英语导读1000句[31]:Marriage

Section 31
Marriage

Marriage is an almost universal act.
It is the coming together of two people to share their lives in an official way.
In many countries, it has a religious connection.
It is one of the oldest ceremonies remaining in most cultures.
Most countries and religions set a minimum¹ age for marriage.
This will vary² from country to country.
In the UK, for example, a couple may marry at 16 years old.
If a marriage is to be dissolved, we call this divorce³.
Some religions do not permit divorce.
In the 20th century, some people decided⁴ to live together without getting married.
This can be called common-law marriage.
Most people do this because they want a trial marriage before the real thing.
It was thought that it was easier than going through divorce if the relationship didn’t work.
However, the law in many countries considers this, and after a few years of living together, similar laws to divorce apply.
So, marriage is still popular even though common-law marriage is still tried first, as people may eventually marry anyway.

1 minimum   

adj.最低的，最小的；n.最小量，最低限度

参考例句：

• What is the minimum price?最低价是多少？
• Today's minimum temperature is 10℃.今天的最低气温是10℃。

2 vary   

vi.变化，有不同；vt.改变，使不同

参考例句：

• Cherries vary in colour from almost black to yellow.樱桃的颜色由近乎黑到黄各不相同。
• Old people don't like to vary their habits.老年人不喜欢改变他们的习惯。

3 divorce   

n.离婚；分离；vi.离婚；vt.离婚；脱离

参考例句：

• Did he divorce his wife or did she divorce him?是他要和妻子离婚，还是妻子要和他离婚？
• None of us like the divorce of word and deed.我们都不喜欢言行不一。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。