经济学人208:最美好的时光-年青人的世界

 　　The world of adolescence¹

　　年青人的世界

　　The best days of their lives?

　　他们人生中最美好的时光？

　　What drives the young

　　是什么因素驱使着年青人成长

　　Sep 17th 2011 | from the print edition

　　Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood².

　　迷失于转型之途：成年早期的黑暗面

　　CHRISTIAN³ SMITH is a well-known sociologist⁴ of religion. That alone may deter⁵ the more deeply secular⁶ from reading his book, “Lost in Transition”, which explores the moral map of 18- to 23-year-olds in America. This would be a shame, as it is intensely and uncomfortably thought-provoking. It deserves consideration on both sides of the Atlantic, particularly from the parents of that generation.

　　克里斯汀史密斯是一位著名的宗教社会学家。仅仅因为那样也许会使更深入世俗的人们不读他写的书“迷失于转型之途”，这本书探究18至23岁的美国人的道德地图。这将是一件憾事，因为这本书会引起人们强烈地、不自在地深思。而且也值得大西洋两岸的人们思考，尤其是那一代人的父母。

　　A note about method first. Mr Smith (a professor at the University of Notre Dame) and his co-writers have been following the emerging adults on whom this study is based since 2001, when they were just young sprats. The authors have repeatedly surveyed a “nationally representative” sample of over 3,000 and personally interviewed a smaller number. This book relies primarily on intensive interviews in 2008 with 230 of the original group, many of them then in college or university.

　　本书的首页是关于调查方法的注释。自2001年以来，史密斯先生（一位圣母大学的教授）和他的合著者一直研究新一代的成年人，当时他们两位也仅仅是初出茅庐的小子。他们两位作者反复调查3000多个全国有代表性的人物，还亲自访问一些人。这本书主要信赖2008年访问的230个最初的小组，大部分人当时还在学院或大学就读。

　　Mr Smith starts from the observation, which few would dispute, that adolescents are slower to emerge into adulthood these days: they study for longer, they depend on their parents for longer and they marry later, if at all. The world of real work they eventually enter is not the world of stable, long-term jobs that previous generations knew. During that long transition they have unprecedented⁷ freedom—from unwanted childbearing, for example—and no particular reason to rush into commitments of any sort. Moral boundaries are less clear than they were; many young adults have been taught not just to tolerate other people’s views and behaviour but to see them all as equally valid⁸.

　　史密斯先生从观察开始，观察表明如今的年轻人进入成年期的速度较慢，这一观点几乎没有异议：如果条件允许的话，他们求学的时间长，依靠父母的时间长以及结婚晚。他们最终的工作并不是上一代人认为的稳定、长期的工作。在这段漫长的转型时期，年轻人享受着前所未有的自由，例如，不用考虑生育，没有理由去仓促地做任何承诺。道德的界限也不太清晰；很多年轻的成年人被教育不仅仅要忍受他人的观点和行为，而是平等正当地对待他人。

　　In every age the transition to adulthood is a turbulent time. The message here is that in today’s world there is much that is fun, free and promising⁹ about this stage of life, but a dark side of apathy¹⁰, confusion, loss and grief is less readily acknowledged. The book focuses on five areas: how young adults make ethical¹¹ decisions; what role consumerism plays in their lives; why they drink so much; why they have sex so indiscriminately; and why, despite optimistic claims that Barack Obama awakened¹² young people in 2008 as John F. Kennedy did their parents or grandparents, they are in fact disengaged from civic¹³ and political life. The answers in the first area foreshadow most of the rest. What is striking about the responses to a whole string of questions probing how these young people deal with moral issues is how few of them seem to grasp what is being asked. Murder, rape¹⁴, bank robbery are seen as wrong. But what about cheating on exams, cheating on lovers, even driving drunk? They talk about whether they might be caught, how their friends would react, how they themselves might feel. Where it is a question of others’ questionable¹⁵ behaviour, a standard answer is that it is up to each individual to decide for himself. Very few seem to think that right and wrong are rooted in anything outside personal experience.

　　在每个时代，向成人期过渡的这段时期都是动荡不安的。这本书旨在说明如今人们都认为这段时期是充满快乐、自由和希望的，而很少会认为是无趣、困惑、迷失和悲伤的人生黑暗面。本书集中研究这五个领域：年轻的成年人如何做合乎道德的决定；用户至上主义在他们生活中处于什么地位；为什么他们喝那么多酒；为什么他们随意地与他人发生性行为；尽管巴拉克奥巴马在2008年时呼唤年轻人要乐观生活，正如约翰 F 肯尼迪唤醒他们的上一代一样，但是为什么他们还是不愿意参加公民政治生活。关于第一个方面的回答预示着本书接下去的大部分内容。一系列探究年轻人如何处理道德议题的问题的回答令人惊奇之处在于，他们之中能够领会所问的问题的人少之又少。他们认为谋杀、强奸、抢劫银行都是错误的。那考试作弊，对情人不忠，甚至醉酒驾驶呢？他们谈论他们是否会遭逮捕，他们的朋友会有什么反应，他们自己的感觉如何。当问到他人可疑的行为的问题出在何处，标准的答案是由各自决定。几乎没有人认为对与错是深植于个人经历之外的。

　　And so to consumerism. Shopping is personally fulfilling; buying things supports the economy (true enough); if you can afford it, you deserve it. Might it be just a tiny bit gross to own ten cars while others in your city are working double shifts to buy shoes for their children? Apparently¹⁶ not. The good life consists of having a decent job, a decent standard of living and a nice family, not of fighting for justice or saving whales.

