Background introduction: family structure

Family structure has changed dramatically over the last 50 years. The "Leave it to Beaver" family is no longer the standard, and several variations on family have been created. There are six specific types of family structures identified by society today.

The nuclear family is the traditional type of family structure. This family type consists of two parents and children.The single parent family consists of one parent raising one or more children on his own. Often, a single parent family is a mother with her children, although there are single fathers as well.The extended family structure consists of two or more adults who are related, either by blood or marriage, living in the same home.The childless family is sometimes the "forgotten family," as it does not meet the traditional standards set by society. Over half of all marriages end in divorce, and many of these individuals choose to get remarried. This creates the step or blended family which involves two separate families merging into one new unit. Grandparent family is the last type of family structure. Many grandparents today are raising their grandchildren for a variety of reasons.

Para. 1

1.loosely-related groups: Long ago, people lived in tribes or clans which came from the same ancestor. In these groups, they were slightly or distantly related to each other by blood. Blood connection was the major and most important tie in such kind of community. Since they believed that they had the same ancestor, people of a clan or tribe usually shared the same living habits, customs, religious beliefs, totem, taboos and so on. As there were not any obligatory rules or laws, they led a quite free life. With the birth of new babies, the group kept on growing larger and larger with more generations to come until later people barley knew each other on occasions of celebrations or religious ceremonies. The relation in blood among people in the same tribe or clan became far more distant, as a result of which the original close relationship became looser and looser.

2.The extended family: also called the joint family, a family with several generations living under the same roof. This family pattern was popular in old China when Chinese people thought it was necessary for the children to stay with their parents when they grew up so as to shoulder the responsibilities for the family and take good care of the ageing parents. A son who chose to move out from his family instead of living together with his parents would be considered as the black sheep of the family, who brought shame and disgrace not only to himself but more important to the whole family. And in Chinese tradition, people who lived in a large family are said to be lucky and happy 有福气. The larger the family is, the more happiness one enjoys.

3.in other words: similar to that is, that is to say and i.e. in the following context. All of those expressions are used to show explanations or meaning of the words before them.

4.the nuclear family: a family of mother, father and their children. With the open-up of the world, people concepts are changing, especially their concepts of family. To the younger generation, the traditional extended family causes a lot of unexpected inconveniences in daily life. The generational gap becomes obvious and serious in their growing-up, as the younger generation feels their parents or grandparents cannot understand or appreciate their ideas, and the communication between them gets harder and harder with their growth. The broadening generation gap drives them to move away from their parents and be totally on their own to stay away from their parents’ interference. And so the trend begins and many young people follow.

5.millennium: a time span of one thousand years. 一千年

6.consist of: comprise, be composed of. 组成，构成.

7.biological: related by blood. 有血亲关系的. E.g. biological parents亲父母; biological sister亲姊妹.

8.adopted: 被收养的. E.g. an adopted son/daughter. 养子/女

Now answer the following questions in your own words.

Q1: What is extended family?

The extended family structure consists of two or more adults who are related, either by blood or marriage, living in the same home.

Q2: What is nuclear family? The nuclear family is the traditional type of family structure. This family type consists of two parents and children.

Para. 2

1.around the globe: all over the world, on the earth.

2.two-paycheck families: families in which both parents have a job and earn salaries. 双薪家庭. This family type came into being with the liberation of women. In the past in both China and western countries, men or husbands were the heads of the households. They managed or controlled the whole family. Male power was highly respected within the household, while women were generally regarded to be weak and fragile. Therefore, it was men’s responsibility to go outside to earn money to support the family whereas women just stayed at home to take care of the housework and children. These housewives who spent their time in the house all year around had no knowledge of the outside world but to provide service to their husbands and children.

3.sing-parent families: a family with only a mother or father living with the children 单亲家庭. According to a research study, this kind of family has been on the increase in recent years with the rise of the divorce rate. Life for both children and parents in these families are not easy as it creates a lot of pressure for each. Facing the huge pressure, the children often feel at a loss in dealing with some daily matters or their relationship with classmates. They become unconfident and may begin to behave in some strange ways, causing a lot of trouble. On the part of parents, they bear the responsibility of earning money and raising children. This double burden makes them so tired and stressed that they cannot handle both well. That’s why the society is calling for more attention and concern for single-parents and their children.

