Online Class Notes (Mike)

As divorce rates rise and fewer couples bother with marriage, maybe the traditional nuclear family is becoming a thing of the past. One in three American children now live with only one parent, and the US is not alone in this: in Canada and France the divorce rate has doubled in the last twenty-five years. Even in Japan where the traditional family is still strong, divorce went up by 15 per cent between 1980 and 1995.

What’s more, the nature of the family is changing. More babies are born to unmarried parents. Even in Ireland, traditionally the most Catholic country in Europe, the rate of births outside marriage is rising. Families are also getting smaller. The fall in the birthrate is due in part to the fact that, as more women have careers, they are waiting longer and longer to start a family. The age at which the average woman has her baby is getting later.

Vocabulary

encounter (v)遇到
encounter difficulties

great challenges

rise – raise

up-to-date (adj.) 最新的

abort (v) 堕胎 – abortion