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Against a backdrop of drastic changes in economy and population structure,
一项最新的民意调查发现，面对经济和人口结构的巨大变化，
younger Americans are drawing a new 21st-century road map to success, a latest poll has found.
年轻的美国人正在寻找21世纪的成功之道。
Across generational lines, Americans continue to prize many of the same traditional milestones of a successful life,
纵观历代美国人，他们仍然推崇很多不变的成功生活的传统里程碑，
including getting married, having children, owning a home, and retiring in their sixties.
包括结婚、生子、安家落户和在60多岁的时候退休。
But while young and old mostly agree on what constitutes the finish line of a fulfilling life,
尽管年轻人和老年人通常对于什么构成了充实人生的终点持相同意见，
they offer strikingly different paths for reaching it.
但他们就实现充实人生的方式有着截然不同的看法。
Young people who are still getting started in life were more likely than older adults to prioritize personal fulfillment in their work,
该调查发现，比起老年人，那些仍然处在生活起跑线的年轻人更加推崇他们在工作中的个人成就，
to believe they will advance their careers most by regularly changing jobs,
更加认同通过定期换工作来推进职业生涯，
to favor communities with more public services and a faster pace of life,
更喜欢具备更多公共服务的社区和更加快节奏的生活，
to agree that couples should be financially secure before getting married or having children,
更坚信夫妻在结婚或者抚育孩子之前应该有经济上的保障，
and to maintain that children are best served by two parents working outside the home, the survey found.
更主张父母双方都在外工作才可给孩子提供最好的生活。
From career to community and family, these contrasts suggest that in the aftermath of the searing Great Recession,
从职业到社区到家庭，这些鲜明的对比表明，在严重的经济大萧条的余波之后，
those just starting out in life are defining priorities and expectations that will increasingly spread through virtually all aspects of American life,
那些人生刚刚起步的人正在明确需要优先处理的重要事项和期望，它们几乎会逐渐延伸至美国生活的方方面面，
from consumer preferences to housing patterns to politics.
小到消费者喜好到住房模式，大到政治。
Young and old converge on one key point:
年轻人和老年人在关键的一点上见解相同：
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.
两个阵营的绝大多数人都认为，比起前几代人，今天年轻人的人生起步更加艰难。
Whlie younger people are somewhat more optimistic than their elders about the prospects for those starting out today,
尽管相比他们的长辈，对于现在处于起步阶段的人的前景，在某种程度上年轻人更加乐观一些，
big majorities in both groups believe those "just getting started in life"
但两个阵营的多数人都认为，相比之前的几代人，“人生刚刚起步”的人在获得诸如
face a tougher a good-paying job, starting a family, managing debt, and finding affordable housing.
拥有薪酬丰厚的工作、成家、管理债务以及找到经济适用的住房等标志性成就上会更加困难。
Pete Schneider considers the climb tougher today.
皮特·施耐德认为，现今这段攀登之路更加艰难。
Schneider, a 27-yaear-old auto technician from the Chicago suburbs says he struggled to find a job after graduating from college.
施耐德是一位来自芝加哥郊区的27岁的汽车技师。他说自己从大学毕业后就努力找工作。
Even now that he is working steadily, he said."
即使现在他工作稳定，
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."
他说：“我自己负担不起每月的住房贷款，所以我不得不把房子出租给别人，这样才能支付月供。”
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."
回首以前，他感到不可思议：在他年轻的时候，他的父母居然有能力给他们的孩子提供一个舒适的生活，即使他们没有一个上过大学。
I still grew up in an upper middle-class home with parents who didn't have college degrees,"Schneider said.
施耐德说：“我的父母没有大学文凭，但我依旧能成长在一个中产阶级偏上的家庭，
"I don't think people are capable of that anymore."
我认为现在的人们再也无法做到了。”
