. Read the text and fill in the blanks with suitable words or word
combinations in the correct form from the box below.
delicate balancing act be bogged down feel one’s wings clipped
have a say be condemned run a family of one’s own
empty-nest go to pieces be unhappy with more equal footing
full-nest socially acceptable safe ground
have a go at be supportive confronted with
bad patch face up to avoid hassles
the sandwich generation independent lifestyle take a crack

Is Your Nest Too Full?

By John Casey
While many middle-aged couples are dealing with the (1) … syndrome,
others have the opposite problem – their elderly parents and children live at home,

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– called the (2) … syndrome. As many of us reach middle age, we are (3) … a
double dilemma: caring for young children and ageing parents at the same time,
which makes us (4) … a serious bind. Add to that the stress of (5) … , and many
in (6) … , i.e. the generation-between-generations, (7) … with the stress of an
overfilled life. But that living arrangement was born of necessity.
“A lot of families (8) … to live that way in the past because they had to,”
says Anna Beth Benningfield, PhD, clinical director of the Family Therapy
Program at Virginia State University. “In other cultures, it is (9) … . Even in
Europe, they think we’re crazy for expecting 18-year-olds to support an (10) … .”
Even though many Americans (11) … the multigenerational living,
Benningfield says the situation can adopt a (12) … . Here are some tips to help
pass through a (13) … .
1. Care for Yourself. You can’t (14) … of other people if you are tired and
irritable. If your role in the family makes you (15) … , make sure you get to a
therapist.
2. Set Rules. To (16) … , make a list of all the chores that need to be dome and
assign them to individuals. “To be on (17) … , any plan should be reassessed
every 60 days,” says Benningfield. “That way people don’t feel trapped and can
(18) … at a fresh activity.”
3. Weekly Family Meetings are one way to make sure everyone (19) … in the
household. Attendance should be mandatory. “If families can talk about the
things that they see as working or (20) … , then they can (21) … resolving
differences quickly,” says Benningfield. “Try to view children and parents living
with you as a (22) … , a chance to get to know your family in a way you haven’t
known them before.”

Ex. 4. Read the following text and decide which option (A, B or C) fits each
gap.

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 Bit of a Crowd in the Empty Nest
They are the Boomerang Generation, and they cost their parents (1) … .
Another term used to describe this phenomenon is Kippers – an acronym for Kids
in Parents’ Pockets (2) … Retirement Savings. Although an (3) … survey found
that nearly two-thirds of people said they could cover the extra (4) … of feeding a
grown-up child or elderly parent moved (5) … in with them, only 54 per cent
thought they could face up to the (6) … household bills. And once children or
parents have come back, they say they would be unable to make a (7) … of it.
Richard Brown, marketing manager of Birmingham Midshires, said: “In the
long (8) … , adults are not well placed to pay for the (9) … of an ageing
population or to be financially supportive (10) … children. Low levels of personal
savings, (11) … with the (12) … cost of care for the elderly, appear to be the root
causes for the (13) … which ‘boomerang’ families across the country are (14) …
down with.”
The Guardian

A B C
1) dearly dear darling
2) erasing eradicating eroding
3) in-depth in-case in-posse
4) cost fee rate
5) together up back
6) shrinking soaring sagging
7) go start move
8) go move run
9) upsurge upkeep uplift
10) to of for
11) paired coupled twinned
12) surging scanting scourging
13) quibbles quarries quandaries
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14) bagged bugged bogged

Ex. 5. Give the English equivalents of the following words and phrases.
Неожиданная удача, находка; непомерные расходы; добиться успеха,
преуспеть в чем-либо; поддерживать хрупкое равновесие; увязнуть,
погрязнуть в чем-либо; переживать «черную полосу» в отношениях;
озарение, ниспосланное свыше; распавшийся брак; последняя капля;
собраться с мыслями, прийти в себя; высказаться/пользоваться авторитетом в
чем-либо; примириться с чем-либо неприятным/быть готовым встретить что-
либо; вновь обрести вкус к жизни; оплачивать семейные расходы; не дать
развернуться, подрезать крылья кому-либо; розни, распри по какому-либо
поводу; в долгосрочной перспективе; воспротивиться чьему-либо браку;
зависеть/зависимый от родителей в жилищном отношении; поддерживать
отношения на расстоянии.

Integrated Discourse Skills Development

I. Polylogue Discourse Modelling

Guided Discussion Techniques
Prepare for an analytical class discussion of Texts A, B and C. Follow the
detailed instructions outlined in Guided Discussion Techniques (Unit 3, Integrated
Discourse Skills Development), p.131.

II. Written Discourse Skills Development

Letter Writing Techniques
Compose a personal letter to the editor of a periodical to cover a certain
aspect of the problems tackled in the Unit. Make use of 1) the basic texts in the
Unit; 2) the focus vocabulary; 3) supplementary sources. In order to make your
letter sound more involved and convincing, feel free in regard to its contents (i.e.

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optionally, to develop your point of view, pick out a fictitious name and position,
provide some background information; reflect and/or comment on any of the
articles presented in the Unit).
You can pose your ideas either objectively (applying a variety of analytical,
expository and argumentative narrative writing techniques) or, as an alternative
approach, add personal touch to the narration by either referring to a specific
individual experience, or including a flashback, or projecting an emotional state, etc.
Study closely the following 1) background reference passage; 2) basics of
letter structure and layout; 3) sample epistolary piece to assist you in the process of
letter-writing.
Letter-Writing Basics
I. Background Reference Information
A letter to the editor (sometimes abbreviated LTTE or LTE) is a letter sent to a
publication about issues of concern to its readers. Usually, letters are intended for
publication. The subject matter of letters to the editor vary widely. However, the most
common topics include:
- Supporting or opposing an editorial stance, or responding to another writer's letter to
the editor.
- Commenting on a current issue being debated by a governing body – local, regional
or national depending on the publication's circulation. Often, the writer will urge
elected officials to make their decision based on his/her viewpoint.
- Remarking on materials (such as a news story) that have appeared in a previous
edition. Such letters may either be critical or praiseworthy.
- Correcting a perceived error or misrepresentation.
Letters are usually short, as they must sometimes fit in a limited space. Many
newspapers require that letters to the editor be under a certain number of words, and
may attach other conditions, such as prohibiting anonymous letters, letters that
contain misinformation or are meant to libel someone, are obscene or in poor taste, or
are meant to resolve a personal conflict. Other frequent conditions include limiting

