大学英语视听说2Unit3听力原文

Unit3

Lead-in

1.Generally speaking, marriages based on love are more successful than arranged marriages. In

its long history, China has witnessed many tragic events arising from arranged marriages.

However, we should not go to extremes and claim that all arranged marriages are failures.

After all, in the past 2000-plus years, most of the arranged marriages did survive, and some of the couples did develop real love after their marriage. As for marriages based on love, they are not without problems. In the contemporary world, arranged marriages have almost disappeared. Boys and girls go out on dates and gradually develop a love between them before they get married. Strangely, the divorce rate has kept rising. And the reasons for divorce can be very simple: "We can no longer communicate with each other very well" or simply "I've gotten bored with him or her." In spite of the drawbacks of marriages based on love and the occasional successes of arranged marriages, it is obvious to all that the former are more in conformity with human nature. The traditional practice of arranged marriages should not be restored.

2.Personally, I think a girl should not marry someone who is too old or too young for her. With

a wide age gap, a couple may be physically incompatible, and their ways of thinking may

differ largely from each other. But I will not go so far as to claim that marriages with a wide age gap will all fail. We can find many perfect matches between a young girl and a middle-aged man. Dr. Sun Yat-sen and Madam Song Qingling, and the famous writer Lu Xun and his young wife Xu Guangping are good examples. On the other hand, cases of a middle-aged woman marrying a much younger man seem to be rare. Probably such unions are less socially acceptable and the couple has to face greater social prejudice. Generally, we would do well to follow nature, and a girl should select her spouse from among people close to her own age. This will prevent many unnecessary difficulties.

3.In the past, the normal pattern was that men worked, while women did not. Thus, it was

natural for men to pay. Things have changed. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, many females, if not all, went out to work. The women's liberation movement in the United States in the 1960s also achieved a certain level of equality between men and women.

So, it is natural that some girls no longer want men to pick up the check. Instead, they prefer to share or "go Dutch" to show that they are equal to males.

4.Wedding ceremonies vary from family to family, but a typical Chinese wedding is an

elaborate affair. Many Chinese believe that marriage is a major event in life, and they choose to spend a lot of money to celebrate it. Usually, the couple invites a large number of guests, who are seated at ten or more dining tables. The bride and the groom toast each other and the guests cheer. In the past the food itself was the main part of the wedding ceremony and some hungry guests made pigs of themselves. But with economic development, people's living standards have improved a great deal. Food is no longer so important. Now the essential element is a happy atmosphere. The parents of the couple may give speeches to express thanks to each other for bringing up such a nice young man or girl. Also, they wish the couple will love each other for life. The groom and the bride may also thank their parents. After the feast, guests may visit the couple's new apartment, where they tend to make a lot of noise to increase the jubilant atmosphere.