FAMILY
Your parents and siblings (brothers and sisters) are your immediate family - and
your extended family includes all your relatives - uncles, cousins, great-aunts, etc.
You can use a family tree to diagram the relationships among your family
members. A person who is related to you by a long series of connections can be
called a distant relative.
If you're lucky, you have a loving family or a close-knit family - these expressions
refer to a family that has good relationships, where everyone loves each other and
helps each other. If you were raised in a loving family, then you probably had a
carefree childhood - that means you had nothing to worry about when you were
young.
On the other hand, a family in which the relationships are bad or unhealthy can be
called a dysfunctional family. If the children experience abuse, poverty, or
problems with the law, we can say they had a troubled childhood.
Perhaps the parents went through a bitter divorce - that means a separation in
which there were bad/angry feelings between the husband and wife. It's also
possible to have a messy divorce, with a prolonged legal battle involving lots of
conflicts about the separation of the former couple's assets (money and
possessions). The decisions about the separation of assets are made in the divorce
settlement. A family in which there are divorces or separations is sometimes called
a broken home.
Sometimes the mother and father fight over custody of the children - that refers to
who has the primary responsibility of caring for the kids. A judge can grant joint
custody - that means the exhusband and ex-wife share the responsibility - or sole
custody to only one parent. For example, a judge might award sole custody to the
mother, and the father has to pay child support - regular payments to help with
expenses for the kids.
If it was a mutual divorce/separation - that means the ex-husband and ex-wife
agreed to separate without fighting - then they will probably stay on good terms
with each other (meaning to have a polite relationship without conflicts).
If a woman gets pregnant without being married or in a relationship, then she will
become a single mother. Some women in this situation choose to have an
abortion, and others prefer to give the baby up for adoption. The time when the
baby is planned to arrive is called the due date - you can also say the baby is due
in mid-October, for example.
After the woman has the baby (or gives birth to the baby), the baby is given to the
adoptive parents, who will raise the child or bring up the child as if it was their
own. Sometimes, when the adopted child is older, he or she tries to find their birth
mother (biological mother).
Quiz
Choose the best word to complete each sentence:
1. A friend of mine gave / took / went birth to her son at home with the help of a
nurse.
2. A number of the kids in my classroom come from broken / damaged /
hurt homes.
3. After a hostile / cruel / bitter divorce from his wife of 20 years, the actor
married a woman young enough to be his daughter.
4. I see my excepted / expanded / extended family once a year, during our
annual family vacation.
5. I was raised in a very joyful / loving / tender family, in which everyone
helped each other.
6. I was created / grown / raised by my grandparents after my parents passed
away.
7. I'm on good friends / relations / terms with all my former boyfriends.
8. John had a carefree / careful / careless childhood, growing up with happily
married parents and three brothers.
9. Many women regret giving / having / taking an abortion years afterwards.
10. My aunt's going through a messy / sloppy / untidy divorce; she's paying a
fortune in legal fees.
11. My husband doesn't get along with a few of my family people / individuals /
members.
12. Although my salary is low, I get child assistance / provision / support from
my ex-husband.
13. My sister got / had / made pregnant immediately after she got married.
14. My son is making a diagram of our family roots / tree / web for a school
project.
15. My wife is pregnant with twins. They're come / due / here in February.
16. Sally was granted sole custody / guardian / keeping of the children from her
first marriage.
17. Teenagers who had a distressed / troubled / worsened childhood often
have behavior problems in school.
18. The celebrity wrote a book about his debilitated / defective /
dysfunctional family.
19. The divorce contract / reimbursement / settlement awarded the wife
$500,000.
20. There are four people in my close / immediate / neighboring family.
21. They have three biological children and two adopted / adoptive /
adopting children.
LISTENING GAP FILL
What does family ___________________? In a perfect world, all families should be
happy and everyone should ___________________ together. I know
___________________ families that have many problems. Brothers and sisters
___________________ each other, parents who never talk to each other. I wonder
why this is. How can you live ___________________ your family members and feel
apart from them? There is a lot of talk ___________________ about the
___________________ family life. Divorce is rising everywhere in the world. This
means single parents have ___________________ spend with their children, which
creates problems. Maybe ___________________ modern life puts too much
pressure on families. It ___________________ family life was better a generation or
two ago. Is this true for families in your country?
