题目内容：
根据以下材料回答第 1～4 题：Passage Five
“Family”is of course an elastic word．But when British people say that their society is based on family life。they are thinking of“family”in its narrow，peculiarly European senseof mother，father and children living together alone in their own house as an economic and social unit．Thus，every British marriage indicates the beginning of a new and independent family—hence the tremendous importance of marriage in British life．For both the man and the woman，marriage means leaving one’s parents and starting one’s own life．The man’s first duty will then be to his wife，and the wife’s to her husband．He will be entirely re sDonsible for her financial support，and she for the running of the new home．Their chil dren will be their common responsibility and theirs alone．Neither the wife’s parents nor the husband’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’s Pride and Prejudice will know that in former times marriage among wealthy families were arranged by the girl’s parents，that is，it was the parents’s duty to find a suitable husband for their daughter，preferably a rich one，and bv skillful encouragement to lead him eventually to ask their permission to marry her．Until that time，the girl was protected and maintained in the parents’home，and the financial relief of getting rid of her could be seen in their giving the newly married pair a sum of money called a dowry．It is very different today．Most girls of today get a job when they 1eave school and become financially independent before their marriage．This has had tworesults．A girl chooses her own husband，and she gets no dowry．
What does the author mean by“family is of course an elastic word”?
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