　　对于用户至上主义也是如此。购物是一件令人高兴的事情；买东西可以推动经济发展（的确如此）；如果你买得起它，那么你就值得拥有它。你拥有十辆车，而与你同城的人，他们为了给孩子买鞋却要做两轮班，难道你们的收入仅仅相差无几？显然不是这样。好的生活应该有一份合适的工作，一个相当好的生活标准和一个美满的家庭，而不是为公平和省钱奋斗。

　　As for the prevalence of drink and sex, peer pressure, advertising¹⁷ and the media play their part, but so too does sheer boredom¹⁸. Many of the young women, in particular, look back with some regret on very early sexual experiences, and on later ones with virtual strangers. And as for politics, what emerges is a strong feeling of disempowerment and distrust. Relatively¹⁹ few young people think they know or can do much about what is going on, and most of those who do follow current events and vote seem to take things no further.

　　至于普遍的饮酒和性行为，来自同辈的压力，广告媒体各司其所，但是一旦泛滥，就肯定会令人感到厌倦。尤其是很多年轻的妇女，当她们回想起以前，就会后悔太早有性经历，随后就是后悔与虚幻的陌生人发生关系。至于政治方面，暴露出的现象是他们有一种强烈的被剥夺权利和不被信任的感觉。相对而言，很少的年轻人认为自己知道或可以为正在发生的事做贡献，大部分关注时事和投票的人似乎也没作进一步关注。

　　Yet “Lost in Transition” is not, in fact, a hand-wringing tale of gloom. Nor is the moral map it describes unique to America; there are many echoes in Britain, which was struggling even before its August riots to understand why so many young people seemed adrift. It is really a warning to parents. In the guise²⁰, often, of teaching tolerance²¹, we are failing to ensure that our children understand how to frame moral issues and make judgments²² about right conduct and about what is good in life. The reason for this, Mr Smith suggests, is that we are not so sure ourselves.

　　然而，事实上，“迷失在转型之途”并不是对阴暗面的流言的绝望。也不是仅仅描写美国人的道德风貌；这也使很多欧洲人产生了共鸣，甚至在八月骚乱之前，欧洲已经致力于了解为何那么多年轻人好像都漫无目的的。这敲醒了家长们的警钟。我们常常只是在表面上教孩子如何宽容，但是我们却不能确保孩子们真的理解如何体现道德问题，以正确的行为做判断以及什么是生活中的善行。史密斯先生表示这其中的原因我们不太确定我们自己。

1 adolescence   

n.青春期，青少年

参考例句：

• Adolescence is the process of going from childhood to maturity.青春期是从少年到成年的过渡期。
• The film is about the trials and tribulations of adolescence.这部电影讲述了青春期的麻烦和苦恼。

2 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

3 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

4 sociologist   

n.研究社会学的人，社会学家

参考例句：

• His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
• Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。

5 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。

6 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

7 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

8 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

9 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

10 apathy   

n.漠不关心，无动于衷；冷淡

参考例句：

• He was sunk in apathy after his failure.他失败后心恢意冷。
• She heard the story with apathy.她听了这个故事无动于衷。

11 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

12 awakened   

v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到

参考例句：

• She awakened to the sound of birds singing. 她醒来听到鸟的叫声。
• The public has been awakened to the full horror of the situation. 公众完全意识到了这一状况的可怕程度。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

14 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

15 questionable   

adj.可疑的，有问题的

参考例句：

• There are still a few questionable points in the case.这个案件还有几个疑点。
• Your argument is based on a set of questionable assumptions.你的论证建立在一套有问题的假设上。

16 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

17 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

18 boredom   

n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊

参考例句：

• Unemployment can drive you mad with boredom.失业会让你无聊得发疯。
• A walkman can relieve the boredom of running.跑步时带着随身听就不那么乏味了。

19 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

20 guise   

n.外表，伪装的姿态

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors.他们假装成视察员进了学校。
• The thief came into the house under the guise of a repairman.那小偷扮成个修理匠进了屋子。

21 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

22 judgments   

判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判

参考例句：

• A peculiar austerity marked his judgments of modern life. 他对现代生活的批评带着一种特殊的苛刻。
• He is swift with his judgments. 他判断迅速。