d mercenary marriage?

II. Read

Read the following passages. Underline the important viewpoints while reading.

1. Husband and Wife by Arrangement.

Yoshio and Hiromi Tanaka are a young Japanese couple living in the USA while he studies electrical engineering. They clearly love each other very deeply, but, says Yoshio, "We didn' t marry for love in the Western sense. We got married in the time-Itcanoured Japanese way. Our parents arranged our marriage through a matchmaker. ln Japan we believe that marriage is something that affects the whole family; not just tbe young couple concerned.

So we think it is very important to match people according to their social background, education and so on. Matchmakers are usually middle-aged women who keep lists of suitable young people with information about their families, education and interests. When our parents thought it was time for us to get married they went to a local matchmaker and asked her for some suggestions. We discussed the details.and looked at the photos sbe sent, and then our parents asked her to arrange a 'marriage interview, for the two of us."

A Japanese marriage interview is held in a public place, such as a hotel or restaurant, and is attended by the boy and the girl,their parents and the matchmaker. Information about the couple and their families is exchanged over a cup of tea or a meal. Then the boy and the girl are left alone for a short time to get to know each other. When they return home they have to tell the matchmaker whether they want to meet again or not. If both of them want another meeting, the matchmaker arranges

it, and after that they can decide whether to carry on the coertship themselves. Here Hiromi said with a gentle sinile, "Not so long ago, the girl could never rcfuse to go out again with a boy who liked her, but now she can. I thought Yoshio was really rather nice, so I didn't refuse."

Yoshio continued: "When our parents realized we were serious about each other, they started to make arrangements for our wedding. My family paid the `Yuino' money to Hiromi's. This is money o help. pay for the wedding ceremony and for setting up house afterwards. We also gave her family a beautiful ornament to put in the best room of their house, so everyone knew that Hiromi was going to marry. Six months after our first meeting we were married. A traditional Japanese wedding is a wonderful ceremony, and our traditional custom of arranged marriages

has given me a wonderful wife."

　

2. Husband and Wife by Airmail

"You must be mad, " his friends said, as thirty-year-old John Briggs of Hatfield left London Airport to fly to Brazil. John was going half-way round the world to meet a girl he'd never seen but hoped to marry. The trip was costing him three months' pay-in fact he' d had to borrow from his father and an aunt to buy his ticket-and he had no idea whether the pretty dark-haired girl he only knew from photographs and letters would even like him. "I' d had a good life as a bachelor," says John, four years later, his arm round his wife and their two lovely children, "but I felt something was missing. I had a good job, my own house and plenty of friends.

I'd had plenty of girlfriends too, but somehow no one ever seemed quite the right girl for me. Then one day I was looking through a magazine during my lunch hour when a photograph of a pretty girl caught my eye. It was part of an advertisement for a World Penfriends Circle. I decided to write off to them immediately. All my friends had a good laugh, I remember."

John received the names of four girls, two. from Japan, one from Finland, and one from Brazil, and wrote to all of them, enclosing a photograph of himself, The last to reply was Maria from Brazil, but it was Maria who came to take first place in John's heart. They wrote to each other for a year, Maria in Portuguese and John in English- all the letters had to be

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