Jake: Do you know what an extended family is? 
Anne: Yeah. In the past, parents, their children, their children's children used to live together. This kind of family is known as an extended family.
Jake: What about a nuclear family?
Anne: Nowadays, only two generations, that is to say, parents and children live together.
Jake: How about a single parent family?
Anne: That's a family with only a mother or only a father.
Jake: So what is a blended family?
Anne: When two people who have been married and have children, remarry, and both groups of children live together. Why? You indeed asked me so many questions about family.
Jake: I just want to make a survey of public opinion on family ties.
講解：
1. 對話中Jake在做一個關(guān)于對家庭關(guān)系的看法的調(diào)查，他問了Anne一些關(guān)于家庭類型的問題。那么在對話中出現(xiàn)了幾種家庭類型呢？有extended family，就是“大家庭”，在過去呢，父母和他們的孩子以及孩子的孩子都住在一起，就是那種四世同堂的大家庭，不過隨著時代的發(fā)展，這種大家庭已經(jīng)很少了。
2. 另一種家庭類型就是nuclear family，核心家庭，也就是說，父母和他們的孩子住在一起，這是現(xiàn)在一種比較普遍的家庭類型。that is to say，作為插入語表示“換句話說；也就是說；更確切地說”。還有一種類型叫做single parent fam
ily，就是我們說的“單親家庭”。就是家里面只有母親或只有父親。
3. 這種家庭類型主要是父母離婚的產(chǎn)物。對話中出現(xiàn)的最后一種家庭類型就是blended family，混合型家庭，就是指再婚后的家庭，男女雙方的孩子都住在一起。marry前面加上前綴“re”表示“再婚”。make a survey of something，表示“對…作全面的調(diào)查”。
4. 這里再補充一種家庭類型，就是“丁克” 家庭。“丁克”的英文意思是：雙份收入，沒有孩子，double income, no kids。是近年來新興的一種家庭模式，這種家庭中只有夫妻二人，不生孩子，既有家庭的溫馨，又保持了“單身貴族”的瀟灑。
