A huge 42 percent of marriages in the UK end in divorce, the highest rate in Europe. What is happening in the UK to cause such a phenomenon? Many consider the family to be the basic building block of society. If marriages and families are falling apart, is the UK society also falling apart? Is the UKs cultural identity breaking down? The UK of today is one of the most multicultural countries on earth. There are exotic sights and sounds on the street corners of every British city. British cuisine is now one of the most diverse around. Everyone speaks with a different accent.
Is such diversity a good thing? Well, it makes the UK a very exciting place to live in. There are new ideas everywhere. There is great freedom to be who you want to be, and most people will not criticize you for who you are. Yet such freedom seems to come at a cost. Some British people regard ethnic minorities (少数民族) as coming to the UK to steal jobs. When the economy does badly, this feeling increases as unemployment rates rise. So, it could be argued that the breakdown of marriages in the UK is in some part because of the pressures put upon families by wider problems in British society. Many people become stressed when those problems arise, and that can then make their family life unhappy as well.
Another possible reason for the high divorce rate might be that marriage no longer has the same value or meaning for British people as it once did. Church attendance in the UK has been falling for the last 50 years, suggesting fewer people consider marriage a holy thing. Since 1991, there has been a drop of 50 percent in people getting married in church rather than a register office.
Then there is the financial side. In the past, married couples paid lower government taxes than single people. That tax incentive (激励) policy, which used to reduce a couples tax by up to 500 in a year, has now disappeared, making the cost to keep a marriage higher.
However, the 42 percent UK divorce rate isn’t the highest rate in the past forty years! Meanwhile, some measures are being taken to strengthen marriage in the UK by the government.
【小题1】According to the text, all the following account for the high divorce rate except .| A．Desire for freedom. | B．Social problems. |
| C．Change of values. | D．Financial pressures. |
| A．amazing | B．foreign |
| C．local | D．familiar |
| A．Cultural diversity has brought people freedom to criticize others. |
| B．The rising of the divorce rate indicates the society is falling apart. |
| C．The tax incentive policy once contributed to steady families to some degree. |
| D．More British people would get married in the church rather than in a register office. |
| A．Pessimistic. | B．Unconcerned. | C．Doubtful. | D．Optimistic. |
