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本文选自《纽约时报》，大家慢慢“食用”~可以尝试自己做精读，当然也可以直接泛读了解一下相关资讯就可以。
Where Are Young People Most Optimistic?
Will the next generation do better than the one that came before? To young people in wealthier nations, that dream of upward mobility seems more like a story about the past than modern-day reality, according to a large new survey taken in 21 countries.
下一代将比上一代过得更好吗？据最近在21个国家进行的一项大型调查，对富裕国家的年轻人来说，步步高升的梦想更像是过去的故事，而不是当代的现实。
In poorer countries, though, there is still hope that young people’s lives will be better than those of their parents, and that the world is becoming a better place.
但在较贫穷的国家，年轻人的生活将比他们父母的更好、世界正在变得更美好的希望仍然存在。
“In a lot of the developing world, there is a bit more optimism that yes, with each generation our living standards are improving,” said Laurence Chandy, director of the office of global insight and policy at UNICEF, which conducted the survey with Gallup. “But there’s a recognition in the West that’s stopped happening.”
“在很多发展中国家，乐观的看法多一点，人们认为每一代人的生活水平都在提高，”联合国儿童基金会全球视野和政策办公室主任劳伦斯·钱迪说，该机构与盖洛普公司一起进行了这项调查。“但西方的一种认识是，这种情况已不再发生。
In the United States, 56 percent of young people and 64 percent of older people said that children today would be worse off, economically, than their parents — a view that comports with the economic realities for many in recent years.
在美国，56%的年轻人和64%的年长者认为，今天的孩子们在经济上将不如他们的父母——这个看法符合许多人近年来的经济现实。
The survey was of 21,000 people in two age groups — 15 to 24, and 40 and up — and included nationally representative samples from all regions of the world. The younger group said that children today were better off in basic ways, like education, health care and physical safety. In the median country, 57 percent of them said the world was becoming a better place with each generation, compared with 39 percent of older people.
这项调查涵盖了两个年龄组——15至24岁和40岁以上，共2.1万人，包括对来自世界所有地区的具有全国性代表的抽查。年轻一代表示，今天的孩子们在教育、医疗保健和人身安全等基本方面境况更好。在收入中位数国家，57%的人认为对每一代人来说，世界都会变好，相比之下，只有39%的年长者这样认为
worse off 本义是指更穷的;if you are worse off, you have less money，比如说：•The rent increases will leave us worse off.租金的提高会使我们更拮据。•I don't think we're any worse off than a lot of other people.我认为我们不比其他许多人穷。
现在还可以引申表示“〔形势〕更糟的:”in a worse situation，比如说：•People in rural areas are even worse off, as they have no regular bus service.住在郊区的人情况更糟，因为他们享受不到班车服务。
它的反义短语为better off，下文也出现了，表示有较多钱的; 比较宽裕的having more money than someone else or than you had before，比如说：•She'll be about ￡50 a week better off.她一个星期将会多大约 50 英镑。
也可以表示更好的;happier, improved, more successful etc，比如说：•I think she's better off without him.我觉得没有他她会更好。
【常见短语搭配】：be better off doing sth ( = used to give advice or an opinion )最好做某事，举个例子：•He'd be better off starting with something simpler.他最好从比较简单的事做起。
“Young people these days have access to information and new technologies that other generations haven’t even come close to having,” said Victor Paganotto Carvalho Freitas, 24, from São Paulo, Brazil. “With the advent of the internet, it is possible to learn different skills from within your bedroom.”
“如今的年轻人能够使用或接触的信息和新技术，与以前几代人有过的是天壤之别，”24岁的维克多·帕加诺托·卡瓦略·弗雷塔斯说，他住在巴西圣保罗。“互联网的到来，让人可以不出卧室就能学习不同的技能。”
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With the advent of 重大事件、发明或情况的出现，问世，到来；The advent of an important event, invention, or situation is the fact of it starting or coming into existence. 举个例子：the leap forward in communication made possible by the advent of the mobile phone.手机的问世带来了通讯业的迅猛发展
But young people also have significant concerns. In the surveys, about nine in 10 said they sometimes or often have anxiety. Six in 10 said children today have more pressure from adults to succeed than their parents did. Seven in 10 say the actions of their parents’ generation have contributed to climate change.
但年轻人也有明显的担忧。约90%的人在调查中说，他们有时或经常感到焦虑。60%的人说，今天的孩子们感受到的来自成年人的成功压力，比他们的父母受到的大。70%的人说，他们父辈的行为导致了气候变化。
In the six richest countries in the survey, about one-third of young people said they thought today’s children would be economically better off than their parents. They were particularly pessimistic in Japan, France, Britain and Spain.
在调查中最富裕的六个国家，只有约三分之一的年轻人说，他们认为今天的孩子们在经济上将比他们的父母更好。日本、法国、英国和西班牙的年轻人尤为悲观。
In low-income countries, though, about two-thirds of young people said they thought today’s children would do better financially than their parents, especially in Africa and South Asia. They were also more likely than those in high- or middle-income countries to say the world was becoming a better place with each generation
但在低收入国家，大约三分之二的年轻人说，他们认为今天的孩子们在经济上将比他们的父母更好，尤其是在非洲和南亚。与高收入或中等收入国家的年轻人相比，他们也更可能认为世界正随着每一代人变得更好。
“In low- and middle-income countries,” he said, “it’s seen as: ‘What’s my ticket to doing better? I don’t have many tickets. I don’t have a family with wealth, my social capital is really limited. So my ticket is going to be education if I have anything at all.’”
他说，“在低收入和中等收入国家，高等教育被视为‘我怎样才能过得更好的门票。我没有太多门票。我没有富裕的家庭，我的社会资本真的很有限。所以，如果我能拥有门票的话，那就是接受教育。’”
“We do not get to choose our families or social status, but that has never been a hindrance for anyone to succeed,” said Lorraine Nduta, 21, from Nairobi, Kenya. “In fact, I think when you have less, it fuels you to seek more. The power to change any situation lies with us — hard work, consistency and discipline.”
“我们不能选择我们的家庭或社会地位，但这从来都不是任何人成功的障碍，”21岁的洛林·恩杜塔说，她住在肯尼亚内罗毕。“事实上，我认为，当你拥有更少时，你有动力去追求更多。改变任何境况的力量在我们自身——努力工作、坚持不懈、有自制力。”
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