The evidence for harmony may not be obvious in some families. But it seems that four out of five young people now get on with their parents, which is the opposite of the popularly held image of unhappy teenagers locked in their room after endless family quarrels.
An important new study into teenage attitudes (态度) surprisingly shows that their family life is happier than it has ever been in the past. “We were surprised by just how positive (积极的) today’s young people seem to be about their families,” said one member of the research team. “They’re expected to be rebellious（叛逆的）and selfish but actually they have other things on their minds; they want a car and material goods, and they worry about whether school is serving them well. There’s discussion between parents and children, and children expect to take part in the family decision-making process. They don’t want to rock the boat.”
So it seems that these parents are much more likely than parents of 30 years ago to treat their children as friends. “My parents are happy to discuss things with me and willing to listen to me,” says 17-year-old Daniel LaSalle. “I always tell them when I’m going out clubbing. When they know what I’m doing, they’re fine with it.” Susan Cromer, who is now 21, agrees. “Looking back on the last 10 years, there was a lot of what you could call talk or discussion. For example, when I’d done all my homework, I could go out on a Saturday night. But I think my grandparents were a lot stricter with my parents than that.”
Maybe this positive view of family life should not be unexpected. It is possible that the idea of teenage rebellion（叛逆）is not based on real facts. A researcher explains, “Teenagers were thought to be different from others in a part of time in our social history. But to our surprise, they say they are getting on well with their parents. But that idea of rebelling and breaking away from their parents really only happened during that one time in the 1960s when everyone rebelled.”
【小题1】The study shows that teenagers don’t want to ______________________.

 Nick _______ a job in a bank, but to our surprise, he didn’t take it.

A. is offered       B. offered        C. was offered      D. has offered

C
It was at least tow months before Christmas, when nine-year-old Almie Rose told her father and me that she wanted a new bike. Her Barbi bike was just too old, and it needed repairing as well.
As Christmas came nearer, her dream for a bike seemed to disappear, so we thought, for she didn’t mention it again. We were busy buying some beautiful storybooks, a doll house, a holiday dress and toys. Then much to our surprise, on December 24, she said she really wanted a bike more than anything else.
Now we didn’t know what to do. It was just toot late. We were busy with Christmas dinner and packing children’s presents, parents’ presents, a brother’s present and friends’ presents till midnight.So there was no time to take to buy the “right bike” for our little girl. Thinking that we were parents who would make their children unhappy, we felt guilty and sad.
Suddenly my husband came up with an idea. “What if I make a little bike out of clay(泥土) and write a note(便条) that she could trade in(交换) the model bike for a real one?” So he spent the next five hours carefully working with the clay to make a small bike.
On Christmas morning, we were so excited for Almie Rose to open the little box with the beautiful red and white clay bike and the note. She opened and read the note loudly.
She looked at me and Ron and said, ”So does this mean I can trade in this bike for a real one?” Smiling, I said, “Yes.”
Almie Rose had tears in her eyes when she replied, “I would never trade in this beautiful bike that Daddy made me. I prefer to keep it rather than get a real bike.” At that moment, we would have moved the God to buy her every bike on the Earth.
【小题1】Rose’s wish was to____ on Christmas Day.