Question

Historically parents have played a major role in choosing marriage partners for their children, and the custom continues in the world’s developing countries today. Parental influence is greatest when the parents have a large stake in whom their child marries. Traditionally, marriage has been regarded as an alliance between two families, rather than just between the two individuals. Aristocratic families could enhance their wealth or acquire royal titles through a child’s marriage. Marriage was also used as a way of sealing peace between former enemies, whether they were kings or feuding villagers.

The most extreme form of parental influence is an arranged marriage in which the bride and groom have no say at all. For instance, in traditional Chinese practice, the bride and groom meet for the first time on their wedding day. In some upper-caste Hindu marriages, children are betrothed at a very young age and have no voice in the decision. In a less extreme form of arranged marriage, parents may do the matchmaking, but the young people can veto the choice. Some small cultures scattered around the world have what social scientists call preferential marriage. In this system, the bride or groom is supposed to marry a particular kind of person—for example, a cousin on the mother’s or father’s side of the family.

In many traditional societies, marriage typically involved transfers of property from the parents to their marrying children or from one set of parents to the other. These customs persist in some places today and are part of the tradition of arranged marriages. For example, in some cultures the bride’s parents may give property (known as a dowry) to the new couple. The practice of giving dowries has been common in countries such as Greece, Egypt, India, and China from ancient times until the present. It was also typical in European societies in the past. Although the giving of dowries has been part of the norms of marriage in these cultures, often only those people with property could afford to give a dowry to the young couple.

Families use dowries to attract a son-in-law with desirable qualities, such as a particularly bright man from a poor but respectable family or a man with higher status but with less money than the bride’s family has. In societies in which the giving of dowries is customary, families with many daughters can become impoverished by the costs of marriage. For this reason, in Europe in earlier times some families sent “extra” daughters to convents. In India and China, where it is expected that every woman will marry, families have sometimes tried to limit the number of daughters born to them


GIVE THE EVIDENCE FOR EACH ANSWER

1. which of the following could be the best title for the passgae?
a. the bridge and groom in early marriages
b. marriages in ancient china
c. arranging marriages by historical parents
d. marriages in traditional societies

2. according to para 1, marriage is traditionally considered
a. an agreement between teo families
b. a concession of parents to their child
c. love between the bridge and groom
d. an agreement between the bride and groom

3. it can be inferred from the p-assgae that historical parents want their child to get marriage to one from an aristocratic family because they can
a. ACHIEVE HIGHER SOCIAL STATUS AND INCREASE THEIR PROPERTY
b. protect their property and retain their social status
c. exert their greatest influence on whom their child marries
d. seal the peace between former enemies

4. according to the passage, a preferential marriage is a marriage in which the bride or groom is supposed to marry
a. one that have been betrothed
b. a particular kind of person
c. one with a high social status
d. one with the same social status

Answer 1

que 1 is (c) que 2 is b que 3 is b que 4 is d

Answer 2

1. The suitable title of this passage can be option d i.e.- marriages in traditional societies.

This is so because this entire passage talks about how marriage used to take place in the traditional societies.

2. The answer will be option A.

According to the first paragraph, marriage is traditionally considered as an agreement not only between the bride and the groom, but also an alliance between two families.

3.The answer will be option c.

4. Option A is the answer. According to this passage, a preferential marriage is one in which the bride and the groom is to marry the one that have been betrothed.