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Parents and kids today dress alike, listen to the same music, and are friends. Is this a good thing?
Sometimes, when Mr. Ballmer and his 16-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, listen to rock music together and talk
about interests both enjoy, such as pop culture, he remembers his more distant relationship with his parents
when he was a teenager.
"I would never have said to my mom, 'Hey, the new Weezer album is really great. How you like it?" says
Ballmer. "There was just a complete gap in taste."
Music was not the only gulf. From clothing and hairstyles to activities and expectations, earlier generations
of parents and children often appeared to move in separate orbits.
Today, the generation gap has not disappeared, but it is getting narrow in many families. Conversations on
subjects such as sex and drugs would not have taken place a generation ago. Now they are comfortable and
common. And parent-child activities, from shopping to sports, involve a feeling of trust and friendship that
can continue into adulthood.
No wonder greeting cards today carry the message, "To my mother, my best friend."
But family experts warn that the new equality can also result in less respect for parents.
"There's still a lot strictness and authority on the part of parents out there, but there is a change happening,"
says Kerrie, a psychology professor at Lebanon Valley College, "In the middle of that change, there is a lot of
confusion among parents."
Family researchers offer a variety of reasons for these evolving roles and attitudes. They see the 1960s as
a turning point. Great cultural changes led to more open communication and a more democratic process that
encourages everyone to have a say.
"My parents were on the 'before' side of that change, but today's parents, the 40-year-old, were on the
'after' side," explains Mr. Ballmer. "It's not something easily accomplished by parents these days, because life
is more difficult to understand or deal with, but sharing interests does make it more fun to be a parent now."
1. The underlined word gulf in Para. 3 most probably means _____. [ ]
A. interest
B. distance
C. difference
D. separation
2. Which of the following show that the generation gap is disappearing?[ ]
A. Parents help their children develop interests in more activities.
B. Parents put more trust in their children's abilities.
C. Parents and children talk more about sex and drugs.
D. Parents share more interests with their children.
3. The change in today's parent-child relationship is _____. [ ]
A. more confusion among parents
B. new equality between parents and children
C. less respect for parents from children
D. more strictness and authority on the part of parents
4. The purpose of the passage is to _____. [ ]
A. describe the difficulties today's parents have met with
B. discuss the development of the parent-child relationship
C. suggest the ways to handle the parent-child relationship
D. compare today's parent-child relationship with that in the past
