family还可以用来指年幼的子女，start a family 并不能简单理解为组建家庭，而是指“准备生小孩”。

【例句】
Although they have been married for a couple of years, they still haven't started a family.
尽管他们结婚几年了，但是依然没生育孩子。

They'd been married nearly four years and June was desperate to start a family.
他们结婚已快4年了，琼非常渴望要个孩子。