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writers to one published letter within a specified time period (often, one per 30 days)
or limiting the publication of letters on controversial topics after a certain time period,
especially if the debate takes an emotional toll on the involved parties. Some editors
will also decline to publish letters that have also been sent to other newspapers,
especially competing newspapers.
II. Letter Structure Focus
Personal letters, also known as friendly letters, and social notes normally
have five parts.
a) The Heading. This includes the return address, line by line, with the last line
being the date. A line is to be skipped after the heading. The heading is indented to
the middle of the page. On the preaddressed stationery, just the date is added.
Note: Sometimes (typically, in business letters) it may be necessary to include a
line after the address and before the date for a phone number, fax number, E-mail
address, or something similar. Often a line is skipped between the address and
date. That should always be done if the heading is next to the left margin.
b) The Inside Address. This is the address the letter is sent to. It should be made
as complete as possible, with titles and names included, if known. A line is to be
skipped after the heading before the inside address. Another line is skipped after
the inside address before the greeting.
c) The Greeting. The greeting, or the salutation, always ends with a comma. The
greeting may be formal, beginning with the word “dear” and using the person’s
given name or relationship, or it may be informal if appropriate.
Note: The greeting in a business letter always ends in a colon.
d) The Body. Also known as the main text. This includes the message to be
written. Normally in a friendly letter, the beginning of paragraphs is indented. If
not indented, a line is skipped between paragraphs. A line after the greeting and
before the close is to be skipped.
e) The Complimentary Close. This short expression is always a few words on a
single line. It ends in a comma. It should be indented to the same column as the
heading. One to three spaces (two is usual) are skipped for the signature line.
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f) The Signature Line. The personal name is either written or typed. The
handwritten signature goes above this line and below the close. The signature line
and the handwritten signature are indented to the same column as the close. The
signature should start directly above the first letter of the signature line in the space
between the close and the signature line. The signature should be written in blue or
black ink. If the letter is quite informal, the signature line might be omitted as long
as the letter is signed.
g) Postscript. If the letter contains a postscript, one should begin it with P.S. and
end it with the personal initials. A line is to be skipped after the signature line to
begin the postscript.
Note: Business letters should not contain postscripts.

Layout for a Friendly or Personal Letter

The picture shows what a one-page friendly or
personal letter should look like. The horizontal lines
represent lines of type.

Layout for a Business Letter

The following pictures show what
a one-page business letter should
look like. There are three accepted
styles. The horizontal lines
represent lines of type.
Modified Block Style Block Style

Semiblock Style

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III. Sample Letter
Publication Foreword
The letter is written to the chief editor of the “Woman” magazine in response to the
article “Could You Throw Out Your Child?” by Jane Bidder. Jessica Rhodin, 28, is a famous
theater actress, who had a similar experience of being turned out of her house by her mother.
She shares her story and views on the problem.

5079 Apache Trail

Las Cruces, NM 88012-9762
(505) 382-1629
[email protected]

September 20, 2003

“WOMAN”
Room 53, 850 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Attention: Chief Editor

Dear Chief Editor:

My heart literally stopped when I read the article “Can You Throw Out Your Child?” by Jane Bidder in
your August issue. It kept me restless for weeks. Thank you so much for it! It helped me realize once
more that I am not the only one having gone through major trauma. I can totally relate to the situations
discussed and hopefully, one would care to hear my own story and reflections, which are the ones of
soaring hardship and struggle.
Now, that I am a happy mother to two sweet kids and a loving wife to a godsend of a husband, I dare to
talk out some things that have made my mind dismal and emotionally vulnerable for years, and I am 28 at
the moment. I come from a small suburban town in the state of New Mexico, a real god-forsaken spot in
the middle of the desert. My father was a truck-driver, who never managed to make a go of his own life.
He was killed in a harsh accident, when I was 6 and logically, I didn't get to know him really well. It
might have been a heaven-sent gift if he had survived, but I was clubbed to sharing my mother’s
accommodation.
Mother was cohabiting with a man of a much younger age, sort of a permanent partner. It kept her
thinking younger, trying to keep up, as she would put it. To be absolutely fair, I never got a beat from
her, but that would be less suicidal, I guess. She gave me a rough time quite often, though; I depended on
her for everything on Earth: housing, views, dress code and dating. She never offered me love or
understanding, those were abstract bookish notions for me. Thus, I grew up as a lonely child, who had
never felt on an equal footing with anyone but her toys and pets, whose separate identity was conditioned
and established by outer circumstances and who was bogged down with responsibilities and chores.
I was already a commuting college sophomore with rather an impressive GPA and a part-time job, when
the nightmare came true. I just got the Best Works Ethics Award and it was actually the first time I went
out for a social drink with my Ethics class. Then we had parties once in a while at the local dorms and I
came home really late. Once my mother smelled me smoking marijuana. The hassle that followed just
triggered her temper and she drew the line and cut me off the same night. She screamed abuse and

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roared that I forced her into debt (I was gradually paying off the college loan on my own) and admitted to
expensive tastes (while Target was the best place I’d ever shopped at then and I never dropped a single
word about a car). I challenged her authority, talked back and sneaked around; I was a strain
emotionally and financially; I was a waste and a burden. She ruthlessly swept aside my excuses and the
idea of a cooling-off period. In order to show proper respect for adults I had to try and stand on my own
two feet, she pinpointed. So I was pushed out on the front steps with barely a third of my belongings and
a stoned heart.

