What does family mean to you? In a perfect world, all families should be happy, and everyone should get on well together. I know a lot of families that have many problems. Brothers and sisters who don't like each other, parer.ts who never talk to each other. I wonder why this is. How can you live so close to your family members and feel apart from them? There is a lot of talk in the news about the breakdown of family life. Divorce is rising everywhere in the world. This means single parents have less time to spend with their children, which creates problems. Maybe the stress of modern life puts too much pressure on families. It seems as though family life was better a generation or two ago. Is this true for families in your country? 1. Is the rate of divorce in your country rising? 2. Is the institution of marriage undergoing transformations? 3. What is a tendency nowadays? (To get married or not? At what age?) 4. Do you know couples with an age gap between partners? Are they happy? Give synonyms to these words using the ones from the podcast: • to have good relationship - • to be separate from • to break up, not to be married any more • one parent bringing up a child difficult situation that makes you feel worried