"Family" is of course an elastic word. And in different countries it has different meanings. But when British people say that their society is based on family life, they are thinking of "family" in its narrow, peculiarly European sense of mother, father and children living together in their own house as an economic and social unit. Thus, every British marriage indicates the beginning of a new and independent family--hence the tremendous importance of marriage in British life. For both man and woman, marriage means leaving one' s parents and starting one' s own life. The man' s first duty will then be to his wife, and the wife' s to her husband. He will be entirely responsible for her financial support, and she for the running of the new home. Their children will be their common responsibility and their alone. Neither the wife' s parents nor the husband' s, nor their brothers or sisters, aunts or uncles, have any right to interfere with them--they are their own masters.
　　Readers of novels like Jane Austen' s Pride and Prejudice will know that in former times,marriage among wealthy families were 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 by skillful encouragement to lead him eventually to ask their permission to marry her. Until that time, the girl was protected and maintained in the parents' home, and the financial relief of getting rid of her could be seen in their giving the newly married pair a sum of money called a dowry(嫁妝). 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 had two results. A girl chooses her own husband, and she gets no dowry. Every coin has two sides; independence for girls is no exception. But it may be a good thing for all of the girls, as their social status are much higher and they are no longer the subordinate(部下,下級) of their parents and husbands.
　　46. What does the author mean by "Family is of course an elastic word"?
　　A．Different families have different ways of fife.
　　B．Different definitions could be given to the word.
　　C．Different nations have different families.
　　D．Different times produce different families.
　　47. For an English family, the husband' s duty is
　　A．supporting the family while the wife is working out
　　B．defending the. family while the wife is running the home
　　C．providing financial support while the wife is running the home
　　D．independent while his wife is also independent
　　48. Everything is decided in a family
　　A．by the couple
　　B．with the help of their parents
　　C．by brothers and sisters
　　D．with the help of aunts and uncles
　　49. What is TRUE concerning the book Pride and Prejudice?
　　A．It is the best book on marriage.
　　B．It is a handbook on marriage.
　　C．It gives some idea of English social life in the past.
　　D．It provides a lot of information of former-time wealthy families.
　　50. With regard to marriage in Britain, present-day girls differ from former-time girls in
　　A．the fight family
　　B．more parental support
　　C．choosing husbands
　　D．social position
　　參考譯文
　　家庭是一個釋義很靈活的詞語，在不同的國家它有著不同的含義。但是當英國人說他們的社會是建立在家庭生活上時，他們指的是狹義上的家庭，特別是對于歐洲人來說，家庭指的就是爸爸、媽媽和孩子住在自己的房子里，家庭就是經濟單位、社會單位。然而對于每個英國人來說，結婚就意味著獨立而嶄新的家庭生活開始了，所以婚姻對于英國人來說有著非比尋常的重要意義。無論是對于男人還是女人，結婚都意味著離開自己的父母開始單獨生活。丈夫的首要責任是照顧妻子，而妻子的首要責任是照顧丈夫。丈夫要全權負責妻子經濟上的開銷，妻子要操持整個新家。孩子是他們共同的責任，也只能是他們的責任。男女雙方的父母、兄弟、姐妹、姑姑和叔叔沒有人能干擾到夫妻兩人的生活——他們是自己的主人。
　　讀過簡•奧斯汀的小說《傲慢與偏見》的人都知道，從前富裕人家的女孩的婚姻都是由她們的父母安排的。也就是說，為女兒找個合適的、最好是有錢的夫君是父母的責任。他們會游說那個年輕人主動向他們女兒求婚。那個時代，女孩還被保護起來待在父母的家中。把女兒嫁出去時，給新婚夫婦的經濟補貼叫做嫁妝。今時不同往日了。現如今，大多數的女孩子畢業(yè)之后都有工作，且結婚之前經濟獨立。這樣會導致兩種結果：女孩可以自己選擇丈夫，但是她也沒有了嫁妝。凡事都有兩面性，女孩兒獨立這件事也不例外。但這對于女孩子來說也許是件好事情，因為她們的社會地位提高了，她們不再是父母和丈夫的附屬品。