Unit 9
Premarital Agreements
Back
Backgroud Information:
Premarital Agreements:
Years ago, marriage
contracts
were
mainly for
Also called
prenuptial
the
rich and famous.
agreements
or ante- Today,
however,
premarital are
nuptial agreements,
agreements
used by
binding legalare
contracts
couples
neither
betweenwho
twoare
people
who
rich
norto
famous
clarify
intend
marry to
each
issues
other. of money, property,
and prior financial
commitments.
Background Information:
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Born on July 28, 1929, Jacqueline
Bouvier Kennedy was first lady of the
United States during the
administration (1961-1963) of her first
husband, John F. Kennedy. She had
been a newspaper reporter and
photographer before their marriagein
1953. She was riding beside President
Kennedy when he was assassinated in
Dallas, Texas, on Nov. 22, 1963. In
1968 she married the Greek shipping
millionaire Aristotle Onassis.
Background Information:
Aristotle Onassis
Born on January 20, 1906,
Aristotle Onassis was a Greek
shipping millionaire who
accumulated a fortune of
morethan $500 million.
Born of Greek parents in Turkey, he went to Buenos
Aires in 1923 and became a telephone operator there.
Soon Onassis established a tobacco import business,
and by 1930s he bought unused freighters at low prices
and by the end of World War II had amassed great wealth
in shipping. After the war he increased his shipping fleet
by purchasing surplus wartime freighters.
Background information:
some famous sayings about marriage:






Marriage is the final destination of two lovers.
Marriage should be a duet—when one sings,
the other claps.
Marriage is a palace that must be rebuilt
every day.
Marriage is a lottery in which men stake their
liberty and women their happiness.
Marriage is like an encircled fortress; those
who are outside want to get in, and those
inside want to get out.
Marriage is the tomb of love.
Background information:
ways to maintain a happy marriage:








Maintaining attraction for and trust with each other;
Development of free communication and mutual
understanding of the marital happiness;
Cherishing personal as well as sexual values;
Readiness to give each other sentimental care;
Help for personality development;
Performance of accepted duties and fulfillment of
expected responsibilities;
Respect for each other’s privacy;
Fulfillment of social obligations to maintain the
marital status.
Some useful phrases:

community property

clauses of prenuptial agreement 婚前协议条款

the division of financial assets: 财产分割

reasonable distribution: 公平分配

Out-of-court settlement: 庭外解决

The American Academy of Marriage Lawyers
美国婚姻法律师协会
夫妻共同财产
Text Structure Analysis
The passage can be divided into 4 parts:
Part I (Para. 1-4):
Part II (Para. 5-8):
A general
introduction
of prenups: What are
Part
III (Para.
9-14):
prenups
and how
they are forged?
Part
IV
(Para.
15-16):
This part is about who needs prenups.
This part deals with what points should
This
partcare
is about
possible
evaluations
be
taken
of when
one goes
into a of
prenups.
premarital agreement.
prenups
Who?
What points?
evaluations
summary:
The author gives the reader a
detailed exposition of what
prenups are, who needs prenups,
what points to be taken care of
before signing prenups, and how
people evaluate prenups.
Words and Expressions














store away/up
make no mistake about
arise
bind
gain in
exposure
shield sb from …
pass on to
be in line for sth; be in line to do sth
draw up
a sword hanging over one’s head
under sb’s nose
have no /little /some /much bearing on
lay bare
work out: develop well; prove successful (L1)


Things have worked out quite well for us.
对我们来说，一切都很顺利。
At first we didn’t think we’d ever move into
our new house, but it all worked out in the
end.
起初我们觉得搬新家无望。不过, 最终事随人愿.
store away/up: collect or keep …for future use
(L2)


The farmer hoped that all his crops was safely
stored up.
农场主希望所有的粮食都能安全地储藏起来。
You can store coffee beans away in the
freezer to keep them fresh.
你可以把咖啡豆存放在冰箱里保鲜。
make no mistake about …: don’t have the
slightest doubt about; be quite sure


(L5)
It won’t make any difference to us; make
no mistake about it.
不要弄错了，那对我们是无关紧要的。
Make no mistake about it, you’re risking
others’ lives by doing that.
毫无疑问，你那么做会危及他人的生命。
arise: occur (L10)
Smoke
arose
the chimney.
rise:
move
fromfrom
a lower
position to a higher

