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.”

今天，父母和孩子穿同样样的衣服,听同样的音乐,做朋友.这是好事吗?有时,当鲍尔默先生和他16岁的女儿伊丽莎白一起听摇滚乐,讨论他们都喜欢的爱好时,比如流行文化.他会想起在他未成年的时候,他和父母有着很大的距离.
"我从未对我母亲说过"嗨,新威瑟乐团的专辑真的很不错,你觉得呢?'鲍莫尔说'"在欣赏观上来说，有着不可逾越的代沟."
音乐不是唯一的代沟,从穿着、发型到（言行）举止和（对生活的）期望上,早些年代的父母和（他们的）孩子经常在不同的轨道上运行着，（各自为是）.
今天,代沟仍然没有消除,但代沟在很多家庭正在逐步缩小.很多谈论的话题在以前的年代是不会发生的,比如如性和毒品。现在（谈论）它们很自然，也很普遍。还有一些亲子活动,从购物到体育运动，这些能激发的信任感和友谊的活动会延续到子女成年.
“给我的妈妈，我最好的朋友”，今天这样的祝福语出现在贺卡上一点也不奇怪。
但家庭专家（提出）警告，新的平等也能（导致）对父母的尊重减少的结果。“仍有许多严厉和权威的家长存在,但正有所改变”"黎巴嫩学院的心理学教授凯瑞说，"在这个变化过程中,家长们有很多困惑."家庭研究人员为这些角色和态度的不断变化提供了各种各样的原因.他们发现,20世纪60年代是一个转折点.巨大的文化变革导致更加开放的沟通和更民主的环境（出现）,这就鼓励人人去发言.
“我的父母都在这种变化的'前面',但今天的父母,40多岁的人,则在'后面'”."鲍莫尔解释道,“这不是现在的父母很容易就能做到的事,因为生活很难理解、处理,但分享爱好让现在的父母（显得）更为有趣些.”

有的地方采取了意译，我认为更符合汉语习惯