New Family Values

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 480.

Reading Comprehension Exercises.

UNIT 8. LOVE, DATING AND MARRIAGE. FAMILY VALUES.

Writing section

Write an essay on the topic: Customs and Traditions in Ukraine

Exercise 1. Read the article and dwell on the family values described.

Hague is right to break with the past

William Hague may not look much like a child of the Sixties. But he is young enough to appreciate the need to rid his party of one of its least attractive traits: an attachment to the priggish and sometimes prejudiced morality of the Fifties and before. In a speech on the family to the Social Market Foundation, the Tory leader admitted that social mores have changed. "We have to live comfortably in our own time," he said, "rather than be fogeys wishing we had lived in some time or in some place else."

Too many members of the last administration raged against the dying of an old moral code, rather than trying to shape their policies to a new one. Because they saw homosexuality as a moral infirmity, because they thought single parenthood was wrong rather than ill-advised, because they believed working women should return to the kitchen, voters increasingly saw them as fatally out-of-date. Moreover, since their views seemed to emanate from moral absolutism, their rhetoric sounded as harsh as that of a fire-and-brimstone preacher.

Those Tory ministers may have consoled themselves with the knowledge that this talk went down well with their activists. But Conservative members are – literally – a dying breed, representatives of an age long gone. And, if the party continued to cling to those values, its members would not be replaced by younger ones. Even if people tend to become more conservative as they age, those who have spent their lives believing in women's equality, or tolerating homosexuality, are hardly going to turn against these beliefs when they collect a pension.

For there is a generational divide in British society. The majority of people born after the War, and particularly those brought up during and after the Sixties, share a certain set of attitudes about women, homosexuality and marriage. Some of their parents now do too, as a result of seeing their children live their lives according to these post-Sixties values. Liberally-inclined voters will become an ever-increasing element of the electorate. Any party that tried to shut its eyes to this demographic trend would be condemning itself to electoral oblivion.

But to accept social change is not to condone all social behaviour. Politicians can still point out that some personal actions have public consequences. But they will be listened to only if they restrict themselves to talking about social damage rather than "immorality". Cohabitation, for instance, is no longer considered by most people as "living in sin". Childless adults who decide to live together rather than – or before – marrying are doing something that causes no harm to society. But if there are children involved, and the relationship breaks down, then the children will be hurt and the taxpayer is likely to be called on for support.

Equally, it is fair for a politician to bemoan the rise in "never-married" single mothers. Their children will lack male role models and they are likely to spend much of their life living off the State. But most people have close friends or family who have become single parents through divorce or bereavement, often through no fault of their own. Attacking all lone parenthood as immoral, therefore, will not wash. Removing the incentives for teenage girls to become pregnant would, however, be acceptable.

Mr Hague's tone was well judged. Without being censorious, he praised the family as one of the most successful institutions in society. And he drew attention to the social and personal costs of family breakdown. These words will carry more weight because they do not form part of a moral crusade. The emphasis has to be on what works – and two-parent families tend to work better than one – rather than on Victorian values that no longer hold sway for most British people today.

Exercise 2. Answer the Conversation Questions.

Love, Dating & Marriage

1. About how many guests attended your wedding? (if you are married)

2. How many guests would you invite to your wedding?

3. At what age do most people in your country get married?

4. At what age do you want to get married?

5. At what age did you get married? What age do you think is best for getting married?