烟从烟筒冒出来。
position; ascend


A new
difficulty
arisen.
His voice
rosehas
in excitement.
出现了新的困难。
他激动得声音提高了。
Accidents
arise from carelessness.
 The flood has risen two feet.
疏忽大意往往会引起事故的发生。
洪水上涨两英尺。
Compare: rise
bind:
(L11)
1) hold (people/ things) together; unite
2) tie tightly

Her patriotism
to her
3) force
sb to obeyhas
by abound
law orher
a promise
motherland.
They bound the prisoner’s hands behind his
back.
她的爱国心是使她和她的祖国紧密联系在一起。

They bound him to remain silent.
他们把囚犯的双手捆在背后。
他们要他答应一定要保持沉默。

Hence the study of primitive culture is
intimately
The agreement
her
to repay
the debt
bound binds
up with
that
of prinitive
in full within six months.
religion.
协议规定她必须在六个月内还清全部债务。
因此，原始文化研究与原始宗教研究密切相关。
gain in: get more of a particular quality
在...方面有所增加/增长/收获



(L11)
More and more material possessions do not
suggest that you gain more in happiness.
越来越多的物质财富不一定表明你得到了更多的幸福。
Ill-gotten gains never prosper.
不义之财发不了家。
Sometimes the best gain is to lose.
有时吃亏就是占便宜。
reduce one’s exposure to future problems:
减少自己日后的麻烦
(L26)
exposure: exposing or being exposed
expose: deprive of shelter or protection


You should limit your exposure to the sun.
使暴露/使失去掩蔽或保护
你应该减少晒太阳。
 expose students to good art and music
使学生接触美好的艺术和音乐
Even
a brief exposure to radiation is
dangerous.
 expose sb to risks使冒险
哪怕是受到短暂的辐射也是很危险的。
He exposed the plan to the newspapers.
The
exposure of sb’s love affair 绯闻的暴光
他向几家报纸透露了这个计划。


shield sb from …: protect from harm
保护······（免于······）使能够······


Put your hands over your eyes to shield
them from the sun.
用手放在眼睛上，遮挡太阳光。
Let me shield you from the wind.
让我为你避风挡雨吧！
(L32)
pass on to: hand /give sth to … esp. after
receiving and using it oneself (L32)


Please pass the message on to Helen.
把消息转达给海伦。
A father who has genetic defect usually
passes it on to his children.
有基因缺陷的父亲往往会将有缺陷的基因传给孩子。
be in line for sth; be in line to do sth:
be likely to get or do sth (L35)

John is in line for the presidency of the
club next year.
…明年有望成为俱乐部主席。
Mary is in line for promotion.
有望升职
Translation for Para 8:
 Prince Harry is the fourth in line to succeed
译：另一种要求签定婚前协议的情况是：未来的丈夫或妻
to the throne.
子已经或即将继承巨额遗产或家庭产业，尤其是在未来
…是第四皇位继承人。
伴侣家资不多或一贫如洗的情况下。

draw up:
(L43)
1) write out
2)
(of
vehicle)
arrive
a certainfor
point

Thea lawyer
drew
upat
a contract
theand
sale
stop
of
the property.
律师拟定了一份有关财产转让的合同。
A taxi drew up in front of the hotel.
一辆出租车驶近饭店并停在门口。

He had his will drawn up so that each of
his children would receive part of his
 A police car drew up just before the
money when he died.
robbers left the bank.
他订下遗嘱好让每个孩子在他过世后都能得到一份遗
正当抢劫犯离开银行时，警车到了。
产。
a sword hanging over one’s head:
a dangerous thing to one



(L44)
the sword of Damocles
随时可能发生的危险, 潜在的威胁
The newspaper reported that the army was very
discontent and that was a sword of Damocles hanging
over the government.
报纸上报道说军队有不满情绪，因此这是一把悬在政府头上的达摩克
里斯剑。
Examinations are like huge rocks hanging over some
students’ heads. They feel overwhelmed with the
invisible pressure.
考试就好像悬在一些学生头上的巨石。他们被这无形的压力压得喘不
过气来。
under sb’s nose: just in front of sb
(L47)



