墨尔本PTE Summarize written text 总结归纳段落 24

Read the passage below and summarize it using one sentence. You have 10 minutes to finish this task. Your response will be judged on the quality of your writing and on how well your response presents the key points in the passage.

A dowry—the money or property a bride brings to her husband at marriage—was common in the past.It flourished throughout much of the ancient world, and also in medieval Europe.

The practice of dowries apparently originated when a bride’s parents gave her presents. For example,during the Middle Ages, young girls in rural areas received a dowry from their parents to take withthem into marriage. Typically, she received a bed when she turned 12, followed by a wardrobe the nextyear.

As time went on, the dowry developed various functions. A dowry of household goods often helped the newlyweds set up their own home. A dowry of property or jewelry would help the wife support herself if her husband died. Generally, the husband returned the dowry to his in-laws if he and his wife divorced or if his wife died childless.

Sometimes, the groom’s family paid for the bride, often to compensate her family for the money spent raising her. If the bride had been a valuable worker, her family was sometimes compensated for the loss of her economic support.

Today, traditional wedding observances are losing ground all over the world. However, some traditional cultures, including gypsies, many Hindus, and certain African societies, continue to see dowries as a usual part of marriage. For example, a groom of the Roma people, or gypsies, pays the bride’s family for the loss of their daughter. The bride price also ensures that the bride will be well treated by her new family. Negotiations between the families of the bride and groom can become quite extensive, with the bride’s father calculating how much his daughter has cost him since her birth, and how much she could be expected to earn during her lifetime.