ENGL 112 CRITICAL READING AND WRITING

Asia's Lonely Hearts: Sample Answers

1. What is the author’s main thesis statement ? Which words does he use?

In the third paragraph he says “What’s happening in Asia is a flight from marriage”

2. What reasons does he give for his argument?
1. Marriage rates are falling partly because people are postponing getting hitched.
2. A lot of Asians are not marrying later. They are not marrying at all.
3. Sex-selective abortion
4. For a woman, being both employed and married is tough in Asia
5. Asian women have an unusually pessimistic view of marriage
6. More women are financially independent, so more of them can pursue a single life
7. More education has also contributed to the decline of marriage

3. What conclusions does the author present? 1. It is creating social problems 2. It can no longer be taken for granted that there will be a family to look after ageing or ill relatives 3. The decline of marriage is contributing to the collapse in the birth rate 4. Less marriage might mean more crime

4. What recommendations does the author offer? 1. Governments can encourage a change in attitudes. 2. Divorce should be made easier especially for women whose husbands are not behaving responsibly 3. Family law should give divorced women a more generous share of the couple’s assets 4. Governments should legislate to get employers to offer both maternal and paternal leave, and provide or subsidize child care 5. What examples does the author use to support his argument? 1. The mean age of marriage in the richest places—Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong—has risen sharply in the past few decades, to reach 29-30 for women and 31-33 for men 2. Almost a third of Japanese women in their early 30s are unmarried; probably half of those will always be. 3. Over one-fifth of Taiwanese women in their late 30s are single; most will never marry. 4. In Bangkok, 20% of 40-44-year old women are not married; in Tokyo, 21%; among university graduates of that age in Singapore, 27%. 5. Fertility in East Asia has fallen from 5.3 children per woman in the late 1960s to 1.6 now 6. By 2050, there will be 60m more men of marriageable age than women in China and India.
6. In your opinion how can the trend be changed?