THE STATE OF MARRIAGE TODAY

Một phần của tài liệu Attitude student book 4 (Trang 41 - 48)

‘The institution of marriage has been based for years partly on economic need. Women used to be economically dependent on their husbands as they usually didn’t have jobs outside the home. But with the rising number of women in well-paying jobs, this is no longer the case, so they don’t feel that they

need to stay in a failing marriage.

©In answer to the second question, the outlook may not be as pessimistic as it seems. While the rate of divorce has risen, the rate of couples marrying has never actuall fallen very much, so marriage is still quite popular. In addition to this, many couples now cohabit and don’t bother to marry ~ these couples are effectively married, but they do not

¢ Find reasons for these facts in the article.

Why 1... is marriage not a necessity for women any longer?

2 „.dot trond?

the number of cohabiting couples not affect the 3 .... are the statistics deceptive with regard to people

staying in first marriages?

marriage beneficial to men?

4 wis

d In pairs, talk about successful marriages that you know What makes a good marriage?

Couples have to learn to accept each other's differences,

Unil4 wg Together

appear in either the marriage or divorce statistics. In fact, more than 50% of first marriages survive. The statistics are deceptive because there is a higher number of divorces in second and third marriages than in first marriges.

4§o is marriage really an outdated

institution? The fact that most people still get married indicates that it isn’t. And it is also true that married couples have a healthier life than single people: they suffer less from stress and its consequences, such as heart problems, and married men generally consider themselves more contented than their single counterparts. Perhaps the key is to find out what makes a successful marriage and apply it to all of our relationships!

GLOSSARY

extramarital outside of marriage

gloomy depressing, pessimistic cohabit live together (as @ couple)

counterpart someone in the same position as another person

2 Grammar: predicting the future

a. Read the first paragraph of the article again. Underline four predictions about the future of marriage, Which future forms do they use?

b Look at the ways of predicting the future on page 46, then complete the paragraph below with the correct form of the verbs.

One of the problems faced by the western world is its falling population. Couples need to produce an average of 2.4 children, but in many countries that has fallen to below two and 1

(definitely continue) to fall. In some European countries the average couple has only one child and evidence suggests that it 2_ (get) worse as more couples decide not to have children.

This, of course, 3___ (cause) many problems in the future. If the population continues to fall, there 4____ (be) fewer people in work, governments § (raise) less money in taxation, and there 6 ___ (be) less money available for the sick and the elderly.

© Complete these predictions in your own words.

Then, in pairs, compare your sentences.

1 In 50 years, marriage ...

2 If more people get divorced, ...

3 In the future, single-parent families ...

4 In the future, the size of families ...

3 Vocabulary: the family

a Complete each definition about the family with

two words from the box.

brother children family father half indew in-law mother parent single sister step traditional working

1 Your wife's brother is your Acthern-Lan:

2. Your husband’s father is your l 3 Ifyou marry a man or woman with children,

they become your

4 Ifyou have a sister with a different father or mother, she is your

5 Mother, father, and two chiidren forma — —_

6 A man or woman on their own with children

form a family.

7 Awoman with children who works outside the home is a

b Match the verbs and nouns, then write them in the order in which we usually do these things in

our lives. Compare your order with a partner.

1 get a more children

2 get b married

3 get © ababy

4 go out with d engaged

5 have ứ aboy/girl

6 have f divorced

c Check your answers in the Vocabulary Summary

on page 46.

d_In small groups, discuss these questions.

1 Do any of the phrases in Exercise 3a describe

you? Which ones?

2 Do you have any of the people in Exercise 3a

in your family? Which ones?

3. How many of the actions in Exercise 3b have you done?

4 Writing skills

a. Read the Internet posting about the state of marriage and complete it with words from Exercise 3.