She met me intermittently somewhere about the town during the first 2 years of my forced independence,
unkempt and worn out. Then I left for the better not to see her or let her meddle in my affairs, which she
was trying to do from a distance for the sake of the public image. It took me years and a million of
detrimental deeds and “done” things to survive. I lost my rose-colored glasses on the first step of my
Mom’s condominium. I felt a useless waste, just like Kaylie Wilding. It was a positive experience in a
way, however. Being thrown out brought me to my senses, I learned to conduct my life in my own fashion
and sort myself out; I learned to be competitive and cutthroat; it took almost all my guts at times to meet
the ups and downs of life. I took all the chances, good or evil, and I scraped through. I took a crack at a
theater career and got it right into my hands, I’ve got all the amenities of my own home life now. Deep in
my heart, though, the image of my Mom carries on nagging me, but I’ll return the ball. I hope she’s gone
through a much worse patch than I did.
Sometimes I wonder why she did it, because she was terribly scared of loneliness (as far as I know, her
live-in relationships were all spontaneous and brief). Mother hated to be economically pressed, but I was
no robber, either. Had she ever explained to me, that she wanted a different kind of personality in her
household, I would have honestly tried to change! I found my wings fully clipped instead. Parents do not
realize sometimes, that the worst shame and break of confidence their child can experience is basically
not the fact that they are turned out, but the unbearable thought that they cannot come back, that they are
not wanted back. Homecoming means refuge, security and support. Fortunately (or unfortunately, for
some parents), children are not pets, they should be nor domestified, nor experimented on.
A lack of a shelter is a dreadful awareness, trust me. What makes it still worse, is that such situations
make it impossible to talk about growing integration of the family unit, since child psychic is highly
vulnerable and parents really never know what they are condemning their kids to. Evidently, what is a
good life-school for one child is a kill for another, likely to influence all his/her life. Furthermore, how
can a child receive proper guidance and approval, when he/she is physically and morally separated from
parents? Other adults may fill in the gap, one would remark, but I’m not absolutely positive whether a
particular child wouldn’t get in with the wrong crowd and aggravate the conflict.
High divorce rates and growing career instability make adults move back in with their elderly parents
and negotiate a new “parent-child” test. Now think of a psychologically unstable young individual,
whose prospects and brain go to pieces just because the compromise failed. I can give a small
recommendation, especially now that I’m authorized in a way being a mother myself, – talk to your
offspring, offer them assistance and try to be tolerant! There are totally unruly kids, I wouldn’t deny, but
at least you tried to be positive and that keeps you light-hearted. Listen to your children, let them talk
things out, which is healthy for preserving a good atmosphere at home. Keep them involved in household
activities and decision-making, let them make a difference; provide a freedom of choice and selection;
spend time with them, but don't be nosy. In the worst possible case don’t be laid sacrifice to your
“monster” child, just step aside and take your own life, but don’t throw your son or daughter out without
a chance of later reunion! It’s a double-load – in most cases you won’t be forgiven by your kid and
practically always you’ll be sick with guilt and moral sufferings, unlike Janice Wilding, who will never
cry with relief, but who is right in her own individual way. The article is depressive, but I’m very glad
I’ve read it. Otherwise my confession wouldn’t have been possible.
…Mom, perhaps you’ll be reading this some day. There are too many ruined kids with similar daunting
experiences, so most likely you won’t be able to recognize me. God forgive you then, for I haven’t so far.
Moreover, I’ve gone as far as to change my name due to the shameful things I was forced into by a
careless will of yours.

I’m a theater performer and I believe, you could be proud of me now, but you’ve deserved no share of my
success, either professional or personal. You haven’t been there for me. I want you, thoughtless mothers,
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to face it, that kicked-out and wing-clipped kids are not battered or by any means homesick. We are
reveling in the idea of your loneliness, frailty and financial insecurity. We don’t expect you to seek our
company after all this time, as well as we’ll never put out a welcome mat on our front porch for you. You
never wanted us back, so you’ve concurred to a childless life and an empty nest. Bitter remorse and
exorbitant pangs of an irretrievable loss are by far the most generous things we could wish you. Good
luck and take care. Sincerely not yours, Bum Children.
That’s the way it happened to me. I don’t insist on claiming that mine is a typical situation. Reasons and
consequences differ from family to family, and that is the main reason why there is actually no universal
antidote. Whoever takes interest in my story or feels like sharing his/her problem is welcome to contact
me any time.

Sincerely yours,

Mrs. Jessica Rhodin

Unit 6. Marriage and Divorce

Study and learn the topical focus vocabulary list. Provide Russian equivalents to
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the vocabulary items.
Focus Vocabulary List
1) to divorce from smb; to sue/file for a divorce; to get/obtain a divorce from
smb; a divorce (divorcee); a divorcement
2) a “no-fault” divorce; a contested case/an uncontested case
3) the divorce binge/epidemic of divorce/the divorce explosion/a flood tide of
divorce
4) marriage failure (a failed marriage)/dysfunctional marriage
5) throwaway marriages/serial marriages (divorce + remarriage; to remarry; a
high rate of remarriage by divorced people)/serial monogamy
6) to call it quits; to split; to break up (n breakup); to separate; to die on the vine
7) (marriages) dissolved by divorce; to end in dissolution; a chronic
dissatisfaction that is not being attended to; disequilibrium; chronic strife and
antagonisms
8) broken homes (syn. split households); children with multiple parents
9) to diminish smth ( ~ parental guidance and discipline)*
10) alimony and child-support payments
11) to be saddled with smth ( ~ the legal blame)*
12) social constraints/strains; to cause friction*
13) to curb smth; an inhibiting force*
14) to enter marriage in more skeptical frames of mind
15) the issuance of a wedding license; to spell out smth (contracts spelling out the
terms of one’s marriage)
16) to take course on smth ( ~ marriage and family matters)
17) the women rights drive/the women’s liberation movement; to assert a new
independence in marriage
18) experiments in smth ( ~ communal living)*
19) a renewed commitment to the present marriage; a renewal of commitment
20) to meet each other’s needs; a lasting and adaptive marriage; to enhance

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 continuity and growth
21) to depend (up)on smb for smth*
22) to be incorporated into smth*
23) to occur over smth ( ~ an immediate issue)*

Study the texts, identify the active vocabulary items and discuss the questions
following the texts.

