[originaltext] A "typical" British family used to consist of mother, father

A "typical" British family used to consist of mother, father and two children, but in recent years there have been many changes in family life. Some of these have been caused by new laws and others are the result of changes in society. For example, since the law made it easier to get a divorce, the number of divorces has increased. In fact one marriage in every three now ends in divorce. This means that there are a lot of one-parent families. Society is now more tolerant than it used to be of unmarried people, un married couples and single parents.
    Another change has been caused by the fact that people arc living longer nowadays, and many old people live alone following the death of their partners. As a result of these changes in the pattern of people’s lives, there are many families that consist of only one person or one person and children. You might think that marriage and the families are not so popular as they once were. However, the majority of divorced people marry again, and they sometimes take responsibility for a second family.