“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.”

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

A. interest

B. distance

C. difference

D. separation

42. 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.

43. 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

44. 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

45. 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