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 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 int0 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.”
【小题1】The underlined word gulf in Para.3 most probably means _________.

A．interest

B．distance

C．difference

D．separation

【小题2】Which 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.

【小题3】The change in today’s parent-child relationship is _________.

A．more confusion among parents	B．new equality between parents and children
C．1ess respect for parents from children
D．more strictness and authority on the part of parents

【小题4】By saying “today’s parents, the 40-year-olds, were on the ‘after’ side.” the author means that today’s parents _________.

A．follow the trend of the change	B．can set a limit to the change
C．fail to take the change seriously	D．have little difficulty adjusting to the change

【小题5】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

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 do you like it?’” says Ballmer. “There was just a complete gap in taste.”  

    Music was not the only gulf(分歧). 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 friends.”   

    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(演化的) 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.”

 

Throughout the world, boys and girls prefer to play with different types of toys. Boys typically like to play with cars and trucks, while girls typically choose to play with dolls. Why is this? A traditional sociological explanation is that boys and girls are socialized and encouraged to play with different types of toys by their parents, peers, and the “society”. Growing scientific evidence suggests, however, that boys’ and girls’ toy preferences may have a biological origin.

In 2002, Gerianne M. Alexander of Texas A&M University and Melissa Hines of City University in London surprised the scientific world by showing that monkeys showed the same sex typical toy preferences as humans. In the study, Alexander and Hines gave two masculine toys (a ball and a police car), two feminine toys (a soft doll and a cooking pot), and two neutral toys (a picture book and a stuffed dog) to 44 male and 44 female monkeys. They then assessed the monkeys’ preference for each toy by measuring how much time they spent with each. Their data showed that male monkeys showed significantly greater interest in the masculine toys, and the female monkeys showed significantly greater interest in the feminine toys. The two sexes did not differ in their preference for the neutral toys.

If children’ s toy preferences were largely formed by gender socialization, as traditional sociologists’ claim, in which their parents give “gender appropriate” toys to boys and girls, how can these male and female monkeys have the same preferences as boys and girls？They were never socialized by humans, and they had never seen these toys before in their lives.

1.Traditional sociologists believe boys’ and girls’ toy preferences ________

A．are passed down from their parents

B．are largely formed in later life

C．have nothing to do with gender socialization

D．have a biological origin

2.The study by Alexander and Hines shows that monkeys________

A．also have a sex typical toy preference

B．also play toys as humans do

C．have no toy preferences

D．like to play different toys at different time

3.Alexander and Hines carried out the study to ________

A．find more evidence for traditional sociology

B．test the intelligence of monkeys

C．test whether monkeys like to play toys

D．find out why boys and girls prefer different toys

4.According to the study, if given a stuffed dog, _______

A．only the male monkeys showed interest

B．the female monkeys showed more interest

C．the male and female monkeys showed the same interest

D．neither the male nor the female monkeys showed any interest

 

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 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 int0 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.”

The underlined word gulf in Para.3 most probably means _________.

A. interest             B. distance             C. difference          D. separation

Which 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.

By saying “today’s parents, the 40-year-olds, were on the ‘after’ side.” the author means that today’s parents _________.

A. follow the trend of the change         B. can set a limit to the change

C. fail to take the change seriously              D. have little difficulty adjusting to the change

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

When I was a kid, my brother dropped the bomb: "No Santa Claus （Father Christmas）!" I fled to Grandma because I knew she would   36   me the truth．I told her everything．"No!" she said．"Ridiculous! Don' t   37   it．"

       After dinner, we went to General Store．Grandma handed me ten   38   ．"Take it and buy something for whoever needs it．I'll wait in the   39   ．" I' d often gone shopping with Mother, but never had I shopped   40   ．For moments, I stood there, confused,   41   what to do with it．I thought of everybody I knew．  42   I thought of Bobbie Decker．His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough．We all knew that Bobbie would have no cough   43   he had a thicker coat．So I decided to buy Bobbie one．"Is this a present for   44  ?" the saleslady asked me kindly．I   45   shyly．She smiled, handed it to me and wished me a merry Christmas．Then Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Santa Claus   46  and ribbons and write "To Bobbie, From Santa Claus " on it．Then she   47   me over to Bobbie's house．Grandma parked down the street from Bobbie' s house．We   48   noiselessly and hid in the   49   by his front walk．"All right, Santa Claus," she   50   ,"get going．" I rushed out, threw the present down at his front door,   51   his doorbell and flew back to the safety．Together we   52   breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open．

       Forty years I haven' t forgotten those   53   I spent shivering （颤抖）in Bobbie' s bushes．That night, I realized that the stories about Santa Clause were really ridiculous ．Santa Claus was alive,  54  we were on his  55  ．

A．tell           B．teach       C．take            D．advise

A．remember     B．believe     C．understand      D．consider

A．bags          B．keys      C．coats           D．dollars

A．home          B．store        C．car             D．bus

A．separately      B．apart        C．singly           D．alone

A．wondering     B．worrying  C．expecting        D．looking -

A．Luckily        B．SurprisinglyC．Suddenly       D．Firstly

A．unless         B．since     C．as              D．if

A．anyone       B．someone   C．others           D．another

A．nodded        B．smiled      C．replied          D．denied

A．gift           B．name     C．paper         D．needle

A．sent           B．drove           C．walked         D．guided

A．stole          B．struggled  C．stepped         D．searched

A．cars ．       B．buildings  C．stairs           D．bushes

A．sighed         B．whispered C．called           D．shouted

A．knocked       B．pushed      C．pounded         D．switched．

A．rushed         B．laughed    C．paused          D．waited

A．nights        B．feelings    C．moments        D．bills

A．and           B．but        C．then          D．therefore

A．side           B．team       C．part           D．staff