What has happened to the 4 ___ family,i.e. parents and children, with the mother at home? It seems today that most children have 2___ mothers, so they are left with strangers all day, which can’t be good for them. In my day, mothers stayed at home with their children, and if they had to work, they left the children with their own mother or mother- 3____. Then of course there are the 4 __-parent families, where a couple has gotten ___, leaving the children with only one parent at home - or worse, where the couple didn’t get6____in the first place, and the woman has to bring up the children totally on her own. It isn’t right. Then you get

divorced people who remarry and end up with several

7___children — and these poor children get totally confused.

| believe that these children will grow up with terrible problems, which of course leads to more crime and unemployment. What can we do about this?

b Do you agree with the writer of this posting? | Discuss the posting with a partner.

© You are going to write a posting about a related topic. In pairs, discuss the statements below and

choose one that you are both interested in. Write

a short posting of about 100 words.

1 People have children too young ~ before they know whether their relationship is “right”.

2 Single-parent families can’t bring up children as well as traditional families.

3. Families where both parents work have some | advantages.

4 Divorce is not necessarily bad for children,

d_ Join with another pair and in groups of four,

exchange postings. Write a reply and “send”

the message back again, Read out interesting

messages to the class.

Together m Unit4

Friendship

Speaking skills

a What kind of friend are you?

answers for you in the questionnaire

b Discuss your answers with a partner. Then look at your score on page 149. Do you agree?

© Copy and complete the “important relationships”

circle with names of friends and family. Someone near “me” in the circle is more important than those further away.

5 jons about your d In pairs, ask and answer questions al

circle. Talk about the people and why the) important to you. How would your life be different without them?

A Who's Karen?

B She's my girlfriend. We've been together for

three years and I think we'll get married some A And Paul? day

B He's my best friend. We play baseball together

every weekend and have a great time. Without him, I wouldn’t have a close friend to confide in.

What would you do...

if your friend had a new hairstyle and you thought it looked awful?

@ Say “What did you do to your hair?!”

b say “That looks great! Which hairdresser did you go to?”

© Say “Sorry, but I don’t think it really suits

you. It might be nice if you cut it shorter,

though.”

if you were sharing an apartment

with a friend and they never did any housework?

a tell your friend they had to move out

'b stop doing housework yourself to make a point att

¢ talk to your friend about it and explain the problem bà,

if your best friend started to make

a lot more money and you were

Still almost always broke?

a fee! jealous and ask your friend to pay for you all the time

'b see less of your friend because you don’t want hinvher to pay for everything suggest doing things together that don't Cost a lot of money

if your friend was feeling really depressed after a relationship breakup?

a stop caling your fiend because he/she is aways complaining b tell your friend to call you whenever

he/she wants

C insist on taking your friend to parties,

but listen when he/she wants to talk

Unit 4 a Together

if you were at a party with a friend Person? and you met a really attractive spend all evening with the person and ignore your friend

'b ask your friend if he/she minds if you person Spend the whole evening with the

C invite the person to join you and your friend

2 Vocabulary: friendship 4 Listening skills

a Add some words and phrases from the a Who is the most important person in your life questionnaire and scores in Exercise 1 to right now? Why? Has this always been the case?

the diagram. Complete this table for the different times in

your life.

Important people in my life

Survey

friendship

® b Listen to a survey based on the table above and

complete the “Survey” column b Add the words in the box to the diagram. Can you

add any other words or phrases?

become friends forma friendship girlfriend real friend strike up a friendship unfriendly

¢ In pairs, complete each sentence with two

different ideas.

1 Friendship is

2 If someone at a party were unfriendly toward

me, I would .

If wanted to make new friends, I would

If | had a fair-weather friend, I would ..

If my girlfriend/boyfriend did something 1 disapproved of, I would

6 One way of striking up a friendship is

wee

d Share your ideas with another pair

3 Grammar review: second conditional a Look at the clauses in Exerci

the rule.

cand complete Second conditional = if+ simple ___, +

(not) + infinitive

b Read about the second conditional on page 46,

Then match the condition clauses with the main clauses and write sentences in the second

ee ian ni c1 bht 8RepfDf @ c When we speak naturally we often add little

words to make our speech sound more natural, 1 If my best friend lived near me, I e.g. well, you see, sure, absolutely, I mean, Listen 2 If Lweren’t so shy, I again and expand these responses to make them 3 If I wanted to get married, | sound more natural.

