Marriage-and-familylife-in-America

AmericanFamilyStructure美国家庭结构Extendedfamily大家庭•Theextendedfamilyconsistsofgrandparents,aunts,uncles,andcousins.•Insomecircumstances,theextendedfamilycomestoliveeitherwithorinplaceofamemberofthenuclearfamily.Nuclearfamily核心家庭•Thenuclearfamilyisconsideredthetraditionalfamily.•Thenuclearfamilyconsistsofamother,father,andthechildren.•Thetwo-parentnuclearfamilyhasbecomelessprevalent,andalternativefamilyformshavebecomemorecommon.StepFamilies再婚家庭•StepfamiliesarebecomingmorefamiliarinAmerica.•Divorceratesarerisingandtheremarriagerateisrisingaswell,therefore,bringingtwofamiliestogethermakingstepfamilies.Singleparent单亲家庭•Asingleparent(alsotermedloneparentorsoleparent)isaparentwhocaresforoneormorechildrenwithouttheassistanceoftheotherbiologicalparent.•Single-parenthomesareincreasingmoreandmoreasmarriedcouplesdivorce,orasunexpectedpre-maritalpregnanciesoccur.据【《中央社》美国华盛顿2月19日讯息】丕优研究中心(PewResearchCenter)最新调查显示，对于美国近50年来家庭结构的七大改变趋势，一般民众的看法分歧，表示认同、部分认同、反对的比例各约三分之一。这七大趋势为：越来越多未婚伴侣生养小孩；越来越多同性伴侣生养小孩；越来越多单亲妈妈独力生养小孩；越来越多人同居但不结婚；越来越多拥有年幼子女的妇女决定外出工作；越来越多跨种族通婚；越来越多女性不生育。PremaritalAgreements____AboutResponsibilityandLovePremaritalAgreements婚前协议•SigningagreementsbeforemarriagehasbecomepopularintheUnitedStatessincethe1980s.•Premaritalagreementsaredesignedtosolveproblemslikehowtodivideupfinancialassetsifacoupledivorces.•Thecontentofaprenuptialagreementcanvarywidely,butcommonlyincludesprovisionsfordivisionofpropertyandspousalsupportintheeventofdivorceorbreakupofmarriage.Theymayalsoincludetermsfortheforfeitureofassetsasaresultofdivorceonthegroundsofadultery,furtherconditionsofguardianshipmaybeincludedaswell.•婚前协议的内容可能不尽相同，但是普遍包括离婚或婚姻破裂时财产分配以及配偶抚养方面的条款。有时可能还包括因通奸而导致离婚时财产没收及对于监护权的进一步要求等条款。Therearetwotypesofprenuptialagreements:marriagecontractforpeoplewhoaremarriedorabouttobemarried,andcohabitationagreementforunmarriedcouples.Avariationforpeoplewhoarealreadymarriedisapostnuptialagreement,alsocalledapostmaritalagreement.婚前协议分为两种：已婚夫妇或将婚夫妇签署的婚姻协议，以及未结婚伴侣签署的同居协议。已婚夫妇签署的协议也叫做postnuptialagreement或者postmaritalagreement.JuliaRobertsofPremaritalAgreement•茱丽娅·罗伯茨和丈夫丹尼·莫德2002年7月结婚。•婚前，茱丽娅也与丹尼签下了婚前协议书。内容指茱丽娅一旦生了孩子，而茱丽娅要跟丹尼离婚的话，丹尼便会得到接近700万美元的分手费。•相反，没有生孩子而离婚的分手费则是90万美元。No-FaultDivorceLawsIn1969,atthetime,theCaliforniagovernorRonaldReagansignedthedomesticfirstaallowwithoutfaultdivorcebill,husbandandwifemaynotallowinfierceclashesinthepeacetheendofarelationship.1969年，当时的加利福尼亚州州长罗纳德·里根签署了美国国内第一部允许“无过失离婚”的法案，允许夫妻可以在不发生激烈冲突的状况下和平结束婚姻关系。