Text A

“Throwaway Marriages” – Threat to the American Society

At a record rate, US couples are calling it quits – and more will do so in
years ahead as home life feels the stress of social change.
Divorce and remarriage – what some family experts call “serial marriages”
and others describe as “throwaway marriages” have become part of the fabric of
American society and are spreading fast. Today, 21 per cent of all US married
couples have divorce somewhere in the background of one partner or another or
both.
Divorces are becoming so common that the senior demographer of the Census
Bureau’s population division has estimated that among today’s 30-year-old wives,
1 out of every 3 marriages has been or will be dissolved by divorce. In fact, unless
something is done to curb the causes of divorce, more than 40 per cent of all
marriages may end in dissolution. At present it is estimated that 1 marriage out of 4
ends in divorce. And in 80 per cent of the cases, both partners will remarry.
The divorce binge1 right after the Second World War pushed the rate only to
17.9 divorces per 1,000 married women, a record that stood unchallenged for more
than a quarter of a century. After the postwar period, divorces reached their lowest
rate in 1958, with 8.9 divorces per 1,000 married women.
1
Binge – зд. a period of excessive growth (разгул).
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 One factor in the sudden rise in the divorce rate during the past few years is a
lag in marriages.
This epidemic of divorce is bringing enormous economic and social change to
the United States. Lawyers by the thousands across the US are finding the divorce
court an ever more profitable place of business.
Such lawyers charge anywhere from $350 for representing both partners in an
uncontested case1 to $5,000 or more for each partner in a contested case. Years
may be needed to pay off the resulting debt.
When a divorce is granted, the former partners become two households. And,
according to one estimate, the two can look forward to a 25 per cent reduction in
the standard of living they maintained as a couple. For the man, divorce can mean
months, even years, of alimony and child-support payments – though most men
eventually fall behind in these payments. For the woman, divorce may mean
finding a job for a pay which often averages only three fifths of that of a man.
More than 10 million children are now living with only one parent and 2 out
of 3 of these are the product of divorce or separation.
Broken homes, where diminished parental guidance and discipline are a
strong possibility, are often cited as a factor in the nation’s rising juvenile
delinquency.
Family counselors acknowledge, however, that divorce is only one factor
contributing to juvenile delinquency and that most delinquents come from homes
with both parents still living together.
Even sharper questions are being raised about the impact of rising divorce
rates on the family as a basic institution of society. Traditional-minded Americans
view the divorce phenomenon as bleakly as they do the tendency of many people
to live together without marriage vows. To traditionalists – including many young
Americans – marriage is still monogamy, binding together husband and wife “till
death do us part”. But others take a more tolerant view of divorce as an inevitable
by-product of many external factors – including the women’s rights drive, the so-
1
Uncontested case – a divorce case in which both partners are willing to divorce without any claims on each other.
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called sexual revolution, the strains of urban living and the decline of religion as an
inhibiting force. Furthermore, it is pointed out, the high rate of remarriage after
divorce might be a sign of the continuing strength of marriage and family.
However much moral judgments differ, it is broadly conceded that divorce is
moving toward the status of “normal” in the thinking of Americans. In a poll
conducted recently 60 per cent of the women interviewed said they regard divorce
as an acceptable solution for marriage failure, while only 20 per cent said they did
not. Shirley W., who directed the poll, noted: “Marriage may march on, but many
marriages do not, and divorce is now accepted by a 3-to-l margin as a solution for
an unsuccessful marriage.”
Can the divorce explosion be curbed? Because the incidence of divorce is
especially high among persons in their teens, some sociologists see hope in the fact
that a growing proportion of first-time marriages are occurring at later ages.
Yet increased maturity at marriage so far has not curbed the divorce explosion
as hoped. Instead, counselors find that today’s brides and grooms enter marriage in
more skeptical frames of mind than their predecessors did, and are more willing to
call it quits. Young wives who are contributing to the family income are asserting a
new independence in marriage, which causes friction in many instances.
Many States are making divorce easier. Already, 23 States have adopted
some form of “no-fault divorce,” making it possible for couples to split without the
necessity for one partner to be saddled with the legal blame. To avoid breakups,
more and more couples are seeking the help of ministers, physicians, marriage
counselors and sex therapists. Often, however, couples delay seeking help until it
is too late to save the marriage.
Some authorities say the best way to curb the rising divorce rate is to do a
better job of preparing young people for marriage before the ceremony. Some
educators feel that high schools should require students to take courses on marriage
and family matters. The Oregon State legislature considered a bill to require
premarital counseling before the issuance of a wedding license. And the

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Massachusetts legislature recently debated a proposal allowing couples to sign
contracts spelling out the terms of their marriage.
At the same time, some counselors take the position that not all marriages
are worth saving and that more attention needs to be paid to helping the couples in
failed marriages to part with minimum complications. Along that line, the
University of Wisconsin at its extension social-services center is offering a course
on the emotional, financial and legal problems during and after divorce. But it will
be a longtime, say social scientists, before Americans find a way to reduce divorce
rates – or to cope satisfactorily with the strains that divorce represents in family
life.

Text B

Vast Majority of Americans Still Believe in the Family

A flood tide of divorces, experiments in communal living and single
parenthood – is old-fashioned marriage dying on the vine? Not so, says a
noted counselor – and in this exclusive interview he explains why.
Q. With the divorce rate climbing as fast as it is, is the American family
going to survive in years ahead?
A. Certainly it is. There is nothing else to replace it as an emotional center of
people’s lives, or as the transmitter of culture, or for raising children.
What is happening now is that it is adapting to changes in society, just as it has in
the past. With the industrial revolution and urbanization, the extended family –
which included grandparents and other near relatives – changed and became the
nuclear family of parents and children exclusively. Now new social and economic
realities are emerging, and this requires new adaptations by the family.
Q. Are you worried by the high rate of divorce today?
A. I don’t see it as pathological. It can’t be described as deviant when so
many Americans are getting divorces. I see it as an indication that people are

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searching for things in life. And if, at particular period in a marriage, they do not
find the possibility of moving into a new and satisfying relationship, they search
for what they want in a different marriage.
If you look at the higher rate of divorce, you also have to look at the high
rate of remarriage by divorced people. In other words, when one nuclear family
breaks up on them, they set up another such family. They still believe in it and so
do the vast majority of American people.
You see, nobody has a substitute for carrying out the essential functions of a
family.
Q. Why do people get divorces? Are money problems the cause?
A. Divorce is never really something that occurs spontaneously or without a
history. It occurs on the basis of a chronic dissatisfaction not being attended to.
We know of families which live for quite a long time with chronic
unhappiness. Nonetheless there is no divorce. Then, in a moment of crisis, the
divorce occurs over some immediate issue.
Q. Why do marriages fail?
A. Largely because family life calls for adaptations as a family develops, and
some couples do not change when their own situation changes.
Q. Does that make divorce inevitable?
A. No, but it means that both partners feel the disequilibrium and search for
a new relationship. Quite often the search will be for a new partner. But it can also
take the form of change in the current relationship and a renewed commitment to
the present marriage – something I consider to be necessary in the development of
a marriage.
The family has different needs at different times: when children arrive, when
mothers go to work, when children leave the family; when there is serious illness,
prolonged unemployment or the family moves to a new location. Then
relationships have to be redefined.
At such points, there needs to be a renewal of commitment – a psychological

