One school night this month I walked quietly up to
Alexander, my 15-year-old son, and touched his cheek gently in a manner I hoped
would seem casual．A year ago he would have ignored this
disturbance but now he reacted impatiently and leaned back to his computer
screen．
I made a mistake: breaking into my teenager's personal
space. “The average teenager has pretty strong feelings about his
privacy," Lara Fox and her friend Hilary Frankel told me. Mr．Frankel and Mr．Fox, both 17,
are the authors of Breaking the Code, a new book that seeks to bridge the
generational divide between parents and adolescents．It is being promoted by its publisher as the first
self-help guide by teenagers for their parents, a kind of "Kids Are From Mars,
Parents Are From Venus" that explains the language and actions of
teenagers．The girls dealt with issues including
hanging out late, money, school pressures, smoking etc．
Personally, I welcome their opinions．The most common missteps in interacting with teenagers
arise from the war between parents exercising their rights to know what goes on
under their roof and teenagers firmly guarding their privacy．Teenagers can be quick to interpret their parents'
remarks and respond with anger that masks their vulnerability （脆弱
）. Ms Fox said, "What we want above all is your
approval．Don't forget, no matter how much we act as
if we don't care what you say, we believe the things you say about us．"
Nancy, a New York child-raising expert said she didn't
agree with everything the authors suggested but found their arguments
reasonable．"When your kids are saying, ' You
don't get it, and you never will, ' there are lots of ways to respond so
that they will listen and that is what the writers point out．"
" My parents helped me see that, " Mr．Fox told me, " even though they used to stay out
late and ride their bicycles to school, times have changed and the way parents
educate children is different．These days there is a
major fear factor in bringing up kids．Parents worry
about their child crossing the street．" The
writers said they hoped simply to throw light on teenage thinking．
1.According to the two girls, teenagers nowadays are
____．
A．independent
B．intelligent
C. inconsiderate D．sensitive
2.The underlined sentence "You don't get it,
and you never will" in the 4th paragraph implies that ____．
A．the teenagers don't
want/to admit their weakness
B．the teenagers think that
their parents will never understand them
C．the parents do not
necessarily force into the world of their children
D．the generation gap cannot
be shortened despite their parents' efforts
3.It can be inferred from the last two paragraphs that
____．
A．teenagers should guard
their privacy
B．Nancy totally agrees with
the two girls' opinions
C．parents are more
concerned about children's safety
D．the two girls have
obtained numerous support from the public
4.Why does the author mention the book "Kids Are
From Mars, Parents Are From Venus ?
A．It is one of the
best-sellers
B．It is also written by the
two girls
C．The two books have the
similar theme
D．The two books have
different opinions
