姚　婷

編者注：家庭是社會(huì)的“基本細(xì)胞”。1989年12月8日，第44屆聯(lián)合國大會(huì)通過一項(xiàng)決議，宣布1994年為“國際家庭年”(International Year of the Family)，并確定其主題為“家庭：變化世界中的動(dòng)力與責(zé)任”。此后聯(lián)合國有關(guān)機(jī)構(gòu)又確定以屋頂蓋心的圖案作為“國際家庭年”的標(biāo)志，昭示人們用生命和愛心去建立溫暖的家庭。國際家庭年的宗旨是提高各國政府、決策者和公眾對(duì)于家庭問題的認(rèn)識(shí)，促進(jìn)各政府機(jī)構(gòu)制定、執(zhí)行和監(jiān)督家庭政策。 1993年2月，聯(lián)合國社會(huì)發(fā)展委員會(huì)又作出決定，從1994年起，每年5月15日為“國際家庭日”。設(shè)立“國際家庭日”旨在改善家庭的地位和條件，加強(qiáng)在保護(hù)和援助家庭方面的國際合作。

May 15 is celebrated as the International Day of the Family. This day highlights (加亮,強(qiáng)調(diào)) the importance of families. It aims at fostering (養(yǎng)育,撫育,培養(yǎng)) equality, bringing about a fuller sharing of domestic (國內(nèi)的,家庭的) responsibilities (職責(zé)) and employment opportunities. The programmes undertaken (接手,從事) to commemorate the day, work towards supporting families in the discharge (卸下,放出,解雇,解除) of their functions. They tend to promote the inherent (內(nèi)在的,固有的) strengths of families, including their great capacity (能力) of self-reliance, and stimulate (刺激,激勵(lì),鼓舞) self-sustaining activities.

Family constitutes (組成,構(gòu)成,制定) the basic unit of society. Hence, the widest possible protection and assistance should be accorded to families so that they fully assume (承擔(dān)) their responsibilities within the community to the provisions (糧食,食品) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (人權(quán)宣言), the Declaration on Social Progress and Developments (社會(huì)進(jìn)步與發(fā)展宣言) and the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against women (消除對(duì)婦女一切形式歧視公約任擇議定書).

Effect of Modernization on Family

In the simple and peasant societies, family was the unit of production as well as a primary unit of society. In the industrial society, the family has lost the place of being the unit of production and has been replaced by individual (個(gè)人,個(gè)體) as the primary unit of society who works as a wage-earner or professional. The roles of family and marriage have undergone (遭受,經(jīng)歷,忍受) significant change in industrial societies. But even today, family occupies a unique place in industrial as well as pre-industrial societies. Families assume diverse forms and functions that vary from (與……不同) region to region, and express the social condition. It is seen that the family in Asia is moving slowly towards the Western nuclear family model, but retaining (保持,保留) certain structural forms and traditional values.