衰落的家庭

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1With the average number of children in a British family falling beneath an average of 2.0,the population of the UK has been falling for quite a few years.The size of the British workforce is declining and the average age of the workforce is rising.This trend is quite worrying for the British economy.

2Why aren't the British having as many children as they used to?Well,there is a whole range of reasons.One of them is that British people are now having their children at amuch older age than previously,meaning they have fewer years in which they can have children.Most young people today want a well-paid job,so they often go to university after school.After years of study at university,they then need a few years of work experience before they can get the job they want.

3What aboutmarriage and buying a home?Well,houses are incredibly expensive in the UK,somany people are forced to stay with their parents early in their careers.And no one wants to start a new family when they are still living with their parents!So it's not until people are about 30 years old that they can afford tomove out,buy their own home,and then they can start to think about settling down and having children.

4So a British person manages to get a job,get a home and getmarried.Why isn't he or she then having at least two children on average?Themain reason is that it is relatively expensive to bring up a child in the UK.Usually both parents need to work just to pay for their home and living expenses.Because both parents are at work,thatmeans they then need to pay someone to look after their child during the day,such as a nanny or a nursery school,both of which are expensive.

5In addition,problems in the global economy often affect British families.For example,when times are tough and there is an economic downturn,prices rise or it becomes more difficult to find a job or keep your existing one.This kind of uncertainty discourages people from having larger families.And with this much pressure on families,is it any surprise that the divorce rate is so high?

6So what is Britain doing to save the British family?First of all,the government is trying to make it cheaper to have children.For example,there have been increases in Child Benefitmoney families can claim from the state eachmonth.Also,there is an increasing amount of government subsidy（补贴）for nursery schools,so that parents do not need to pay so much for childcare.In addition,there are now laws allowing parents to take more time off work so that they can look after their children themselves rather than having to pay others to do it.

7The UK government has also tried to reduce the number of hours British parents have to work to earn enough money to pay their bills.By law,you cannotwork formore than 48 hours per week,if it averages over 17 weeks.If parents didn't have to work so many hours,they'd havemore time to spend with their children and wouldn't need to spend so much on childcare.On average,a Briton works 43.6 hours a week,which is actually a 6 percent decrease over the last decade,but still the highest in Europe.It's a bad “work-life balance” and is damaging British society.

Let's hope it's not too late to save the British family.Otherwise,the British won't have enough time,energy or money to have children.And where's the fun in that?

Activity1:Headings

Match the following headings with the paragraphs numbered 1～7.

A.Home birds

B.Dwindling population

C.Convincing employment

D.Costly kids

E.Too old too young

F.Easing the burden

G.Stress and strain

Activity2:Collocations

Match the terms to form phrases from the article.One answer is given.

1.economic （C） A.balance

2.work-life B.expenses

3.nursery C.downturn （1）

4.living D.Benefit

5.time E.school

6.Child F.offworkActivity3:Trueorfalse

According to the article,are these statements true （T） or false （F）?

（ ）1.The UK government wants employees toworkmore than 49 hours a week.

（ ）2.The UK government is increasing the price of nursery schools.

（ ）3.Most young people in Britain cannot afford to move out of their parents'house when they have finished their university study.

（ ）4.A majority of British children grow up in single-parent families.

（ ）5.More marriages fail than succeed in the UK.

（ ）6.One of the biggest problems for families in the UK is that both parents usually have towork to pay all the bills.Funcorner

Find the odd one out in each set of three words:

1.Immediate family

A.mother B.brother C.cousin

2.Extended family

A.cousin B.father C.grandfather

3.Money

A.Child Benefit B.subsidy C.workforce

4.Childcare

A.university B.nursery C.nanny

5.Statistics

A.economy B.figures C.number

6.Dwindling

A.falling B.rising C.declining

Expressionofthepassage

The phrase “work-life balance” refers to the number of hours you work compared with the number of hours you don't.People say either“Ihave a good work-life balance” or“Ihave a bad work-life balance”.