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New Horizon College English Book Unit 9 Section A: Premarital Agreement

New Horizon College English Book Ⅲ Unit 9 Section A: Premarital Agreement

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Page 1: New Horizon College English Book Ⅲ Unit 9 Section A: Premarital Agreement

New Horizon College EnglishBook Ⅲ

Unit 9 Section A:

Premarital Agreement

Page 2: New Horizon College English Book Ⅲ Unit 9 Section A: Premarital Agreement

Contents

I. Background Information

II. Pre-reading Activities

III. Text Analysis– Structure

IV. Intensive reading

V. Writing skill

VI. Exercises

Page 3: New Horizon College English Book Ⅲ Unit 9 Section A: Premarital Agreement

I. Background Information

1.Premarital agreements: Premarital agreements or prenuptial agreements are binding legal contracts between two people who intend to marry each other. For more information about premarital agreement and its practices in the US.

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Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Aristotle Onassis

Page 5: New Horizon College English Book Ⅲ Unit 9 Section A: Premarital Agreement

2. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Born on July 28, 1929, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy was first lady of the United States during the administration (1961-1963) of her first husband, John F. Kennedy. She had been a newspaper reporter and photographer before their marriage in 1953. As first lady, she was a patron of the arts and an international fashion-trendsetter. Under her supervision the White House was restored and redecorated and declared a national museum. She was riding beside President Kenney when he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on Nov 22, 1963. In 1968 she married the Greek shipping millionaire Aristotle Onassis. After her second husband’s death, in 1975, she worked as an editor in book publishing.

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3. Aristotle Onassis Born on January 20, 1906, Aristotle Onassis was a Greek

shipping millionaire who accumulated a fortune of more than $500 million. Born of Greek parents in Turkey, he went to Buenos Aires in 1923 and became a telephone operator there. Soon Onassis established a tobacco import business, and by 1930s he bought unused freighters at low prices and by the end of World War II had amassed great wealth in shipping. After the war he increased his shipping fleet by purchasing surplus wartime freighters. He was also one of the pioneers in the construction of oil supertankers. Onassis used his profits to acquire hotels and banks throughout the world, as well as Olympic Airways. Onassis, who was divorced in 1960, had a well -publicized friendship with the soprano Maria Callas. In 1968 he married Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. back

Page 7: New Horizon College English Book Ⅲ Unit 9 Section A: Premarital Agreement

II. Pre-reading ActivitiesListen to the short passage twice and answer questionsQ1. Have you ever heard of premarital agreements? What do

you think they are for ?

Yes. they are designed to solve problems of a couple.Q2. Do you think prenups will take the romance out of marria

ge for the man as well as the woman ? Yes, I do think premarital agreements will take the romanc

e out of marriage because of the complexity and reality of them

Q3. would you ask for a prenuptial agreement before your marriage? why or why nor?

I would not ,I think a couple should trust and take care of each other.

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Script Signing agreements before marriage has become

popular in the United States since the 1980s.premarital agreements are designed to solve problems like how to divided up financial assets if a couple divorce. Some people are strongly against premarital agreements but the others argue that there are several reasons for them: for example, to protect the considerable accumulation of wealth of one of the spouses, to protect children from a previous marriage, to lay bare the responsibilities and save a couple from a terrible marriage, etc. with 50% of all marriages in America ending up in divorce, premarital agreements seem to be gaining in acceptance in the United States.

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Page 9: New Horizon College English Book Ⅲ Unit 9 Section A: Premarital Agreement

III. Text Analysis-- Structure

Part Ⅰ (Paras. 1—4) Most of the premarital agreements are about how financial assets will be divided up if the couple divorces. They are negotiated by lawyers for the prospective spouses, and signed before a marriage ceremony.

Part Ⅱ (Paras. 5—8) There are generally four types of people who need prenups before a marriage.

Part Ⅲ (Paras. 9—14) What should be paid attention to when one goes into a prenups?

Part Ⅳ (Paras. 15—16) Evaluations of prenups

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IV. Intensive reading

Part 1 ( Paras. 1-4):

Q1: Please list three crazier clauses of prenuptial agreements according to the text.

First, a future husband wanted to be sure that he could keep his treasured ice-cream collection if his marriage failed. Second, a woman wanted to make clear who would walk the dog. Third, one man wanted to be entitled to a divorce if his future wife gained more than 15 pounds once she married him.(Para.1)

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Q2:what is a prenuptial agreement?

A prenuptial agreement , or prenup, negotiated by lawyers and signed before a marriage, is mainly designed to deal with financial problems when divorce is insisted on by one party. (Para.2)

Q3: why has signing prenups become popular in the US since the early 1980s?

Because more and more states began passing laws based either on “splitting evenly”or on “whatever a judge thinks is ‘fair’”. (Para.3)

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1. … if his marriage didn't work out …(Para. 1)

work out: develop well; prove successful e.g. There have been enormous problem

s with the project, but it has all worked out now.

这项工程问题一直很多 , 不过现在一切顺利 .

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2. … he could keep his treasured ice-cream collection safely stored away in a freezer.

(Para.1) collection: n. 1) a set of things that have been collected e.g. a stamp collection 邮票藏品 2) collecting or gathering e.g. The local council is responsible for t

he collection of domestic waste. 地方市政会负责收集居民垃圾 .

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3. A woman insisted on verifying who would walk the dog. (Para.1)

insist on /upon:

1) strongly demand sth. e.g. My parents insist on coming too.

我父母也坚持要来 . 2) say firmly that sth. is ture e.g. He insisted on the truth of his story, even thou

gh the police didn’t believe him.