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renewal. At different periods in family organization, husband and wife should tell
each other, “At this point we need to change in order to continue meeting each
other’s needs.” For those who cannot make this adaptation, many will turn to
divorce.
Q. Are divorce rates likely to maintain a high level for some time to come?
A. I think so. I see serial monogamy – divorce and remarriage – as likely to
increase, not only because of stresses caused by mobility and other external factors
but because of women’s new position in society and changes in attitude toward
divorce. Social constraints 50 years ago tended to discourage divorce even in cases
of families racked by chronic strife and antagonisms.
Q. Will the “women’s liberation” movement be helpful or harmful to the
family as a whole as time goes on?
A. I think it is a part of the evolution of our society and is a logical
development not only from the legal and economic points of view but also from
the psychological point of view. It’s increasing our awareness of sexual
discrimination which is an essential element in many cases of dysfunctional
marriages.
Of course, “women’s lib” also means a changed relationship between men
and women and complicates that relationship, but I think it does so in a positive
way.
Q. How does divorce affect the children?
A. This gets into a major concern of mine. Divorce need not be a hardship
on children. In some cases it alleviates the stresses caused by constant conflict
between parents.
Nonetheless, the rise in divorces means we are creating a new social
network of children with multiple parents, and in that situation children may find
themselves the sufferers.
Divorce and remarriage are within the realm of normal crises. In these
moments of normal crises, people go through strain. But children, who have fewer

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defenses and depend more upon the adults for security, may feel more strain.
Sometimes in the conflict between divorcing parents, children are used as
Ping Pong balls, flying back and forth between the parents. Or children can play
the parents against each other in the transition created by divorce.
Furthermore, adults who divorce and remarry are searching consciously for
a better way of growing and being happy. But the children are carried along in
these processes without choice. A child does not say to the parent “Marry” or
“Divorce”. Children are carried along without being participants in the decisions,
so they are confused and mystified – and this is the real source of their danger.
Then, when one or both parents remarry, there is another transition and another
crisis. Suppose a divorced man meets a woman he wants to marry. He needs not
only to establish emotional contact and intimacy with her, but he also needs to
become a father to the children of her previous marriage, whom he doesn’t know.
At the same time he has to maintain a good parental relationship with his own
children by a previous marriage.
This is a very complex network with many built-in problems, and we have
not created systems of support to help remarrying persons.
Q. What do you think might help children and parents m this situation?
A. In some societies – the Scandinavian countries I think – the process of
separation and divorce involves counseling of parents to help them deal with the
crisis and its impact on children.
Here in America, however, people come to clinics after a pathologic
situation already has developed. We need to develop some institutional systems of
support to help parents provide support to their children – a new parental function
as children are subjected to a more complex kind of family organization. It could
be incorporated into institutions such as family services or child-guidance clinics,
but parents need to be able to avail themselves of counseling without waiting for a
pathologic situation to develop.
Q. Can schools help educate young people to a realistic view of marriage?

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 A. Nobody can really teach “marriage” as a subject. Children learn how to
encounter other people essentially through their experiences in their families and
by observing their parents, brothers and sisters. They find in the family also a
model for what marriage is. But good schools encourage the establishment of
contact and mutual respect among peers, and this is certainly relevant to the young
person’s view of marriage.
Q. Broadly, how do you evaluate the young people of today in their attitudes
toward marriage compared with those, say, of 20 or 25 years ago?
A. I think there is a difference. It seems as if young people now are
experimenting more in intimate relationships among themselves before marriage,
apparently in a search for a relationship that enhances continuity and growth.
An interesting thing is the number of young people who live together for a
while, then marry. If s not just another era of loose living but a search for strong
relationships. I would say it is considerably more realistic than the attitudes of the
younger persons who want to marry at the age of 17 or 18 for romantic reasons.
Q. How will the tendency of many young people now to marry at a
somewhat later age affect family life?
A. I think it is a good thing.
The process of establishing a meaningful relationship is always a difficult
one. It requires work, mutual respect, accommodation and maturity, but it can lay
the foundations for a lasting and adaptive marriage.
I find it very interesting that the word “crisis” in Chinese is composed by
combining two ideographs – one meaning “danger” and the other “opportunity”.
This is something to remember about the family. As it passes from one period to
another, there will be crises. They can point to danger – a breakup of the family –
or they can become an opportunity to adapt the family to new challenges and
satisfactions.

Comprehension and Discussion Guide

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1. What is meant by the term “a throwaway marriage”?
a) serial marriage; b) divorce and remarriage; c) to have a divorce somewhere in
the background; d) to call it quits.
2. It’s common knowledge that the rate of divorces is extremely high. According to
the latest estimates half of the marriages in the USA, for example, end in
dissolution. What social reasons are acknowledged by family counselors to
account for it?
to take a tolerant view of divorce; external factors; the women’s rights drive;
sexual revolution; the strains of urban living; the decline of religion as an
inhibiting force; to regard divorce as an acceptable solution for marriage failure/for
an unsuccessful marriage.
3. How do traditionally-winded people view divorce? Are they tolerant of it? Why not?
bleakly; to live together without marriage vows; to view the family as a basic
institution of society; a monogamy; to bind together husband and wife; “till death
do them part”.
4. Why don’t most family counselors see divorce as acceptable? What are the
effects of divorce on the disintegrated couple?
a) in terms of material losses: reduction in the standards of living they maintain as
a couple; alimony and child support payments; to fall be kind in one’s
payments; to find a job for a pay;
b) the impact of divorce and separation on children: single-parent families;
broken homes; to be diminished; parental guidance and discipline; juvenile
delinquency; to create a new social network of multiple parents;
c) the moral and emotional damage.
5. In what age groups is the highest incidence of divorce is observed?
persons in their teens; to occur at later ages; increased maturity at marriage; not to
curb.
6. Why is marrying at later ages no guarantee of a stable marriage?
to enter marriage in more skeptical frames of mind than their predecessors; to be

192
more willing to call it quits; young wives; to contribute to the family income; to
assert a new independence; to cause friction.

7. What are the ways to curb the record divorce rate?

a) to avoid break-ups; to seek the help of ministers, physicians, marriage
counselors and sex therapists; to save the marriage;
b) to do a better job of preparing young people for marriage before ceremony; to
take courses on marriage and family matters; premarital counseling before the
issuance of a wedding license; to sign contracts spelling out the terms of one’s
marriage.
8. Are all marriages worth saving?
counselors; to help couples in failed marriages to part with minimum
complications; emotional, financial and legal problems.

9. Can the modern society hope to reduce the divorce rate and cope satisfactorily
with the strains that divorce represents in family life?
10.Does this mean that old-fashioned marriage is dying on the vine?
a flood of divorces; experiments in communal living; single parenthood; to survive
in years ahead; to replace; an emotional centre of people’s lives, the transmitter of
culture; to raise children; to adapt to changes in society.

11.Do divorces occur out of the blue?

to occur spontaneously; a chronic dissatisfaction; to live with chronic unhappiness;
in a moment of crisis; to occur over some immediate issue.

12. Why do marriages fail?

to call for adaptations; to feel the disequilibrium; to search for a new
relationship/for a new partner; to change the current relationship; a renewed
commitment to the present marriage; the development of a marriage; different
needs at different times.

