Family Life in Britain

Тема 1. Я и моя семья, мои друзья

About Myself

It is both pleasant and a bit difficult to speak about myself. It is pleasant because every person enjoys speaking about his or her interests, likes or dislikes. But at the same time it is difficult because to study a person, especially yourself, it is a great journey, not a little walk.

Speaking about my character I'd like first of all to define what character is. These are some qualities that make a person different from others. People often say about me that I am not like others. I don't think that I am something special. When candles are out all cats are grey. But of course if you come closer and turn on the light you can see that some features are typical to me.

But to cut the long story short I think I am a good humoured, very responsible, hard working and emotional person. I like creativity and appreciate this trait in others. I don't like to lie and I feel when others do. I try not to be late and I hate when others don't come on time. I prefer to associate with clever and polite people. It is very annoying when somebody whom I trust turns out to be unreliable.

But I try to treat other people so as I want them to treat me. I see the man whom I am looking for also as a person with a strong and sound body and mind. The person, who is interesting to talk to, whom I can trust and rely on.

As for my interests I am fond of psychology in the sphere of dealing with people and the questions of how to form your thoughts in the most favourable way. I adore travelling, seeing other people, their traditions, customs, to get acquainted with their culture, going sightseeing. Besides I like different kinds of music, I like music with rhythm you can dance to.

Questions:

1. Why is it both pleasant and a bit difficult to speak about oneself?

2. What can you tell about your character?

3. What personal qualities do you appreciate?

4. What are you fond of doing?

5. What do you hate that other people do?

6. What is it annoying to you about other people?

7. How do you try to treat other people?

8. What are your interests and hobbies?

9. What do you adore doing?

Vocabulary:

at the same time — в то же время, одновременно

to define — определять, давать определение

When candles are out all cats are grey — в темноте все кошки серые

feature — особенность, характерная черта

to cut the long story short — короче говоря

responsible — ответственный, дисциплинированный; надежный

creativity — творчество

to appreciate — (высоко) ценить

to lie — лгать, обманывать

to associate with — общаться с

annoying — раздражающий; досадный; надоедливый

to trust — верить, доверять (ся), полагаться (на кого-л.)

to treat — обращаться, обходиться, вести себя по отношению к кому-л.; относиться

to rely on — полагаться, надеяться; доверять, быть уверенным

psychology — психология

to deal with — иметь дело с кем-л.

to adore — обожать

My Family

Our family is not large. We are a family of four: my father, my mother, my younger brother and I.

My name is Olga. I am seventeen. I am a school leaver. My younger brother is ten. He is a pupil of the fifth form. He looks like our father. He has brown eyes, short straight hair. He is tall and thin. As for me everybody says I look like my mother. I have the same blue eyes, a snub nose, fair curly hair. I am not tall and I am not thin. I am an ordinary girl of 17.

Our family lives in Moscow. We have a nice three-roomed flat on the fourth floor of a multistoried building. We have all modern conveniences: running hot and cold water, telephone, central heating, rubbish chute. We have no gas range. All the flats in our house are provided with electric cookers. We are satisfied with our flat where we moved only a year ago.

My mother is about 40. She looks pretty well. We all dearly love our Mum, and are always ready to help her about the house. We try to share our duties. Returning home after classes I usually do the shopping. I drop in at the bakery and at the dairy.

My younger brother also has his duties about the house. He helps mother to set the table and wash the dishes. He usually sweeps the floor and dusts the furniture. On Saturdays Dad joins us in our work about the house. He likes to make or repair something. He also likes to clean the flat with a vacuum-cleaner. I suppose it's his little hobby But speaking seriously his real hobby is taking photos. He can do it perfectly well. We have several family albums with the pictures taken by him.

My father is an engineer in computers. He is considered to be an experienced engineer. We are very proud of him but there is one unpleasant thing with this: he is always busy and very often he works overtime.

My mother is an economist. The firm she works in deals with trading. They have business in different towns of Russia. She is to go on business trips from time to time.

We have a little summer house and a lovely garden near it not far from Moscow. The nature is very beautiful there. There is a lake there. My grandparents like to live there in summer.

They don't work now. They are on pension. They live in an industrial district of the city where the air is rather polluted. That's why they are always looking forward to going to our summer house. My Granny is fond of gardening and my Grandpa likes to go fishing.

