Discussion points

a Work with a partner and discuss the following questions.

c Yow1g people arc leaving home earlier than
they used to.

1 What changes arc taking place in family life in

your country at present'?

d As a result of economic pressures, more and

more mothers arc going out to work.

2 Are these changes for the better or for the worse'?

3 Which of the following sen tences (a-f) are
true for your country'?

e The divorce rate is on the increase.

f Because of work pressures, many children
almost never see their father during the week.

a These days more and more men are prepa red

to help their partner with childcare.
b TI1e extended family system is breaking down.

Tick (.f) the sentences (a-f> in a which are true for your country. Use the Useful phrases in
the box below to give complete answers to questions 1 and 2 in a.

Useful phrases
I think/ don't think this is something to be
concerned about, as ...

This has advantages in that ... , but on the

other hand ...

I think this is a change for the

better/ worse, since ...

As a result of this ... , which I believe is a

positive/negative trend.

Passages

The examiner may ask you to comment on the style and possible source of a passage.
Match the items from the three columns in the table below. They are not in the correct order.

Language used
colourful descriptions; metaphors <e.g. an ice-cold voice>;
similes <e.g. like a fish out of wate~

Possible source

Style
informal, personal

extract from a newspaper

article or scientific report

personal opinions are avoided; the personal pronouns I,

we and you are rarely used; more formal vocabulary is
chosen <e.g. somnolence instead of sleepiness>

neutral, impersonal

extract from a novel or

short story

personal opinions are expressed; the personal pronouns I,

we and you are used; phrasal verbs are used

literary

extract from an interview

or discussion

Rnd examples of the types of language in the table in a in the three passages below.
2
I was the second mixed-race baby my family
adopted. Part of the reason they took me was
because my father found my brother (also mixedrace) trying to 'scrub the dirt off' in the bath when
he was two years old. Sensibly. they felt he needed
a visual ally. Looking back, we epitomised the 1960s
'melting pot' ideology that so many social workers
now disparage. There was no discrimination in my
family; we were all brought up with the same
amount of bound!~ reciprocal love.

ll1e most striking fact emerging from the

survey is that male and female attitudes to
friendships are very diHerem . For mosl men,
friendship is baseu on common interests and
s~ared activities, whereas women place a far
h1gher value on the sharing of problems and
emotions with fiiends. This dichotomy
surfaces during early adolescence: female
respondents in the 11- 14-year-old category
placed 'the ability to keep a secrcl' at the LOp
of the list of desirable attributes in a mend.

3
Remember that,
although you see a
written. text, it may
originally have been a
spoken passage.

Comment on the style and probable source of each passage.