4 If we went out more often, we 1 Sure, go ahead

If] thought a friend weren’t honest with me, I 2 ____, my mother, definitely 6 If you weren’t so demanding, you 3 ___, no, [don’t think s

a marry someone different from me. 4 when I was about five to eight?

b end the friendship. Well, my mom used to go out to work

¢ meet more people Ican’t really remember.

d_ make friends more easily 7 ____. Much more important

e keep friends for longer 8 ___, My girlfriend. My first real girlfriend f see her once a week. d In pairs, compare your answers from the chart and think about the future. Who are going to be the most important people in your life?

Together m

1 Warm up

a Look at the definitions. Where do you think you

come on the scale below? Put a cross (%) at the best point.

1, non-assertive

not making your opinions and desires known; willing to accept what others

‘want above what you want

2. assertive

behaving and expressing ideas in a firm and confident manner

3. aggressive

behaving in an angry or rude way, often indicating that you want to fight, attack, or argue with someone

assertive non-assertive

——— aggressive

b In groups, decide whether these expressions are

assertive (A), non-assertive (NA), or aggressive

1 I would like to discuss this with you, if you don’t mind.

2 Doit now!

3. That's a really dumb idea.

4 see your point, but in my opinion ...

3. Well, if you say so ... let’s do it your way.

6 I don't mind what we do,

© Think of your family, friends, and acquaintances.

Write the initials of three or four people on the

scale. Explain to your partner, with examples, why you put them there.

2 Task

a Take the quiz on the opposite page to find out how assertive you are.

b Discuss the quiz in a small group. Keep a note of the other students’ answers.

3 Prepare

a Check your answers with the key on page 149.

b Summarize what you have learned about yourself and others in your group.

How assertive are you compared with the other members of your group?

4 Feedback

Report your group's results to the class.

Which group has the most assertive

members?

Unil4 Together

(AG) language. Which of them do you tend to say?

5 Compare

® a Listen to two people completing and discussing

the questionnaire. Which questions do they discuss?

b What kind of person do you think Rob is, assertive,

aggressive, or non-assertive? How about Jane?

6 Notice

Look at these extracts from the conversation. In informal conversation we often leave words out.

Which words have the speakers left out from the underlined expressions?

1 I still haven't done the last two. Done yours?

Have you done yours?

2 Yeah, finished ages ago. I finished ages ago.

b Find the “missing” words in these examples from

the conversation.

1 This has happened to me so many times — such a pain.

2 Remember last summer, the restaurant near the beach?

3. Wasn't very assertive of us, was it?

4 Really? Amazing. I'd ask people to introduce thomselves.

7 Follow up

Look at the situations in the quiz. Have you been in any of those situations? Did you assert yourself or not? Discuss the situation with your partner, using these questions.

What was the incident?

Thad really bad food at a restaurant.

Where did it happen?

It was in a pizza place in town.

When did it happen?

Who were you talking to?

How did you react?

Why did you react as you did?

How did you feel afterwards?

Win — win, win, or just lose?

Do you always win, whereas the others normally lose? Just maybe you’re the aggressive type. Do you usually find yourself losing while the others win? Then perhaps you’re the non-aggressive type. Do you win and do they win, too? Well, if that’s how things normally happen, you’re probably the assertive type. But enough talking, take our questionnaire and find out who you are.

a | drive off without saying anything

b | insist that the other driver leave the space.

¢ have an argument with them and then drive

off in a bad mood a Tell your friend firmly that you value your

things and would like them back

b Tell your friend that they're behaving like a thief and you won't lend them anything else.

¢ Say nothing. What are a few books and CDs compared to friendship, anyway?

a | complain to the waiter.

b | leave it on the plate.

¢ | threaten the manager with legal action.

a_I've never heard so much garbage in my life before!

b I can see what you're getting at, but have you considered ...?

Yeah, | ose you're right.

a | avoid using people’s names and refer to them as. © ‘°8" | SUPPOSE y 9

“he” and “she”

b | suggest to the teacher that we all introduce ourselves briefly.

¢ Igo around introducing myself to everyone

Together

Grammar Summary

1 Future plans, intentions, and arrangements

Form Use Examples

going to plans or intentions: I'm going to study + verb a decision made before medicine.

the time of speaking ‘She's going to get married.

