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Against a backdrop of drastic changes in economy and population structure, younger Americans are drawing a new 21st-century road map to success, a latest poll has found.
一项最新民意调查发现，在经济和人口结构发生剧烈变化的背景下，美国年轻人正在绘制一幅新的21世纪成功路线图。
Across generational lines, Americans continue to prize many of the same traditional milestones of a successful life, including getting married, having children, owning a home, and retiring in their sixties. But while young and old mostly agree on what constitutes the finish line of a fulfilling life, they offer strikingly different paths for reaching it.
跨越代际，美国人继续珍视许多成功人生的传统里程碑，包括结婚、有孩子、拥有房子，以及在60多岁退休。 然而，尽管年轻人和老年人在什么构成了充实生活的终点线上意见一致，但他们为达到终点提供了截然不同的道路。
Young people who are still getting started in life were more likely than older adults to prioritize personal fulfillment in their work, to believe they will advance their careers most by regularly changing jobs, to favor communities with more public services and a faster pace of life, to agree that couples should be financially secure before getting married or having children, and to maintain that children are best served by two parents working outside the home, the survey found.
调查发现，那些仍处于人生起步阶段的年轻人比老年人更倾向于把工作中的个人成就放在首位，相信通过定期更换工作能够最大限度地推动事业的发展，更倾向于提供更多的公共服务和更快的生活节奏的社区，认同夫妻在结婚或生孩子之前应该在经济上有保障，并坚持认为孩子最好由在外工作的父母照顾。
From career to community and family, these contrasts suggest that in the aftermath of the searing Great Recession, those just starting out in life are defining priorities and expectations that will increasingly spread through virtually all aspects of American life, from consumer preferences to housing patterns to politics.
从事业到社区和家庭，这些对比表明，在严重的大衰退之后，那些刚刚开始生活的人们正在定义优先事项和期望，这些事项和期望将日益扩散到美国生活的几乎所有方面，从消费者偏好到住房模式再到政治。
Young and old converge on one key point: Overwhelming majorities of both groups said they believe it is harder for young people today to get started in life than it was for earlier generations. While younger people are somewhat more optimistic than their elders about the prospects for those starting out today, big majorities in both groups believe those “just getting started in life” face a tougher a good-paying job, starting a family, managing debt, and finding affordable housing.
年轻人和老年人在一个关键点上趋于一致: 两个群体的绝大多数人都认为，今天的年轻人比前几代人更难开始自己的生活。 虽然年轻人比年长者对于今天开始工作的人的前景更乐观一些，但是这两个群体中的大多数人都认为那些“刚刚开始生活”的人面临着一个更艰难的高薪工作，组建家庭，管理债务，以及找到社会福利住房。
Pete Schneider considers the climb tougher today. Schneider, a 27-yaear-old auto technician from the Chicago suburbs says he struggled to find a job after graduating from college. Even now that he is working steadily, he said.” I can’t afford to pay ma monthly mortgage payments on my own, so I have to rent rooms out to people to mark that happen.” Looking back, he is struck that his parents could provide a comfortable life for their children even though neither had completed college when he was young. “I still grew up in an upper middle-class home with parents who didn’t have college degrees,” Schneider said. “I don’t think people are capable of that anymore.”
皮特 · 施耐德认为今天的攀登更加艰难。 来自芝加哥郊区的27岁汽车技师施耐德说，他大学毕业后努力找工作。 他说，即使现在他工作稳定 我自己付不起每月万美元的抵押贷款，所以我不得不把房子租给别人来记录这种情况。” 回想起来，他惊讶于他的父母能够为他们的孩子提供一个舒适的生活，尽管他们在他小的时候都没有完成大学学业。 施耐德说: “我仍然是在一个中产阶级的上层家庭长大的，父母都没有大学文凭。”。 “我不认为人们还能做到这一点。”
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One cross-generation mark of a successful life is_____.
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成功人生的一个跨代标志是。
[A] trying out different lifestyles [B] having a family with children
[ a ]尝试不同的生活方式[ b ]与孩子组成家庭
[C] working beyond retirement age [D] setting up a profitable business
超过退休年龄的工作[ d ]创办一家盈利的企业
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It can be learned from Paragraph 3 that young people tend to ____.
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从第三段可以看出，年轻人倾向于。
[A] favor a slower life pace
喜欢慢节奏的生活
[B] hold an occupation longer
B. 从事某一职业的时间较长
[C] attach importance to pre-marital finance
C. 重视婚前财务
[D] give priority to childcare outside the home
D. 优先考虑家庭以外的儿童保育
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The priorities and expectations defined by the young will ____.
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年轻人确定的优先事项和期望。
[A] become increasingly clear
[ a ]变得越来越清楚
[B] focus on materialistic issues
B. 注重物质主义问题
[C] depend largely on political preferences
C. 在很大程度上取决于政治倾向
[D] reach almost all aspects of American life
D. 几乎触及美国生活的方方面面
- Both young and old agree that ____.
年轻人和老年人都同意。
[A] good-paying jobs are less available
高收入的工作越来越少
[B] the old made more life achievements
老年人取得了更多的人生成就
[C] housing loans today are easy to obtain
C. 今天的住房贷款很容易获得
[D] getting established is harder for the young
- Which of the following is true about Schneider?
[A] He found a dream job after graduating from college.
[B] His parents believe working steadily is a must for success.
[C] His parents’ good life has little to do with a college degree.
[D] He thinks his job as a technician quite challenging.
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