13.At what points do family relationships have to be redefined?

children, to arrive; to go to work; illness; to leave; prolonged unemployment; a

193
psychological renewal; to meet each other’s needs.

14.Why does the impact of divorce on children take the highest toll?
a major concern; the sufferers; to create a new network of multiple parents; to go
through strain; to have fewer defenses; to depend more upon adults for security; to
be used as Ping Pong balls; to play the parents against each other; to be confused
and mystified; transition and crisis; to establish an emotional contact and intimacy
with; to maintain a good parental relationship with one’s children by a previous
marriage to create a system of support.

15.In what way do children learn about marriage relationships?

to observe one’s parents, sisters and brothers; a model; schools; to encourage the
establishment of contact and mutual respect among peers.
16.How have young people’s attitudes towards marriage changed over the past
decades?
to experiment in intimate relationships before marriage; to enhance continuity and
growth; era of loose living; a search for strong relationships; to marry for romantic
reasons.

17.What factors are essential to form a stable family union and maintain it?
work, mutual respect, accommodation; maturity; to lay the foundations for a
lasting and adaptive marriage.

18.In what terms can the word “crisis” be regarded? Why is it essential to
remember when the family has to pass through a crisis?
danger; a break up; opportunity; to adapt the family to new challenges.

Vocabulary Exercises

Ex. 1. Match the words and word phrases on the left with synonyms or
synonymous expressions (A)/antonyms or antonymic expressions (B) on the right.
A 1) to enhance a) an inhibiting force
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 2) split households b) to cohabit
3) to curb c) built-in
4) throwaway marriages d) to facilitate
5) to live together without e) broken homes
marital vows
6) the divorce binge f) to give up on smth; to split; to divorce
7) to call it quits g) serial monogamy; divorce + remarriage
8) a constraint h) to downgrade; to diminish
9) incorporated i) hassles
10) antagonisms j) epidemic/explosion of divorce

B 1) to issue a wedding a) a transition period; dissolution

license
2) separation b) to tie the knot
3) to curb c) in the forefront; at the heart of the issue
4) dysfunctional marriage d) to grant a divorce petition
5) to call it quits e) to be stripped of smth
6) in the background f) to enhance; to facilitate
7) to die on the vine g) a renewed commitment to one’s present
marriage
8) continuity h) to take hold
9) to diminish parental i) an adaptive marriage
discipline
10) to be saddled with smth j) to reassert control over offspring
Ex. 2. A. Read the text and fill in the blanks with suitable words or word
combinations in the correct form from the box below.
cooling-off period breakup condemned the divorce binge
divorce proceedings saddled with benefit visibly curb
meet the needs diminish divorcees broken homes

195
 file for divorce dysfunctional marriage inhibiting force
continuity of marriage no-fault divorce hassles and antagonisms
experiment in riddled with potholes divorce petition
occur over spell out child-support alimony exorbitant

In Great Britain, an Easier Out

By David Whitman

IT’S NOBODY’S FAULT. Back in February. 1996, when they met at St. James’s
Palace to begin formal (1) … , the prince and princess of Wales were at odds, as
friction (2) … a minor issue. He wanted a note taker present. She refused. Their
(3) … is final, but Britons who favor a shift to a no-fault system, have (4) … from
the months of (5) … .

Had the royal (6) … waited a bit longer, much of their (7) … and public
maneuvering might have been (8) … . England and Wales, like much of Europe, have
minimized the role of lawyers and (9) … the concept of fault in the divorce process.

In 2000, after a heated parliamentary debate, the most fundamental divorce

reforms since 1969 finally became law and (10) … general terms of disrupting a
(11) … . Reconciliation attempts are mandatory during a longer (12) … . And a
divorce won’t be finalized until (13) … and finances are settled.

Such changes replaced the old system, (14) …, which (15) … lawyers (16)
… the blame for growing wealthy on confrontation in a divorce settlement while
the number of (17) … soared. Today, Britain has the highest divorce rate in
Western Europe, with 1 marriage in 2 (18) … to end in dissolution.

POLICEMAN, NOT PRIEST. Opponents of (19) … – like those in America – see

the reform as an (20) … for family life and the (21) … . The new act, argues the
right-of-center Daily Telegraph, “launched a new (22) … neutrality in government
policy… by accepting that one partner may (23) … , call it quits and get a divorce
petition regardless of the wishes of the other.”
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 Reformers say the state’s task is to (24) … of private citizens, providing a
framework for relationships, not to pass judgment on them or stop (25) … . As
leading columnist Simon Jenkins puts it: “The state is a policeman, not a priest.”

B. Translate the word combinations in bold type into Russian.

Ex. 3. Use the words given in brackets to form a word that fits in the space
according to the meaning.

1. In the US, from (colony) times to the present, divorce was widely (accept) but
frowned upon (social). By the time of the Civil War, divorces were granted on
grounds of (cruel), (abandon), (drunk), (support – neg.), or verbal abuse or insults.
2. “No-fault” divorce and (contest – neg.) cases, concepts developed in the 1980s,
have further undermined the system of (spouse) support by diminishing the factor
of blame and (responsible) for marriage (fail).
3. As partners enter marriage in more (skeptics)frames of mind nowadays, both
have to live up to higher (expect) of marital (continue) and (commit).
4. The (define) of family is now broadening to include not only nuclear families
but also unmarried heterosexual and gay (cohabit); single-parent and stepfamilies;
foster and (adopt) families; (child – neg.) and (monogamy – neg.) relationships,
and multiple-adult households.
5. Children have no choice in the matter of a divorce or death; a child may feel
(resent), (satisfy – neg.), fear and sadness, which can result in anger. (Parent)
(guide) and direction may be needed to help children distinguish between angry
feelings and angry behavior.
Ex. 4. Read the text below and decide which option (A, B, or D) best fits each
gap.
Divorce
By Tina Gianoulis
Marriage, the legally sanctioned and structured pairing of (1) … couples, has

