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.
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.
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.
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.
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 climb than earlier generations in reaching such signpost achievements as securing a good-paying job, managing debt, and finding affordable housing.
Pete Schneider considers the climb tougher today. Schneider, a 27-year-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 my 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.”
1.One cross-generation mark of a successful life is（ ）.
2.It can be learned from Paragraph 3 that young people tend to （ ）.
3.The priorities and expectations defined by the young will （ ）.
4.Both young and old agree that （ ）.
5.Which of the following is true about Schneider?
问题1选项
A.trying out different lifestyles
B.having a family with children
C.working beyond retirement age
D.setting up a profitable business
问题2选项
A.favor a slower life pace
B.hold an occupation longer
C.attach importance to pre-marital finance
D.give priority to childcare out side the home
问题3选项
A.become increasingly clear
B.focus on materialistic issues
C.depend largely on political preferences
D.reach almost all aspects of American life
问题4选项
A.good-paying jobs are less available
B.the old made more life achievements
C.housing loans today are easy to obtain
D.getting established is harder for the young
问题5选项
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.
第1题:B
第2题:C
第3题:D
第4题:D
第5题:C
第1题:
【选项释义】
One cross-generation mark of a successful life is _____. 成功人生的一个跨时代标志是_____。
A. trying out different lifestyles A. 尝试不同生活方式
B. having a family with children B. 结婚生子
C. working beyond retirement age C. 到退休年龄后仍旧工作
D. setting up a profitable business D. 创建一家盈利企业
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】文章第二段首句说到“跨越几代人，美国人仍然珍视许多相同的成功人生（successful life）的传统里程碑（traditional milestones），包括结婚、生子、拥有自己的房子，以及在60多岁退休”，milestones对应题干中的mark，后面列举的几项就是成功人生的跨时代标志。对比选项可得B选项正确。
【干扰项排除】
A、C、D选项原文没有提及，属于无中生有。
第2题:
【选项释义】
It can be learned from Paragraph 3 that young people tend to _____. 从第三段可以得知年轻人往往_____。
A. favor a slower life pace A. 更喜欢较慢的生活节奏
B. hold an occupation longer B. 在一个职位上待得更久
C. attach importance to pre-marital finance C. 重视婚前财务状况
D. give priority to childcare outside the home D. 优先考虑在外面托管孩子
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据题干定位到第三段最后一句“他们赞同夫妻在结婚生子前应该有经济保障（financially secure）”，也就是选项C正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“更喜欢较慢的生活节奏”，不符合第三段提到的“a faster pace of life生活节奏更快”，属于曲解原文；
B选项“在一个职位上待得更久”，不符合第三段提到的“regularly changing jobs频繁更换工作最能推动职业发展”，属于曲解原文；
D选项“优先考虑在外面托管孩子”，不符合第三段提到的“children are best served by two parents孩子最好由均在外工作的双亲来抚育”，属于曲解原文。
第3题:
【选项释义】
The priorities and expectations defined by the young will _____. 年轻人界定的首要事项和期望将_____。
A. become increasingly clear A. 变得日益清晰
B. focus on materialistic issues B. 聚焦物质问题
C. depend largely on political preferences C. 很大程度上取决于政治偏好
D. reach almost all aspects of American life D. 几乎触及美国人生活的所有方面
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】由题干中关键词定位到文章第四段，本段说到“那些刚刚开始生活的人正在确定优先事项和期望，这些优先事项和期望（priorities and expectations）将越来越广泛地渗透到美国生活的各个方面（all aspects of American life）”，D选项符合题意。
【干扰项排除】
A、B、C选项原文没有提及，属于无中生有。
第4题:
【选项释义】
Both young and old agree that _____. 年轻人和老一辈都认为_____。
A. good-paying jobs are less available A. 高薪的工作变得更少
B. the old made more life achievements B. 老一辈人的人生成就更多
C. housing loans today are easy to obtain C. 今天的住房贷款容易获得
D. getting established is harder for the young D. 对年轻人来说立足更困难
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据题干定位到第五段，该段首先指出年轻人和老一辈人的共识：对今日的年轻人来说，人生起步（get started in life）比之前的几代人更困难（harder）；下文接着提到“在找到高薪工作（good-paying job）、组建家庭（starting a family）、管理债务（managing debt）和拥有可支付性住房（affordable housing）这些标志性成就上，那些‘刚刚人生起步’的人比几代之前的人攀行得更困难”，由此可知，选项D符合原文。
【干扰项排除】
A、B选项原文没有提及，属于无中生有；
C选项“今天的住房贷款容易获得”，与文章最后一段“I can’t afford to pay my monthly mortgage payments on my own, so I have to rent rooms out to people to mark that happen.”表述相反，属于反向干扰。
第5题:
【选项释义】
Which of the following is true about Schneider? 下面哪一项关于施耐德的内容是正确的？
A. He found a dream job after graduating from college. A. 他在大学毕业后找到了一份理想的工作。
B. His parents believe working steadily is a must for success. B. 他父母认为稳定工作是成功必需。
C. His parents’ good life has little to do with a college degree. C. 他父母的上层生活和大学文凭几乎没有关系。
D. He thinks his job as a technician quite challenging. D. 他认为他的技师工作颇有挑战性。
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干定位到最后一段第五句“尽管爸妈没有大学文凭（college degrees），但是我仍然在一个上层中产阶级家庭（upper middle-class home）中长大”，由此可推断出选项C。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“他在大学毕业后找到了一份理想的工作”，原文最后一段第二句提到“大学毕业后很努力找到一份工作”，但没有提及“理想”，属于无中生有；
B选项原文没有提及，属于无中生有；
D选项原文没有提及，属于无中生有。第二句，文中说到他大学毕业后很艰难才找到第一份工作，并没有说这份工作怎样，排除D选项。C选项正确。