4.adoptive or foster families: a family of a mother, father and their adopted children 寄养家庭，领养家庭. The parents in such kind of families usually adopt children either because they cannot have a baby of their own or because they are very warm-hearted to help those poor children who are deserted by their parents.

5.blended families: divorced or widowed men and women marry again and live with the children from their previous marriages混合家庭，即男女双方再婚后重新组成的家庭. When the right person shows up, divorce men or women would remarry to organize a family again so as to get support from each other and to provide better care to the children.

6.same-sex partnerships: homosexuals. The debate on the homosexual issue has lasted for a long time, among which the marriage issue is most heated one. Whether the gays 男同性恋and lesbians 女同性恋 can get married becomes the focus of people’s concern and arguments. Meanwhile homosexuals begin to fight for rights, too. Realizing their disadvantageous position in the community, they ask for social understanding and acceptance and demand official acknowledgement as they are often looked down upon or even ignored by the society. They even demonstrate游行 for equal treatment and legitimacy合法 in law. The first country in the world to make homosexual relationship legal is Holland. Back in 2000, the country passed a law saying that homosexual partners can get married, and on their will have the right to adopt children. It opens a new chapter in the “revolution” of the homosexual group.

7.childless marriage: This refers to a special group in the society, called DINK 丁克一族, the short form for Double Income No Kids. People of this group just do not want children as they think children will bring many burdens to the two and may spoil the loving and happy life of them.

8.unmarried live-in relationships: also called cohabitation, a relationship in which men and women live together although they are not married 未婚同居. Young people, especially college students or graduates, are often involved in this kind of relationship. As the divorce rate goes up all the time, people’s mind open up more to realize that marriage is just a paper. Marriage functions on love. Without love the marriage would undoubtedly fail, so the paper is meaningless. As long as the two persons love each other, nothing would matter. Then it is natural for two love birds to move in together. However, there is another group of people who decide to live together in order to get to know each other better so as to see whether they can accept each other’s living habits in everyday life. Their live-in experience helps them to decide whether they will marry to each other.

9.partnership: the state of being a partner.

10.divorced: the state of being divorced.

11.widowed: the state of being alone after losing the husband or wife.

12.childless: without children.

Q: What is the general idea of this paragraph?

This paragraph is mainly about other kinds of family, such as traditional families, two-paycheck families, single-parent families, adoptive or foster families.

Para. 3

Q: What caused the structure of family to change in early 1900s?

In early 1900s, because of the changing of social situations, such as divorce rate and birthrate, couples stayed married for fewer years and had fewer children. Besides, women began to get an education and take jobs outside the home.

1.divorce: the legal ending of a marriage.

2.decline: go downward, decrease.

3.the early 1900s: Two major factors contributed to the rising divorce rate and declining birthrate during this period. The first is the Industrial Revolution. It greatly increases the production rate and revolutionizes manpower. Factories and companies turn out more goods and people’s life has improved quickly. As people are freed from some work, they have much more time to do something they like. That is the situation with housewives. With the invention of washing machines, vacuum cleaners and so on, they have more free time, which makes them begin to think for themselves for the first time. The second is the Women’s Liberation Movement. The early 1900s saw the first wave of the movement. Women wanted to change their position both in the family and in the society. They fought against male power and privileges and called for their political rights and sexual equality. They strongly emphasized that men and women are not different, but completely equal and independent. Following the awakening call, many women rose up to gain their rights and freedom in the family. This urge to change their role as housewife and babysitter resulted in higher rates of divorces and lower rates of birth. And these “new” women, full of independent spirit, went to schools to receive education and got jobs to support themselves.

Para. 4

Q: What happened in 1930s and 1940s that changed family structure?

Because of the World War Ⅱ and difficulty in industrialized world, many families faced financial problems. Besides, some war widows whose husbands were missing at war had to go outside for work.

1.serious financial problems: The 1930s is a period of the greatest financial crisis in the United States—the Great Depression, which started in 1929 and lasted through the most of the 1930s. In October 1929, the stock market crashed. Thousands of investors lost large sums of money and many were penniless, losing everything. Next came a period of high unemployment and low business. Banks, stores, and factories were closed and left millions of Americans jobless and homeless. Many heads of households were out of work, which meant that they could no longer support their families. A large number of people just depended on the government to provide them with food.

