Задание 8 ЕГЭ по английскому языку

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Presenter: Hello everybody and welcome to our weekly programme 'Generation Gap'. Today in our studio we have Kelly Wright, the author of the recently published New York Times bestseller 'Tell Me More', Teenagers' Stories. She is known for her honest and humorous storytelling. She is also the mother of two teenage daughters, aged 14 and 16. Kelly is here with us today to talk about what she's learned, and is still learning, about raising teens. Hello, Kelly!

Kelly: Good afternoon. Thank you for inviting me here today.

Presenter: Your children are now teenagers. Has it changed how you speak and write about yourself and your kids?

Kelly: It doesn't change what I'm willing to share about myself, but I am limited in what family stories I can tell. I pick stories that we as a family have already processed together and that I know are fair game. There is a lot of pain in adolescence and I can't use those stories to make a point. People feel pain from middle school, high school and into their adulthood. There is a tenderness that I am not going to touch right now.

Presenter: What do you find is the biggest challenge of parenting teenagers?

Kelly: One thing I am sort of surprised about is I find myself kind of tongue-tied sometimes when I try to initiate a deeper conversation. I default to these really shallow topics like asking if they have a lot of homework. I don't know why I am asking, nor do they care to tell me. What I really want to talk about is how it feels to be them these days, what makes them happy today, that sort of thing.

Presenter: Would they engage in that kind of conversation?

Kelly: It's kind of awkward sometimes. Teenagers are just like anyone else. They aren't in the mood to talk about what makes them happy. When I think back on my teenage years, I did not care what my mother thought about anything. I'm just a tiny, small voice over here. That's exactly how I was at their age, and that's fine. It's just funny because I thought I would be really good at this part. This was when I was going to kick in as a really valued advisor, and nothing could be further from the truth.

Presenter: When your kids aren't open to these conversations, what is the alternative?

Kelly: I am very much into the potted plant theory, which is if there has been a potted plant in your room your whole life, and then someone were to take that out, you would notice it was gone. Just be a potted plant for your kid. Let them look over and see that you are there, and if they should need you, you are right where you are supposed to be. You are available. There is a lot of comfort in having another person in the room.

Presenter: Now that you have two teens, if you could have prepared for it, what do you wish you would have known?

Kelly: I was projecting way too far into the future. I didn't realize how much they were going to change every six months. I wish I hadn't been so pessimistic in my thinking about some bad habits of my children because those habits come and go. My children are really still in development, but they don't look like that. They look like finished adults, but they aren't even close.

Presenter: What advice do you want to give to parents of teenagers?

Kelly: I think parents need to realize that they have a lot in common with our kids. When we are children, we like to think we'll never repeat the mistakes of our parents. But we repeat them all the time because life goes in circles. Our children will be like us one day, making the same mistakes. And it's okay, because that's life, and there's no need to worry about that.

Presenter: Thank you, Kelly. It has been very interesting talking to you.

Kelly: Thank you.