Para. 1

1.straw mat: a mat weaved by straw草垫.

2.2.two-room family cottage: The house of the whole family is a small cottage, which only has two rooms for six persons. It indicates that this is a poor peasant family, life for which is quite difficult.

3.While the daughter helped with the housework, the sons went outside to work in the fields with their father. In the countryside, the life for farmers and peasants was very hard as there was a lot of work to do all year around. They needed more hands to help with the work. Therefore, they usually had many children, so that when they grew up, the children would share some of burden. As the families were poor, they could not afford their children to go to school. Then they could not read or write or get jobs in cities, but just stayed at home to help. In the past, male power or authority was respected in the family. Therefore, it was the man and sons’ responsibility to work in the fields to pay taxes and support the family, while girls helped their mother with the housework, such as cleaning, washing, cooking, feeding the livestock, etc.

4.The family lived under the protection of the lord and master of the castle: The poor, hard-working peasants did not own the land. They worked on the lands and fields of their lord or master and pay them taxes every year. If they turned in the taxes on time, the lord would let them work on the lands for the next year; otherwise, they would be driven away and went on a wandering life. The lords or masters belonged to the noble class and they are the landed class permitted by the law and the queen of England. In contrast with the peasants’ busy, hard life and poor living conditions, these landlords did not have anything to do but seek pleasure and have fun every day and lived in splendid big castles, which formed a sharp contrast to the two-room cottage mentioned earlier at the beginning of this paragraph.

5.Most families used to live this way in England over eight hundred years ago. Eight hundred years was around the 1200s when England was under the reign 统治 of Queen Elizabeth I. The sharecropping system 佃农制was popular at that time as the country then was strictly ruled by a highly hierarchical system等级制度. At the top of the society was the leisure noble class that owned large areas of land and enjoyed privileges, while at the other end was the poor struggling peasants who had nothing of their own and was always placed under oppression and threat. The only fun they had, if that could be called real fun, was the talking, drinking and games that they could have at night after a tiring day.

6.raw: stalks of grain that can be used for weaving mat or baskets 禾杆，稻草.

7.cottage: a small, single-story house, especially in the countryside. 乡舍

8.push aside: push away. 推向一边, 推开

9.take breaks: have short rests.

Now answer the following questions in your own words.

Q: Describe the traditional England family structure.

A family usually includes a mother, a father and children. The mother and the daughters do the housework everyday, while the sons go outside to work in the fields with their father.

Para. 2

1.the Japanese family was much more “traditional”: Japanese concept of family is quite conservative, or traditional, a typical example of the patriarchal system 父权制. In their culture, the individual’s interests must obey the interest of the whole family. Therefore, personal sacrifice was a must. A hierarchy within the family had been long established. Children should listen to their parents and follow their order and arrangements without any consideration of their own liking or will. Wives should obey complex rules and virtues prescribed 规定by the tradition l and follow the leadership of their husband. The right place for women was the home, and their sole responsibility was to take care of the house and children while their husbands were outside working.

2.their parents arranged their marriages: No free will was allowed in marriage, which involved the fame and interest of the whole family. It was taken as a big serious matter without regard for love or the children’s feelings. It was purely the family’s business to make sure that their children married a good family, instead of a good husband. Marriage meant the combination of two families; therefore, it was an effective social means to strengthen the family’s social bond and reputation.

3.the wife had children and stayed home with them: Under the patriarchal system, the proper role of women was the housewife, who stayed home and looked after children. They were not allowed to show their opinions or make decisions about family matters, which was the men’s business.

4.He used to make all the rules, and then his family followed them. As male authority was advocated in the patriarchal society, naturally men were heads of households and made the rules and decisions.

5.arrange for: 安排，准备. E.g. The friends have arranged for a surprise party to celebrate Mary’s homecoming. 朋友们准备了一个惊喜聚会来欢迎玛丽回家。

6.either way: any way随便哪一种方式

Q: Please describe the traditional Japanese family.

Japanese family is traditional. The couples’ marriages may be arranged marriage. They maybe fall in love wipth each other and they maybe not. The husband usually makes rule and the family follow him. Family life is not very fun as other countries’.

Para. 3

Q: How do you like the community on the author’s street which was like an extended family? Personally speaking, the community life is more interesting. Because it gives love and partners to those children or the family that is lonely and hard. Children will find good friends and people can get close to each other.

1.neighborhood: the surrounding area 附近地区. The suffix –hood, suggesting “a kind of relationship, condition or state” is usually added to the end of a noun, such as in brotherhood, manhood, etc.

2.next-door: close or near隔壁的,邻近的.

This way of word formation is worth noticing. In English, one can create an adjective by putting an adjective and a noun together often with a hyphen in between and the noun at the end, like white-collar, blue-ribbon, etc.

3.row houses: one of a series of identical houses joined by common walls联立房屋.

4.the community on our street was like an extended family: In the past before people moved into walled apartment buildings, they lived in close neighborhood, where they knew each other well and helped each other when in difficulties. Children from different families often played together, and adults often stopped to have a good and intimate chat with each other whenever they had time. The relationship and the atmosphere in the neighborhood were harmonious. People were nice and kind to each other as if they were family members. That’s why the author say that the community was like an extended family.

5.I knew about everyone’s family forms and situations. Since people lived so close to each other, they had chance to observe and communicate a lot every day. They knew people in the community as well as the lines in their palms. The various family forms given in the paragraph is an epitome 缩影of the general family situation in the society then.

Para. 4

Q: Who takes care of the children when their father is working or going to school?

The father’s mother, other relatives and even his girlfriend will take care of the children. The children used to stay college child-care center. Now, they sometimes stay and play at the community sports center.

1.custody: the right especially granted by a court of guarding the children 监管权.

2.He usually has to work weekends as a waiter, so he can’t spend much time with his son and daughter: This is a truthful depiction of many single-parents’ life. On the one hand, they have to work hard to support the children financially and provide them with better life. On the other hand, time is limited. If they want to earn more money, the time for the children is less. No matter what they do, it seems that they cannot do the two jobs well at the same time. They are stuck in this dilemma 进退两难的境地, desperate for help.

3.help out: help someone with his difficulties帮助(某人)解决困难.

4.Because this hard-working father loves his family very much, he believes their lives will get better and better.It is well known that single-parents are undergoing a hardest time. What helps them make through? Definitely it is their love for the children. This love keeps them moving ahead towards a better life. The love makes them cherish the time with their children more.