Text D. The Japanese Family

Work plays a very important role in Japan. One Japanese said “I belong to my company”, not “I work for my company”. Because work is so important, a child, especially a boy, must work very hard indeed. He begins to study seriously as soon as he starts going to school, because if he doesn’t pass all his exams he can’t go to a good school. If he doesn’t go to a good school he can’t go to a good university – and so he can’t get the good job that he needs. A Japanese mother usually helps her children so that they could pass their school exams well. Because of this system Japanese children don’t have as much time to play as* children in most Western societies.

A lot of Japanese parents “arrange” marriages for their children. This is because they feel that marriage does not only affect the young couple, but that it affects the whole family. They believe that it is important that the young couple had the same interests and that they came from the same social background. Sometimes parents go to a “matchmaker”. A matchmaker’s job is to find two similar young people and arrange for them to meet. If they like each other, a marriage is arranged for them.

A lot of arranged marriages are very successful and help the tradition of the Japanese family to continue.

* Note: don’t have as much time to play as … - не так много времени для игры, как …

Exercise 3. Read Text E and tell what is true and what is not true about modern American families.

These words will help you understand the text:

rush (v) – торопиться

adorable (a) – обожаемый

optional (a) – дополнительный, необязательный

for the sake of – ради

striking point – основной пункт (вопрос)