听力原文： Marriage has been an important part of people’s life from the early times. Most American marriages nowadays, especially first marriages involving young couples, are the result of mutual affection. Parents hardly ever select spouses for their children, but they can usually influence their choices by voicing dis-approval of someone they consider unsuitable. Parents do not arrange marriages for their children but they are willing to offer some financial aid to the new couples. The average age of marriage in the U. S.A. is 23 for man and 21 for woman. The legal marriage age is 18 for both male and female. There are about 2,500,000 couples reporting marriages in the U. S. A. every year. The marriage rate in 1994 was 10.5 per 1,000 people. Of 2,487,000 marriages in 1994, about 1,155,000 were unsuccessful. The divorce rate in the U. S. is so high that it produces a large number of one-arent families and causes serious social problems. (1)