适用年级：七年级
文章类型：记叙文~美国家庭文化
英文原文
Most American families are smaller than the families in other countries. Most American families have one or two parents and one or two children each.
Children in the US will leave their parents’ home when they grow up. They usually live far from their parents because they want to find good jobs. They often write to their parents or telephone them. And they often go to visit their parents on holiday. Parents usually let their children choose their own jobs. Americans think it important for young people to decide on their lives by themselves.
Children are asked to do some work around their house. And in many families, children are paid for doing some housework so that they learn how to make money for their own use.
逐句翻译
大部分美国家庭都比其他国家的家庭规模要小。大部分美国家庭都有一到两名家长以及一到两个孩子。
美国孩子在他们长大后都将离开父母亲的家。他们通常都住得离父母亲比较远，因为他们想要找到好工作。他们经常写信或者打电话给父母。并且他们经常在假期前往拜访父母亲。父母亲通常会让他们的孩子自己选择工作。美国人认为对于年轻来人，由自己选择自己的生活很重要。
孩子们会被要求在他们居住房子的里里外外干些活。在许多家庭中，孩子在做了家务活后会得到报酬，这样他们便可以学会如何为满足自己的个人用途而挣钱。
原文朗读
原文讲解
1、Most American families are smaller than the families in other countries.
（1）我们很容易在一看到most的时候联想到形容词或副词的最高级“最…”，但最高级的表达结构是the+most，这里并不符合条件，所以需要按照“大部分、大多数”的意思来理解。
（2）Abe+形容词比较级+than B，这个结构用于表示A比B更……
2、one or two parents，这个真实表达的意思是父母组成完整或缺失，即单亲妈妈或单亲爸爸。
3、They often write to their parents or telephone them.
（1）write to sb.意为给某人写信
（2）telephone最开始学习的时候是名词，在这里被名词动词化，即把一个名词变成了动词，意为“打电话”
4、Americans think it important for young people to decide on their lives by themselves.这是本文中最难的句子，it是形式宾语，真正的宾语是to decide on their lives by themselves。之所以出现形式宾语，是因为真正的宾语太长了，会影响句子结构的紧凑性。所以，我们可以认为这里的it并不是指代前文中出现过的事物，而是后边的动词不定式to do结构。
