[originaltext] In this century the traditional American family is constantly

In this century the traditional American family is constantly faced with the threat of breakdown. Some sociologists suggest that one little-noticed cause may be the introduction of the TV dinner.
    Before the appearance of television sets, the American dinner was a big event for the family, for in many homes dinner time may he the only time when everyone got together. A typical dinner was usually in three stages. In the preparation stage, the children and father frequently helped with table setting while mother put the last touches on the roast. In the eating stage, family members shared the day’s experiences and mere food was consumed. In this stage families got to know one another and made joint decisions around the dinner table, and thus the family solidarity was reinforced. In the cleaning-up stage, children or father again gave their hands, so that the significance to the home community was clear. Unfortunately, all of these have been erased by a product—the television set.
    By the beginning of the 1980s, the typical American family dinner is just twenty minutes long. The speed-up of this once leisurely experience is clearly connected to the overall pace of modem life and maybe a model of the modern life is the TV dinners—meals designed to be consumed between the opening and closing credits of a half-hour program. The once family affair has now become nothing more than the use of a fork and knife.