2.World War II: The war was started in 1939 by then Nazi Germany. The United States took part in the war in 1941 after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. A lot of U.S. soldiers went to the battlefield to fight against the Axis 轴心国 armies, which increased the demand for military supplies and munitions. As there were fewer men left at home, women had to go outside their homes to do the hard work in factories to send supplies to the soldiers at the front. Since the battlefield was large and the number of soldiers involved was huge, the demand is large. Therefore, women had to work long hours with little rest.

3.war widows: The World War II swept across nearly the whole world, involving a great many countries, thus the damage it caused is large. Soldiers died in large numbers. Many wives in America who saw their husbands off to the war did not see them back. A large number of children did not even see what their fathers are like. A lot of women had to bear the pain of loss. They became victims of the war, just as the name suggested—war widows.

4.widow: a woman who did not remarry after the death of her husband.

Para. 5

Q: How did the situation changed in 1940s-1950s?

The traditional family was returning not only in the United States but also in many other countries. During that decade, there were fewer divorces and family became more stable. Men made enough money to support the family and women seldom went to the outside for a job.

1.the next decade: that is, 1940s-1950s. This period saw the end of the Second World War and the final defeat of Germany and Japan. The victory greatly inspired the American people. Soldiers returned to their families and cherished the family life more than ever. Having seen enough death and losses in the war, returning soldiers had a different understanding towards life in that their love for life is all the intense and strong. Many of them just wanted to stay stable to enjoy the family life and share the happiness between the family members. In the society as well as in the households, there was a growing concern and care for family. Couples tended to stay together for life and have a lot of children in this period, hence the lower divorce rate and higher birthrate, which led to the famous historical period in America history known as “Baby Boom”. The traditional large and loving family was coming back.

2.previous: former 先前的

3.traditional: related to tradition. 传统的，惯例的

Para.6

Q: What were the new changes in the years between 1960 or so and the end of the twentieth century?

At that time, the divorce rate greatly increased and the birthrate fell by half. The number of single-parent families rose, and the number of couples living together without marriage went up even more.

1.From the 1960s to the 1970s: This period was the most turbulent one in American history that brought about many changes to the society. Too many events happened in this decade that Americans changed in a way shocking even to themselves. The Civil Rights Movement led by Martin Luther King, Jr. calling for civil rights and equal treatment of black people disturbed the society to no small degree. Then the second yet the most influential wave of Women’s Liberation Movement began. This time it grew much stronger. They asked for not only civil rights and equality, but more important their suffrage right 普选权, a very important right. They tried to show women were as capable as men in doing the same job, and sometimes even more capable than men. They fought to get rid of the social justice in every corner, such as at work places, at home, in law, etc. If the free and independent spirit of the first movement failed to get women determined enough to run after their dream, the second wave made women fully realize their value and the injustice towards them so that they decided to go outside to do what they would like to do. Thus, again the divorce rate rose and birthrate declined.

Para.7

Q: What is the major idea on the changing family?

Some people believe that people may go back to the traditional extended or nuclear family of the past. Others believe the structure of the future family could begin to change faster and faster—and in more and more ways.

1.Many people today would like the traditional two-parent family back: People in modern times enjoy the convenience brought by advanced science and technology as well as the huge pressure created by the explosion of knowledge. Various modern problems come onto the stage. According to a study, 80 percent of people now have some psychological problems. Actually, modern people usually feel stressed and lonely, which makes them eagerly look for a partner to share the burden with them. They desire a stable love life for constant encouragement and care. And as the living expenses and prices go up, the men now would like their wives to work too so as to share part of the financial burden. It seems to modern people that a stable partnership or marriage would do them a lot of good either emotionally or financially.

2.more women decide to have children on their own: Nowadays women are full of independent and free spirit. If the decisions or choice they once made turn out to be absolutely wrong, they would put an end to it immediately. When a marriage does not work out, they will end it instead of staying in it suffering. So compared to the past, more women get divorced today. Moreover, they would shoulder the responsibility to bring up the children as they believe they are as capable as men and they do not have to rely on the men for food and money.

3.certainty: the state of being certain. 确定性，确实性.

4.take in: to receive, accept.