197
long been an established practice in human civilization. Divorce, the (2) … of a
marriage commitment (and , (3) … date, the annulment of the marriage (4) … ), is
as old as marriage itself and became literally (5) … into human society. Early
cultures (6) … to divorce with relative ease. Roman, Greek, Germanic and
Frankish law recognized couples’ right (7) … divorce, as did Islam and the
Orthodox Church.
Since the 1960s, as legal divorces became easier to (8) … , soaring divorce
rates have placed marriage (9) … among the most common rituals of modern
society. Divorce is such a (10) … that while many couples still depend upon
lawyers (11) … attending to their disputes, others now go to (12) … and execute
their divorces quite amicably. Along with splitting couples, there is an (13) … of
children divorcing their parents and vice versa.
In past centuries, marriage was part of survival and (14) … economic
stability. But as the nuclear family (15) … the extended unit, its function has
become more of emotional and physical caretaking. Sociologists cite higher
expectations of an (16) … and lasting relationship as the root cause for high rates
of divorce (17) … couples. Since marital commitment is no longer a matter of
familial (18) … , it is natural for couples to (19) … it quits.
Gale Encyclopedia of Popular Culture

A B C
1) homosexual heterosexual asexual
2) disequilibrium dysfunction dissolution
3) to by of
4) petition license contract
5) incorporated inhibited incarcerated
6) resorted retorted retreated
7) on for to
8) provoke revoke invoke
9) breakage breakup breakaway
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10) commonplace non-issue fad
11) in whereas for
12) medians mediums mediators
13) epicenter endemic epidemic
14) enthused enhanced inhibited
15) placed misplaced replaced
16) adoptive adaptive adhesive
17) for by with
18) continuum continuity continuation
19) tell name call

Ex. 5. Fill in the correct prepositions where necessary.

1. With an epidemic increase (1) … broken marriages and (2) …- (3) …- wedlock
childbirths, politicians are for the first time pressuring state legislatures (4) …
making divorces harder to get.
2. Many children can eventually wind (5) … (6) … a sense of unworthiness and
assumed responsibility (7) … the loss of their parent. To attend (8) … a child’s
feeling of guilt, adult must spell (9) … for them right away in a straightforward,
non-judgmental way the true situation.
3. In America, cohabiting couples make (10) … about 7 per cent (11) … the total.
And for 40 per cent of those 4 million couples the relationship ends (12) …
dissolution (13) … five years.
4. Sweden has long been resorting (14) … deviant experiments (15) … communal
households. Unmarried couples – who admit (16) … all the rights, benefits, and
face (17) … (18) … all obligations, of married partners – make up about 30 per
cent of couples sharing households.
5. Protestants saw marriage as a contract, changeable if it no longer met (19) …
the needs of those committed (20) … marriage. (21) … to a point, divorce was
allowed (22) … simple incompatibility, i.e. an inability to measure (23) … (24) …

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the spouse’s aspirations.

Ex. 6. Translate into English.

Бракоразводный процесс; засохнуть на корню; подать на развод;
сформулировать, изложить условия заключения брака; покончить, порвать с
чем-либо; обремененный чем-либо; дисбаланс, неустойчивость;
свидетельство о расторжении брака; соответствовать взаимным запросам;
сдерживающая сила, тормозящий фактор; развод по взаимному согласию;
возобновление обязательств; способствовать сохранению и развитию брака;
вступать в брак скептически настроенным; несовместимость; постоянная
вражда, противостояние; выдача свидетельства о браке; вызывать трения,
затруднения; общественные ограничения; неполная семья, возникшая в
результате развода.

Integrated Discourse Skills Development

I. Polylogue Discourse Modelling

Pair/Group Discussion
Prepare for an extended class discussion of a set of topical issues.
1. Individual Work: Make a detailed study of 1) the basic Texts in the Unit;
2) the focus vocabulary; 3) supplementary sources of your own choice. Look
through the following questions for further discussion in class and think of possible
answers to them.

Questions for Discussion

1. Why do people marry?
2. How do you see your would-be marriage partner? An ideal wife/husband?
3. Marriage for love or for convenience – which is it to be?

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4. What if love comes later and for another person? Should one step out of
marriage? Deceive? Suppress your feelings?
5. How do you view the roles of man and woman in a marriage (Equal?
Dominant?)
6. What are the possible reasons for a marriage failure?
7. What kinds of crises may a family have to go through?
8. How should one handle the situation?
9. What a habit makes most couples stay together (even when there is no more
love lost between them)? A voluntary prison? A live sentence?
10. Why is adultery in a marriage almost inevitable? Do you view it as acceptable?
Only for men or for women too? Can it be forgiven under any circumstances?
Which ones, if any? Is adultery to be viewed only in terms of “physical”
betrayal or a breach of trust? Is “platonic” love for another person also
“adultery”? Do you believe it exists at all?
11. How to make a success of a marriage? We all hope to marry for life and have a
lifetime of happiness. Can you make up a list of “dos” and “don’ts”, a kind of
“10 testaments” – positive and negative – to ensure a happy marriage?
12. What are the advantages/disadvantages of marriage compared with
cohabitation? What’s your personal choice? Why?
13. What should be more important in a family – the wife-husband-relationship or
the children?
14. What can you endure (what harmful habits) in your partner to keep the
marriage?
- no drinks;
- abuse;
- drug-addict;
- a dependent parasite (альфонс).

15. Many sociologists believe that romantic love leads to unrealistic expectations
and often ends in divorce. Do you think successful marriage depends more on

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 communication, respect and values held in common than romantic love? Do
you think marriage at later ages would be more stable?
16. Many traditional-minded people believe that divorce is morally tainted and that
marriage should be preserved at all costs. Do you think that divorce is a
possible solution for a marriage failure? Do you think a split can be prevented
by timely counselling?
17. A rise in the divorce rate seems to be worldwide at present. Do you think the
reasons are mainly economic or social? What can be done to curb the divorce
explosion? Are these measures necessary?
18. How should the spouses behave if the marriage breaks up? As friends? Enemies?
Strangers?
19. Divorces and remarriages create the situation in which children find themselves
the sufferers. They have to go through a great deal of stress and strain. What do
you think can offset the adverse effect of parents’ divorces on children? What do
parents have to do to deal with the impact of the separation process on children?
2. Class Activities
In class, discuss first with your partner, and then with your colleagues the
forecoming questions. In the course of the discussion keep in mind the following
basics of successful communication:
a) extended exchange of opinions (informative, analytical, interpretative,
convincing);
b) principles of efficiency in cooperation and personal involvement (critical,
reflective, stimulating, emotional);
c) drawing (and discussing) possible conclusions.

II. Monologue Discourse Modelling

Individual Argumentative Techniques
Prepare an individual Problem Situation Project based on one of the topical issues
from the list below and present it in class. For more detailed instructions on

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Project composition refer to the guidelines in Individual Argumentative Techniques
(Unit 2, Integrated Discourse Skills Development), p.88.

