出自:西安交通大学英语（一）
The greatest recent changes have been in the lives of women. During the twentieth century there was an unusual shortening of the time of a woman.s life spent in caring for children. A woman who got married at the end of the 19th century would probably have been in her middle twenties, and would be likely to have seven or eight children, of whom four or five lived till they were five years old. By the time the youngest was fifteen, the mother would have been in her early fifties and would expect to live a further twenty years, during which custom, chance and health madeit unusual for her to get paid work. Today women get married at a younger age and have fewer children. Usually a woman.s youngest child will be fifteen when she is forty-five and is likely to take paid work until retirement at si脚.Even while she has the care of children，her work is lightened by household appliances (家用电器）and convenience foods.
This important change in women.s way of life has only recently begun to have its full effect on women.s economic position. Even a few years ago most girls left school at the first opportunity and most of them took a full-time job. However, when they got married, they usually left work at once and never returned to it. Today the school-leaving age is sixteen, many girls stay at school after that age, and though
women tend to get married young, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. Many more return afterwards to a full-time or part-time job. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage, with both husband and wife accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfaction of family life, and with both husband and wife sharing more equally in providing the money and running the home, according to the abilities and interest of each of them.
In the United States, it is not customary to telephone someone very early in the morn-.ing. If you telephone him early in the day, while he is shaving or having breakfast, the time of the call shows that the matter is very important and requires immediate attention. The same meaning is attached to telephone calls made after 11:00 p. m. If someone receives a call during sleeping hours, he assumes it.s a matter of life or death. The time chosen for the call communicates its importance. In social life, time plays a very important part. In the U.S.A. guests tend to feel they are not highly regarded if the invitation to a dinner party is extended only three or four days before the party date. But it is not true in all countries. In other areas of the world, it may be considered foolish to make an appointment too far in advance because plans which are made for a date more than a week away tend to be forgotten. The meaning of time differs in different parts of the world. Thus, misunderstandings arise between people from different cultures that treat time differently. Promptness is valued high->ly in American life, for example. If people are not prompt, they may be regarded as impolite or not fully responsible. In the U.S. no one would think of keeping a business associate waiting for an hour, it would be too impolite. A person who is 5 minutes late, will say a few words of explanation, though perhaps he will not complete the sentence.