loveandlovingrelationships英汉双语完美版资料

Unit4The following text is extracted from Marriages and Families by Nijole V Benokraitis. The book h

Unit4 The following text is extracted from Marriages and Families by Nijole V Benokraitis. The book has been used as atext book for sociology courses and women studies in anumber of universities in the United States. It highlights important contemporary changes in society and the family and explores the choices that are available to family members, as well as the constraints that many of us do not recognize. It examines the diversity of American families today, using cross-cultural and multicultural comparisons to encourage creative thinking about the many critical issues that confront the family of the twenty fist century. Love and Loving Relationships Nijole V. Benokraitis 1. Love-as both an emotion and abehavior-is essential for human survival- The family is usually our earliest and most important source of love and emotional support. Babies and children deprived of love have been known to develop awide variety of problems- for example, depression, headaches, physiological impairments, and neurotic and psychosomatic difficulties- that sometimes last alifetime. In contrast, infants who are loved and cuddled typically gain more weight, cry less, and smile more. By five years of age, they have been found to have significantly higher IQs and to score higher on language tests. 2. Much research shows that the quality of care infants receive affects how they later get along with friends, how well they do in school, how they react to new and possibly stressful situations, and how they form and maintain loving relationships as adults. It is for these reasons that people's early intimate relationships within their family of origin are so critical. Children who are raised in impersonal environments (orphanage, some foster homes, or unloving families) show emotional and social underdevelopment, language and motor skills retardation, and mental health problems. 3. Love for oneself, or self-love, is also essential for our social and emotional development. Actress Mae West once said, "I never loved another person the way Iloved myself." Although such astatement may seem self-centered, it's actually quite insightful Social scientists describe self-love as an important oasis for self- esteem. Among other things, people who like themselves are more open to criticism and less demanding of others. Fromm (1956) saw self-love as anecessary prerequisite for loving others. People who don't like themselves may not be able to return