回答题 "Family" is of course an elastic word．And in different countries it has different meanings．Butwhen British people say that their society is based on family life, they are thinking of "family" in itsnarrow, peculiarly European sense of mother, father and children living together in their own houseas an economic and social unit．Thus, every British marriage indicates the beginning of a new andindependent family--hence the tremendous importance of marriage in British life．For both man andwoman, marriage means leaving one&39; s parents and starting one&39; s own life．The man&39; s first dutywill then be to his wife, and the wife&39; s to her husband．He will be entirely responsible for her finan-cial support, and she for the running of the new home．Their children will be their common responsi-bility and their alone．Neither the wife&39; s parents nor the husband&39; s, nor their brothers or sisters,aunts or uncles, have any right to interfere with them--they are their own masters． Readers of novels like Jane Austen&39; s Pride and Prejudice will know that in former times, mar-riage among wealthy families were arranged by the girl&39; s parents, that is, it was the parents&39; duty tofind a suitable husband for their daughter, preferably a rich one, and by skillful encouragement tolead him eventually to ask their permission to marry her．Until that time, the girl was protected andmaintained in the parents&39; home, and the fmancial relief of getting rid of her could be seen in theirgiving the newly married pair a sum of money called a dowry(嫁妆)．It is very different today． Most girls of today get a job when they leave school and become financially independent before theirmarriage．This has had two results．A girl chooses her own husband, and she gets no dowry．Everycoin has two sides; independence for girls is no exception．But it may be a good thing for all of thegirls, as their social status are much higher and they are no longer the subordinate(部下，下级) oftheir parents and husbands． What does the author mean by "Family is of course an elastic word"? 查看材料