General English Level 5 GELEV5 Unit 01 Topic 02.doc  READING 02 Changing lifestyles Find out about changes that have taken place in family life in the last 50 years. Read the article about family life. In Australia in 1950, a typical woman got married at the age of 23 to a man who was 26. She had her first child when she was 24 or 25 and had 3 or 4 children. She probably stayed married to the same man all her life. But 50 years later, things are very different, not only in Australia but also in many other parts of the Western world. We are marrying later, having fewer children, and divorcing more often. These are some of the interesting results from a report published yesterday by the Centre for Population Studies. Our reporter, Jacinta Taylor, talked to Dr Jill Raymond about the report. Dictionary dramatic Establish attitudes necessarily Average  READING 02a Changing lifestyles Read to find out about more about the changes that have taken place in family life in the last 50 years. Marriage and Divorce Since 1950, the number of people getting married in Australia has been steadily decreasing. Dr Raymond explained that this was because of a change in attitudes towards marriage. "It is much more socially acceptable for people to live together before they get married. Many people don't feel that they have to get married at all, so they live in de facto relationships," she said. Dr Raymond said the same trend was occurring in many other Western countries, such as Britain and the United States. Not only are fewer of us getting married, but we are also marrying at a much later age. In 1950 the average age of the bride at her wedding was 23, and the groom 26. By 1999 this had increased to 28 for the bride and 30 for the groom. This may be because young people are staying in education longer and living in de facto relationships. This trend will probably continue into the future in Australia and other countries also. 11 QUESTLANGUAGE