A
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 they 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 do 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 of 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-olds,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.”
21The underlined word “gulf” in Paragraph 3 most probably means “ ”.
A.interest B.distance
C.difference D.separation
解析:词义猜测题。由上文(特别是gap)和下句(特别是separateorbits)可知,上几代的父母与孩子之间不仅是在音乐爱好方面有“差异”,而且从发型、衣着,到活动、期望等各方面,差异都很大。最大的干扰项是distance,文章的确提到distantrelationship,但关系还没有到不同路的地步。
答案:C
22Which of the following shows 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.
解析:归纳判断题。由第一段首句dressalike,listentothesamemusic以及talkaboutinterestsbothenjoy等可知,父母与孩子有更多的共同兴趣,表明代沟在渐渐消失。选项A、B、C都属于shareinterests的范畴,D项包括前三项,是最全面的概括。
答案:D
23The 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
解析:细节理解题。第六段中的thenewequality就是上文所说的父母与孩子关系的变化。最大干扰项是A项和C项,不管是孩子对父母缺少尊重还是父母间产生更多的迷惑,都是这种新型的平等关系所产生的“结果”,这里问的是变化是什么,而不是变化的结果是什么。
答案:B
24The 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
解析:写作目的题。由全文内容,特别是由thegenerationgaphasnotdisappeared,butitisgettingnarrow等关键词句可知,本文主要是讨论父母与孩子之间的关系的发展变化。
答案:B