尽管警方不相信 , 他还是坚持说他说的话是真的

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4. …when more states began passing laws that affected the division of financial assets in a divorce.(Para.3)

division: n. 1) dividing or being divided e.g. division of labor 劳动分工 2) disagreement between the members of a group e.g. deep divisions within the Labor Party 工党内部的深刻分歧 3) one of the parts or groups in which a whole is divi

ded e.g. She worked in the company’s export division. 她在公司的出口部工作 .

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5. These are some of the crazier clauses of prenuptial agreements. (Para.2)

clause: n.

a particular part of a written legal document

e.g. an additional clause 附加条款 2) a group of words containing a subject and a verb,

usu. forming only part of a sentence

e.g. a noun clause 名词从句 a principal clause 主句

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6. …lawyers for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis contested

the prenuptial agreement … (Para. 4) contest: vt. 1) argue that sth. is not right e.g. The divorce was not contested. 该离婚没有遭到反对 . 2) (take part in and) try to win (sth.) e.g. The leadership election will be contested b

y four candidates. 有四名候选人角逐该领导职位 .

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Part 2 ( Paras.5-8):

Q: What are the three situations calling for premarital agreements?

Answer: First, a wealthy man who has been stung once may want to avoid such future problems. Second, protecting children from a previous marriage is a strong reason. Third, when one future partner is extremely rich while the other is poor.(Para.5)

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Part 3 ( Paras. 8-11):

Q:what kinds of problems can prevent a premarital agreement from being enforced in court?

Answers: Any language mistakes in a prenup, even a misplaced preposition, can be disastrous. Second, a prenuptial agreement signed under pressure can cause problem. Third, there can be a dispute over premarital accords if a couple decides to divorce while living abroad, or when they have different passports.(Para.9)

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1. …it can be impossible to enforce it in court if proper guidelines have not been followed. (Para. 9)

enforce: vt. cause (a rule, law, etc.)to be obeyed, or carried out eff

ectively e.g. The teacher will enforce the rules of the school. 教师将执行学校的规定 . 2) make (sth.)happen, esp. by threats or force e.g. They enforced payment by threats of legal action.

他们通过以诉诸法律相威胁 , 来迫使人们接受规定的工资 .

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2. …some lawyers will not draw up an agreement once a wedding date has been set. (Para. 10)

draw up :

1) write out e.g. The lawyer drew up a contract for the sale of t

he property.

律师起草了一份房产出售合同 . 2) (of a vehicle) arrive at a certain point and stop e.g. A taxi drew up in front of the hotel.

一辆出租车停在饭店前 .

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3. A dispute can also break out over prenuptial agreements…(Para.12)

dispute: n. an argument or disagreement e.g. They’ve been trying to settle the dispute over econ

omic policy for the last month. 过去一个月中 , 他们一直在努力解决有关经济政策的争议 . 1) argue (about sth.) esp. angrily and for a long time e.g. They’re disputing with the local council over the pr

oposed new road. 他们与当地议会就所提议的新公路展开争论 . 2) disagree about or question the truth or correctness

of e.g. Few would dispute his status as one of the finest ar

tists. 很少有人会质疑他作为一名杰出艺术家的地位 .

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Page 23: New Horizon College English Book Ⅲ Unit 9 Section A: Premarital Agreement

V. Writing skill

-- -- using some specific examples to support a general point

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Analysis:

One of the writing techniques employed by the author is a statement being supported by examples. Now have a look at paragraphs 12 and 13 to see how a general statement is supported by examples.

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Task: Write down some examples to support the following general points, then choose one of the topics to write a paragraph.

a. General idea:

A prenuptial agreement saves a couple from a terrible marriage.

b. General idea:

Prenups are about how financial assets will be divided up.

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Sample

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition on the topic : My Opinion on Advertisement. You should write at least 120 words and you should base your composition on the outline below:

Some people hold the idea that the advertisement is a necessary evil in modern life.

What do you think?

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My Opinion on Advertisement

As is known to all, angels and evils are poles apart.

But is there anything that combines the two perfectly? Some there is-the advertisement. With the growing influence of mass media, advertising invades every aspect of our lives.

Whenever we turn on the TV, look through a newspaper, open the mailbox, or surf on the Internet, advertisements would immediately jump into our sight. As they make things so attractive, we often end up buying things that we do not really need. Advertising not only adds to the price of the goods, thus harming the consumer's interest, but also imposes a kind of materialistic value upon the audience.

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But that is only part of the story-advertisements are informative as well as persuasive. They provide us with up-to-date information about the latest products. Some advertisements are so elegantly presented that we are inspired or even moved.

No matter it is an evil or an angel, advertisement has become an indispensable part of our modern life.

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VI. Exercises

1.Combine the sentences with the conjunction “while”

2.rewrite each of the short sentences to achieve

emphasis by placing the negative part at the beginning.

3.Story summary.

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1.Combine the sentences with the conjunction “while”

Model: A dispute can also break out over

prenuptial agreements if a couple decides to divorce.

A dispute can also break out over prenuptial agreements if a couple decides to divorce while living abroad.

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More practice

(1) He always listens to the radio. At the same time he is driving to work. he always listens to the radio while driving to work.

(2) He works in an American company. He gives lectures on economics in a college in the

evening.

He works in an American company while giving lectures on economics in a college in the evening.

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2.rewrite each of the short sentences to achieve emphasis by placing the negative part at the beginning .

Models: You should never, ever, warn marriage

law consultants, use the same lawyer as your future spouse does.

Never, ever, marriage law consultants, should you use the same lawyer as your future spouse does.

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More practice

(1) This thought did not come to her mind even once.

Not even once did this thought come to her mind.

(2) He understood the weakness of his own position least of all.

Least of all did he understand the weakness of his own position.

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3.Story summary

cloze

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The End