Russian family: What Is It Like?
So what is it like the family tradition? Whose descendants are we? What are the stories your granny used to tell? What can family albums, letters and diaries reveal? What is your grandmother's name? What is the name of your great-grandfather?
Many of the Russians are not able to answer these simple questions. The family tradition is lost for them. And it is one of the reasons why most people have no sense of family honour and pride.
A group of people who have the same name and sit together in front of a TV is not yet a family. Here are some family statistics in Russia. Over 80 per cent of women and about 70 per cent of men marry by the age of 25.
At present, more than 40 out of every 100 marriages end in divorce. Every year about one million families break up. About 50 per cent of divorcees do not want to remarry. Men remarry more often than women. Over 50 per cent of divorced men remarry within a period of ten years, while only 25 per cent of such women do so. Many young families have material difficulties. As a result, young couples often have to rely on the assistance of their parents.
The housing shortage is another problem of many young families. Most young people don't wish to live together with their parents after they get married but about half of them have to do this.
As a result these young people have no necessary experience in family life. They don't know: 1) how to run a household; 2) how to manage the family budget; 3) how to bring up children.
The revival of the family should start with the restoration of its traditions. The people need family shops, cafes, cinemas and health-building homes.
In its various forms the human family has been in existence for as long as man himself. The family tradition has preserved the picture of a Madonna with a child in her arms. Can this beauty save the world? Shall we have this tradition in future? Or lose it, as we lost so many other beautiful things?
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27. Answer the questions.
1) What are the marriage statistics in Russia?
2) How many families break up every year?
3) What kind of difficulties do young families have?
4) Why don't young married people have the necessary experience in family life?
5) How does the state help young families make a start in life?
28. Speak on the general information about family life in your country.
29. Find 19 members of the family hidden here.
| R | E | H | T | A | F | D | O | G | G | R | G |
| E | E | V | I | Т | A | L | E | R | О | E | R |
| H | L | Т | V | E | S | Т | A | E | D | H | E |
| Т | С | В | H | Т | A | N | Y | Т | M | Т | A |
| О | N | R | F | G | D | F | D | H | О | A | Т |
| M | U | О | Т | M | U | M | D | G | Т | F | A |
| D | Т | Т | A | U | U | A | A | U | H | D | U |
| N | A | H | U | N | R | N | D | A | E | N | N |
| A | E | E | S | E | Z | I | С | D | R | A | Т |
| R | R | R | T | С | С | S | Т | L | R | I | |
| G | G | S | T | E | A | U | N | Т | E | G | E |
| X | I | Z | O | I | G | O | D | S | О | N | E |
| S | E | С | O | N | D | С | O | U | S | I | N |
UNIT 6
HOUSE AND
HOUSECLEANING
1. Look at the various types of houses below. Which house would you like to live in?
1) Detached house – not joined to any other house.
2) Semi-detached house – joined to one another house.
3) Terraced house – joined to several houses to form a row.
4) Cottage – a small house in the country or in a village.
5) Bungalow – a house with only one store (no upstairs).
6) Villa – a large house with a big garden or a rented house in a holiday resort /
tourist area.
7) A block of flats (am. apartment house) – a large building divided into
separate parts (flats).
2. Read the dialogue and say:
1) what are the advantages and disadvantages of living in the country (in the
town), complete them with your own;
2) what are the comforts of a cottage;
3) where would you like to live ?
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Tom:Say, Betty, how can you live in town? It’s so dull here. All these people … and these grey houses …. And the traffic1. So noisy!
Betty:I don’t agree. We rent a nice terraced house2 in a quiet street. We have got a pretty garden full of plants. It is lovely.
Tom:Is it? And you like the polluted air3, don’t you? And where do you play?
Betty:In the garden. I can play here. Besides we have some advantages, you know. We live close to the shops. The bus stopsin front of our house: we don’t need a car. That is very economical.
Tom:I agree. But the air is never as pure as in the country. And what can be better than to live not in one of the houses, attached to each other in a long row, but in a cottage with all its comforts.
1traffic - транспорт
2to rent a house – снимать дом
3a polluted air – загрязненный воздух
3. What are these rooms used for? Match each part of the house with what usually happens there.
| 1) _____ kitchen 2) _____ the dining room 3) _____ the bedroom 4) _____ the garage 5) _____ the garden 6) _____ the bathroom 7) _____ the living room 8) _____ the hall | a) a place to wash b) a place to sleep c) a place to hang coats d) a place to relax and talk e) a place to cook f) a place to grow flowers g) a place a car h) a place to eat |
4. Which part of the house is different from other three in each group?
| 1. | a) floor | b) wall | c) stairs | d) ceiling |
| 2. | a) fireplace | b) roof | c) central heating | d) chimney |
| 3. | a) bathroom | b) garage | c) kitchen | d) bedroom |
| 4. | a) window | b) wall | c) gate | d) door |
| 5. | a) downstairs | b) upstairs | c) basement | d) storey |
| 6. | a) fence | b) path | c) hedge | d) wall |