Our family is friendly. I like them all.

Questions 1. What is Olga? 2. How many people are there in Olga’s family? 3. What does her brother look like? 4. Where does her family live? 5. What modern conveniences does Olga’s family have? 6. How old is her mother? 7. What is she? 8. How does Olga help her mother about the house? 9. What are the duties of her brother about the house? 10. What does her father do? 11. What is the unpleasant thing with her father? 12. Where does family gather together in summer? 13. Is Olga’s family friendly? Prove it.

Vocabulary a school leaver - выпускница to look like - быть похожим short straight hair - короткие прямые волосы the same blue eyes - такие же голубые глаза a snub nose - курносый нос three - roomed flat - трёхкомнатная квартира electric cooker - электрическая плита rubbish chute - мусоропровод to share duties - делить обязанности to drop in - забежать to dust the furniture - вытирать пыль с мебели

Тексты для чтения

Family Life in Britain

A "typical" British family used to consist of mother, father and two children. But in recent years there have been many changes in family life. For example, since the law made it easier to get a divorce, the number of divorces has increased. That's why 24% of British children live with only one parent, usually their mother.

The contemporary British child doesn't have a lot of companionship from brothers and sisters, because the average family has only one or two children. Most British children live with their parents at least until they finish school at the age of 17 or 18. Then many go away to college, leaving some parents sad and lonely in their empty nest and others enjoying their release from parental responsibilities.

But many adults stay with their parents during their college years or return home after graduation. Today's parents cannot even be sure that their married children have moved out forever. After a divorce they may return to the parental home temporarily or even on a long-term basis.

Older people take pride in their independence, enjoy their freedom and don't want to be a burden to their children. The telephone, the car and the airplane keep them in close contact even when they live in different parts of the country.

Members of family — grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins-keep in touch, but they see less of each other than they used to. This is because people often move away from home town to work and so the family becomes scattered. Christmas is the traditional season for reunions.

Although the family group is smaller nowadays than it used to be, relatives often travel many miles in order to spend the holiday together. Family parties may be all the more joyous when they bring together relatives who haven't seen each other for a while.

Questions:

1. Why do a lot of British children live with only one parent?
2. What can you tell about the contemporary British child?
3. Are there many adults staying at their parents' place?
4. Older people take pride in their independence, don't they?
5. What is the traditional season for reunions?

Vocabulary:

divorce — развод
to increase — увеличиваться
contemporary — современный
responsibility — ответственность
temporarily — временно

Family problems

"Honour your mother and father and you will live long and be well, if not, you will die" — says the Bible. Some families are happy, some are dead. It seems to me the reason is misunderstanding of each other in the family.

One more thing, teenagers can take on most of the rights and responsibilities of adulthood. Before this occurs, however, they go through the period of adolescence and most of them experience conflicts at that time. They change rapidly both physically and emotionally and they search self-identity as they grow up and become more independent.

Sometimes teenagers develop interests and values different from those of their parents. That sets a conflict between two generations, which leads to a gap in mutual understanding. Traditional disagreements are: the time to come home at night, doing work about the house and the friends to spend time with.

I'd like to point out, that teens face a number of problems: drinking alcohol or using drugs. Moreover, some children run away from their homes. Most of them return after a few days or weeks, but some turn to crime and become juvenile delinquents.

I'm convinced that sometimes parents do not care about their children. It is exactly at that age when young people need a piece of advice or help. Different TV programmes and magazines for the young come to their rescue. In case of need you can also dial a special telephone number, the so-called 'telephone of trust'.

But it's not the way out. Parents should help their children and find the right approach to them so as to make everything clear. Being able to view the problems more rationally, they should try to do their best to resolve them. We need to learn to talk our problems over in our family. If we are able to do it, everything will be all right.

Questions:

1. What does the Bible say about parents?

2. What is the reason of unhappy family?

3. When do teenagers experience conflicts?

4. What sets a conflict between two generations?

5. What problems do teens face?

6. What do teenagers especially need at that age?

7. How should parents help their children?

8. What other means come to their rescue?

9. What do we need not to have problems in the family?

Vocabulary:

to honour — почитать, уважать, чтить