The thief walked out of the museum with the
painting right under the guards’ nose.
小偷正是在警卫的眼皮底下拿着那幅油画走出了博物馆。
There is a box of matches right under your
nose.
This journalist lost his bearings when large
sums of money were stuck under his nose.
当大笔的金钱放到面前时，这位记者乱了方寸。
have no /little /some /much bearing on…:
与······无 / 几乎没有 / 有一些 / 有很大关系 ( L. 65)

He might have information that has a bearing
on the case.
他也许掌握着与本案有关的情况。

It is true that one’s success has some bearing
on his intelligence; but diligence counts more
to it.
一个人的成功固然与他的智慧有关; 但勤奋对成功更为重要。
lay bare: expose or make known sth hidden (L68)



All the facts are laid bare in this special report.
在这份特殊的报告里，所有的事实都披露出来了。
The committee’s report lays bare corruption on
a massive scale.
揭露了大量的腐败事实
The woman laid bare the whole story of her life.
讲叙了她的整个人生故事。
shed/throw/ cast light on: make … easier to
understand
(L45)
Shed: produce (tears, light or blood)
 These clues shed new light on the mystery.
get rid of (sth not needed or wanted)
这些线索使这个疑案明朗化(变得清晰些)了。
 The army overthrew the government
without shedding any blood.
 New light has been shed on the behavior
军队已把政府推翻了，但没有造成流血事件。
of
Black Holes, as a result of this
discovery.
 这次发现使得人们对黑洞的活动有了新的了解。
Firms in this area have shed thousands of
jobs in the past years.
削减数千个职位
Questions for discussion:
1.
Will Prenuptial Agreements become a
Trend in China? Why?
2.
What’s your view on marriage?
3.
How to prevent a terrible marriage?
Writing:
A General Idea supported by Examples
The examples should be:
Model:
Example 1
typical and persuasive
Topic Sentence + Example 2 + Restatement
tightly related to the topic
Example 3
well representative and supportive
Sample
Modern literature in most countries deals
with social issues. For example, many
contemporary novels of Africa depict the lives of
ordinary people struggling against adversity.
Furthermore, poetry from America speaks out
against social and economic oppression. In still
another instance, modern European drama
enacts the fate of the working man in his drab
confrontation with life. Even films, popular songs,
and folk dramas from all around the world, tell
the story of the little man and his battle against
the giants of impersonal corporations, remote
governments, or aggressive neighboring nations.
It’s clear from these limited examples that
contemporary literature in many parts of the
world deals with the social issues of the day.
The end
Thank you!
General-specific exposition
General
Statement
(总分法 )
Back
Who want prenups?
(Paras. 5 - 8)
Detail 1: Those who will be involved in great
economic
consequences
a divorce and
Detail
2: Those
who haveinaccumulated
those who want
to remarry.
(Para. been
5) stung
considerable
wealth,
have
already
Detail 3: Those who want to shield assets to
once,
and
want
to
reduce
their
exposure
to
be passed
on to who
children
Detail
4: Those
have,and
or grandchildren
are in line for,
future
problems.
(Para.
6) a spouse has died.
and
plan
to
remarry
after
great inherited wealth or family businesses,
(Para. 7) if the future partners have little or
especially
nothing at all. (Para. 8)
General-specific exposition
General
Statement
(总分法 )
Back
What points to be taken care of
before signing prenups?(Paras. 914)
Detail 1: Proper guidelines are necessary; a
lawyer
is
required
to
write
the
document;
and
do
Detail 2: Do not sign a prenup under pressure.
not
use
the
same
lawyer
as
your
future
spouse
(Para.
10)Watch out that a dispute of carrying out
Detail 3:
does. (Para. 9)
prenups could happen if a couple decides to
Detail 4: Have a correct understanding of the
divorce while living abroad with different
nature of prenups: they are business agreements.
passports. (Para. 12)
(Para. 14)
General-specific exposition
(总分法)
Back
Evaluations of prenups
(Paras. 15 - 16)
Detail 1: Prenups sometimes may help save a
couple from a terrible marriage. (Para. 15)
Detail 2: Prenups sometimes prove to be of no
use to some happy marriages. (Para. 16)