实行无过失离婚之前，大部分州都要求离婚的一方提供对方的过失行为证据（例如通奸或暴力），即使双方都同意离婚，也需要提供这样的证据。据统计，多半诉请离婚的都是年收入在6万美元以下的家庭，这些夫妻根本请不起离婚律师，法庭上常可看见当事人进行自辩。离婚案久拖不决，本已破裂的婚姻还要继续延续。这使得双方倾力为离婚罗织一些理由，举证对方的过错，甚至在法庭上作伪证，这些都给争议双方及其子女带来更大的精神伤害。提出无过失离婚法案的初衷，实际上也就是为了减少法律体系中的伪证。MarriageAgreement婚姻契约•Amarriageagreementisalegalcontact,justlikeanyothertypeofcontractsuchasthecontractyoumighthavewithalandlordorabusinesspartner.It’sawrittendocumentthatsummarizeseachperson’sobligationstotheother.•Amarriageagreementidentifieswhoeachofyouareandusuallymakessomestatementaboutthepurposeoftheagreement.Thenitsetsoutaseriesofpromisesthatyoueachmaketotheother.•Marriageagreementscanbebetweenspouseswhoarealreadymarriedorpeoplewhoareplanningtomarrywiththeintentionthatitwilltakeeffectonthedateoftheirmarriage.RequirementsforaMarriageAgreement•Signaturesmustbewitnessedbyatleastoneperson.•Agreementtakeeffectonthedayyougetmarriedifyou’resigningitbeforeyourmarriage.•Thewitnessesdonotbecomepartiestoyouragreement.•AmarriageagreementoftendealswithFinancialissuesAgreementsaboutchildrenWhenandwhymarriageagreementsareusedWhetheryoucanchangeorendtheagreement•Ifyou’reconsideringamarriageagreement,discusstheideawithyourspouseorfuturespouse,andthendiscussitwithalawyer.•Iftroublecomesandyourspousebreakstheagreement,youcansuetoenforcetheagreement,justlikeanyothercontract.好莱坞影星道格拉斯：捆绑“花心”的婚姻协议•与有“登徒子”绰号的美国影星米哈依尔·道格拉斯结婚的泽塔琼斯，可能知道丈夫的嗜好，于是在婚约中规定了这样的条款———如果道格拉斯拈花惹草欺骗了她，道格拉斯应付给她500万英镑的赔偿，而一旦离婚，则按照他们婚姻持续时间确定赔偿金，每一年应付道格拉斯夫人100万英镑。常人协议也疯狂•美国宾西法尼亚州的一名会计师与她32岁当汽车销售商的老公在婚前共同拟定一份协议，在长达27页的“文件”中，罗列的条款有：•1.每周相处的时间要够20个小时；2.每周房事不少于3次；绝不同他人发生性关系；3.不吃剩菜剩饭，一天的热量摄取限于2000卡；4.每天刷两回牙，要用除味漱口水，每天洗澡，一星期洗头3至4次；严格按预算花钱，娱乐及个人用品每周消费限于20美元……他们在“文件”上签名，邀人作证、公证，最后交律师备案，目的是“让婚姻牢固”。谁不遵守合约，另一半可理直气壮地要求离婚，违约方将放弃所有财产权，并要支付律师费。WhyEveryMarriedCoupleShouldSignaContractWordsandPhrases1.prevailing:流行的(P1，L1)2.assumeresponsibilityfor:承担责任(P2，L1)3.tailor:makesthfitaparticularperson剪裁，量身定做(P2，L2)4.stipulate:规定，明确要求(P2，L3)5.custody:监护权(P2，L4)6.stockoption:优先认股权（P2，L5）7.contemplate:思考，考虑接受（P3，L3）8.vibes:感应(P3,L5)9.stigma:耻辱，瑕疵(P3,L5)10.terminate:结束，终止（P4，L3）11.issueadecree:颁布法令（P6，L4）12.lastresort:应急措施（P8，L2）13.retain:持有，保留（P8，L4）14.radically:完全地（P8，L5）15.penalty:惩罚,罚金（P10，L2）16.begermaneto:与有密切关系(P10，L5)17.optfor:选择(P6,L1)18.cutback:削减，减少(P8,L1)19.attorney:律师(P8,L3)同义词:lawyer,barrister,solicitor20.falloutof:放弃(P11，L1)21.makecommitmentto:承诺(P11，L2)22.address：tothinkaboutaproblemorasituationanddecidehowyouaregoingtodealwithit设法解决(P11，L3)