[originaltext]“Family” is of course a flexible word. But when British people sa

“Family” is of course a flexible word. But when British people say that their society is based on family life, they are thinking of “family” in its narrow, particularly European sense of mother, father and children living together alone in their own house as an economic and social unit. Thus, every British marriage indicates the beginning of a new and independent family. For both the man and the woman, marriage means leaving one’s parents and starting one’s own life. The man’s first duty will then be to his wife. He will be entirely responsible for his wife’s financial support while the wife for the running of the new home. Their children will be their common responsibility and theirs alone. Neither the wife’s parents nor the husband’s parents, nor their brothers or sisters, aunts or uncles, have any right to interfere with them— they decide everything in a family. Readers of novels like Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice will know that in former times marriage among wealthy families was arranged by the girl’s parents— that is, it was the parents’ duty to find a suitable husband for their daughter, preferably a rich one, and lead him eventually to marry their daughter. It is very different today. Most girls of today get a job when they leave school and become financially independent before their marriage. This has two results. A girl chooses her own husband, and she gets no money from her parents when she gets married.
Questions 19 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard.
19. What is the husband’s first duty for an English family?
20. Who decides everything in an English family?
21. What can we know from the book Pride and Prejudice about wealthy families in former times?
22. What is the difference between present girls and former girls according to the passage?