Present definite plans: tickets We're leaving progressive booked, appointments: tomorrow.

made, etc. (often with I'm seeing John tìme adverbials). tonight.

Simple very definite routine or The concert starts

present scheduled events, e.g. at eight o'clock.

schedules, concerts John's flight arrives at 16:20,

‘Avoid repeating the verbằ go when you use going to:

We're going to 90 to the movies. X We're going to the movies. ý Sometimes going to and the present progressive have tle or no difference in meaning:

What are you doing this weekend?

What are you going to do this weekend?

It you are unsure which form is correct, use going to.

2 Predictions about the future

Form Use Examples

goingto predclonsforwhich. Itegoingtoran.

+vợb. ‘we have evidence now, __ (Lookattheclouds).

le, based on something I'm going to feel bad we can see, hear, or feel tonight. (I've had too at the time of speaking muchtoeat) wil/ won't personal opinions about | think the Democrats

+verb the future and wil probably win the

predictions based on election.

past evidence (often No, the Republicans with think and adverbs wil win. They always such as definitely, do when the economy

probably) 'sbad.

First prediction that depends you continue to conditional on a future condition amoythedog,he

being futiled wil bite you.

3 First conditional

Use

‘The first conditional predicts a future result dependent on a future condition: /f you work hard, you'll pass the exam.

Form

If + present, will / won't + infinitive

If Maria goes to the party, then | won't go.

tts possible to use other present forms in the if clause of a first conditional:

If James is staying at home tonight, !'l cancel the babysitter.

We can put the clauses in either order:

I'l cancel the babysitter if James is staying at home tonight.

We put a comma after the if clause when it comes at the beginning of the sentence,

Unit4 wa Together

4 Second conditional

‘We use the second conditional to talk about a future result or Use action that is unlikely because the condition in the if clause will probably not be fulfiled:

If Phil got a promotion, we could move to the country. (Phil is unlikely to get a promotion.)

\We also use this conditional when the state or action in the if clause is contrary to a present fact:

If had a big house, I'd be much happier. | don't have a big house.) If were you, I'd get a new job. ('m not you.)

Form

Jf + past, would / wouldn't + infinitive

If Maria went to the party, then | wouldn’t go.

Itis possible to use other past forms in the if clause, and other

modal verbs (usually might or could) in the main clause:

if someone famous were coming, we would buy tickets for the festival.

If he told her he loved her, then she might marry him.

We use might when the result is less certain and could when there is an element of abilty or possibilty.

We can put the clauses in either order: She might marry him if he told her he loved her.

We put a comma after the if clause when it comes at the beginning of the sentence.

‘Make two complete sentences from each set of prompts, one in the first conditional and one in the second

conditional.

1. 1f1⁄ go / abroad next year / |/ probably go / Europe

#2. If/1/ wán/lottery /1/ gwe /a lot of money / poor people 8 If/ they/ offer me / new job /1/ accept it

4ˆ If/1 /meet / Nicole Kidman /| / ask / autograph

Vocabulary Summary

4 Family

‘Types of family: traditional family one-parent / single-parent / step family

Family members: working mother step mother / father / brother / sister half brother /sister. mother /father / brother / sister-in-law

2 Friends and friendship

Collocations with adjective + noun: best friend close friend fair-weather friend good friend great fiend, old friend real friend

Collocations with verb + noun: be friends become friends form a friendship keep friends make friends

strike up a friendship

Compound nouns: friendship boyfriend gidfiend

‘Adjectives: ttiendly unfriendly

Find these words or phrases from the lists above.

1. four expressions that mean start a friendship

2 one way of describing a person you have known for along time

3 five ways of describing a friend in a positive way

4. one way of describing a friend in a negative way 5. two words that suggest a romantic friendship 3 Life stages

go out with a boy / gil > ‘get engaged > get married

> havea baby > have more children > get divorced

Một phần của tài liệu Attitude student book 4 (Trang 41 - 48)

Tải bản đầy đủ (PDF)

(162 trang)