Problem Situations

Unit 2
1. A child deprived of a father (parents) cannot succeed in life.
2. We don’t need parents after 18.
3. An extended family: an outdated stereotype.
4. Mum knows it best.
5. The generation gap is the parents’ fault.
Unit 3
6. Childcare: parental or societal responsibility.
7. Parents and young adults: living together or living away?
8. Mothers: family or carrier?
9. Teenage sex education: whose responsibility?
Unit 4
10.Cohabitation is an excellent way to test out a relationship.
11.Adultery in a marriage is inevitable.
12.Divorce is morally wrong and marriage should be preserved at all costs.
13.Marriage keeps couples together: love and marriage are like a horse and
carriage.
14.Marriage licence is a worthless piece of paper.
15.A marriage contract: a reasonable arrangement.
16.Same sex couples/marriages: a social distortion/socially acceptable?

III. Written Discourse Development

Critical Film Reviews
Compose reviews on two feature films: American Beauty and Stepmom.
1. As part of the out-of-class assignment, view the films and immediately note

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down your reactions, comments, anything essential for either comprehension or
contents interpretation. Optionally, prior to watching the films and writing the
papers, you can consult available filmography materials.
2. Study the following guidelines of writing a film critique regarding its
arrangement and contents. Note down a draft structure of your paper.
Writing Guidelines
a. The standard film review/critique/evaluation is between 500 and 750 words
long, or between 2 and 3 ½ pages long. A solid film review is not just a summary
of a movie, but a critical analysis and assessment that examines in detail why and
how a particular film works and whether the movie succeeds in its presentation.
There are a number of different approaches to writing a review: 1) a plot-driven
review; 2) a thematic or idea-driven review, or 3) a director- or actor-driven
review. An evaluation can contain elements of all the three approaches.
b. Focus your review around a larger message, Make sure that you have a central
thesis and a set of supporting topical arguments (subtopics) pertaining to the
relevant ideas covered in the Units, as well as the key vocabulary needed for a
thematic analysis of the movie.
c. Structure Focus: Include an introductory paragraph in which the name of the
producer or director, names of major actors are furnished. The questions below are
meant to stimulate thought about a film and to provide areas of concern one may
wish to address in the critique. There is no need to recount everything; pick out
the elements that provoke a critical awareness and are relevant to the topical
interpretation of the movie.
1. Is the film adapted from fiction or drama, or is it based on an original idea and
screenplay? If it is an adaptation, does it follow the original and neglect the
cinematic opportunities of the story? Or does it sacrifice the original work for
unnecessary cinematic devices? If the story is original, how innovative is it?
2. Are the characters believable? Are the actors appropriately cast?
3. What is the theme of the film? Do the plot, acting, and other elements in the film

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successfully impart the theme to the viewer?
4. Is the setting/locale appropriate and effective?
5. Is the cinematography effective? Does the film make certain use of color,
texture, lighting, etc. to enhance the theme, mood, setting?
6. Is the soundtrack effective? Is the music appropriate and functional, or is it obtrusive?
7. Are camera angles used effectively? Are they ever used for a particular effect?
8. Are there special effects (and/or special effects makeup) in the film? If so, are
they essential to the plot? Are they handled skillfully? Do they serve the function,
or does the film sacrifice the plot or characterization for the effects themselves?
9. Does the film make use of symbols or symbolism? What purpose do the
symbols serve? Are they used effectively? How does the symbolism in the film
contribute to or enhance the film’s overall theme?
10. Define the message of the film. Comment on the title of the film. How does it
relate to its message? How can it be interpreted?
d. Critical Perspective: Proceed to a complex analysis of the film. In compliance
with the guidelines focus on the development and interpretation of the topical ideas.
Discuss in this regard how a movie works psychologically, emotionally,
intellectually and spiritually. Include your personal reactions and critical comments.
e. Close up your paper with an objective conclusion, related to the problems raised
in the films.

IV. Monologue Discourse Modelling

Compose a rendering of the article No Wedding? No Ring? No Problem? (Text
C). Be prepared to present it smoothly to the audience without referring to the
written copy. For more precise instructions on rendering techniques, see Article
Rendering Guidelines (Unit 2, Integrated Discourse Skills Development), p.80.
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Аракин. – М.: ВЛАДОС, 2006.
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2. Большой русско-английский словарь / сост. А. И. Смирницкий; под ред.
О. С. Ахмановой. – М.: Рус. яз., 2006.
3. Давыденко, Л. Г. Порождение коммуникативных неудач / Л. Г. Давыденко //
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Е. Н. Ширяева. – М.: Издат. группа НОРМА-ИНФРА М, 1999.
7. Памухина, Л. Г. A Way to Debating. Пособие по разговорному
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1435/08/14350255.pdf. – [Electronic resource].
12.Christopher, M. The American Family / M. Christopher [Electronic Resource]
Associate Editor, Scholastic Update. – Electronic American Studies Module.
DB 13 : The American Family. – Режим доступа: http://www.
salzburgseminar.org/ASC/csacl/progs/efl/stn11.htm, свободный.

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13.Collins Cobuild Dictionary of Idioms. – 2nd ed. – Glasgow: HarperCollins
Publ, 2002.
14.Fox, B. Discourse Structure and Anaphora in Written and Conversational
English / B. Fox – Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1987.
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Hornby ed. by S. Wehmeier [et. al.] / 7th ed. – Oxford; N. Y.: Oxford Univ.
Press, 2007.
16.Knowles, E. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations / E. Knowles – 6th ed.
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18.Mann, W., C. Matthiessen, S. A. Thompson Rhetorical Structure Theory and
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H. E. Hamilton // The Handbook of Discourse Analysis. – Blackwell Publ.,
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20.The Oxford Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms. – N. Y.: Oxford Univ.
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21.Thornton, A. The Changing American Family / A. Thornton, D. Freedman:
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23.Webster’s New World Dictionary of American English. – 3d ed. – Cleveland,
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24.http://www.afi.edu/teachers/resources/critfilmrevguide.pdf
25.http://www.britac.ac.uk
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28.http://www.englishplus.com/grammar
29.http://www.wikipedia.org

CONTENTS

ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ..................................................................................................3
Unit 1. Types of Family in Modern Society..........................................................4

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Unit 2. What Makes a Good Parent. Family Discipline and Changes in Parental
Authority...............................................................................................................46
Unit 3. Problems of a Young Family. Childcare. .................................................94
Unit 4. Hazards of Teenage Sex. .........................................................................132
Unit 5. Problems of a Young Family. Young Adults: Living in Parental Homes
or Living Away? .................................................................................................157
Unit 6. Marriage and Divorce..............................................................................182
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................205

209