4. Family Life in England

Anna: Is family life in England very different from family life in your country, Maria?

Maria: No, I don’t think so. But I have noticed a few differences.

A: Oh, such as what?

M: Well, for you the family is simply Mum, Dad and the children.

A: You have a more extended family circle, do you?

M: Yes, it’s quite common in Spain to have a grandmother and an unmarried aunt or uncle living in as part of the family. And we wouldn’t dream of sending an elderly relative to an old person’s home, for instance.

A: You take care of the elderly relatives yourselves, don’t you?

M: It’s the family’s duty to look after an elderly parent.

A: What about hospitality? Do you think English families do a lot of entertaining?

M: Yes, but in a rather formal way. You don’t like people to “drop in” without a previous invitation, do you? In my country it’s quite usual to drop in on friends and relatives almost any time.

***

Maria: I suppose that in England family life has changed a lot in the last fifty years, hasn’t it?

Anna: Oh, yes, very much so. I think families used to be much larger. My grandmother was one of fourteen children! Very few people nowadays care to have such large families.

M: I believe that’s why in those days very few women took up careers outside the home. They were too busy bringing up their families.

A: Yes, women weren’t as free as they are today. They often had to marry men they didn’t like and they were financially dependent on their parents or husbands.

M: I think family life is much pleasanter today because it’s freer and more informal. At least today we’re free to marry whoever we like and to take up a job, if we wish.

A: That’s true.

5. Marrying an Intellectual Woman

Jim: I’d like to marry an intellectual woman.

Bill: Oh really? Why?

J: Intellectual women are interesting.

B: Interesting? What a child you are, Jim! They aren’t interesting – they are dangerous.

J: Dangerous? Why?

B: You see, it’s quite impossible to relax when they are at home. Oh no, men aren’t happy with intellectual wives and modern children.

J: Modern children?

B: That’s it. With an intellectual wife everything is modern: dresses, principles, children, even dogs. It’s quite unbearable for a normal man! And besides, modern women aren’t really good cooks!

J: But you’d like to marry Kate and she’s a modern, intellectual woman!

B: But I’m in love with Kate!!

What is your opinion on the subject?

6. Engagement

• Did you hear the latest news?

• No, what’s happened?

• Why, Roland has got engaged. He fell in love with a girl he met at the Robertsons’. You know her. It’s Jean O’Brian.

• Oh, yes, I remember her. But Roland! Well, I never thought he would ever get married! Mary broke off their engagement a few days before their wedding. And he was becoming a regular old bachelor.

• Let’s hope he’ll have better luck this time than last.

• Jean seems to be a nice girl. I hope she will make Roland happy. When is he getting married?

• Next Thursday, at the Registry office. And after the wedding they are off to Scotland for a fortnight.

7.

Mr. Wells: Has Jack told you he and Ann are going to marry?

Mrs. Wells: It’ll be another year or more, he says. He expects to have a rise in the salary next year, you know.

Mr. W: Ann’s a good girl, always bright and cheerful. She’s very intelligent. Jack and she are both interested in serious things. Besides I like her refined manners.

Mrs. W: Jack wouldn’t go out with a girl whose manners were bad! Ann is attractive too.

Mr. W: Yes, she’ll be a daughter-in-law we can be proud of.

Mrs. W: It’ll be brave of them to marry next year. Even if Jack gets a payrise they’ll have a struggle to make ends meet at first.

Mr. W: We had a struggle when we married, didn’t we? But we didn’t mind a few hardships. Jack and Ann both have courage. Ann’s not like some of the girls I know – selfish girls who think of nothing but pleasure and enjoyment.

What do you think of the situations described in the following dialogues:

Gwendoline: I am engaged to Mr. Worthing, mamma.

Lady Bracknell: Pardon me, you are not engaged to anyone. When you do become engaged to someone, I or your father will inform you of the fact.

***

Algernon: Relations are simply a tedious pack of people, who haven’t got the remotest knowledge of how to live nor the smallest instinct about when to die.

Jack: Oh, that is nonsense.

Algernon: It isn’t.

Jack: Well, I won’t argue the matter.

Answer the following questions about your family:

1. Do you come from a large family?

2. How many brothers and sisters have you got?

3. Do you have any other members of the family living in with you?

4. Do you spend a lot of time with your family?

5. What sort of things do you do together?

6. Who does the housework?

7. Who looks after the children?

8. Who looks after very old relatives?

9. Do you do a lot of entertaining?

10. Do your cousins live in the same house with you?