將立未立的年輕一代

by Jeffrey Jensen Arnett

烏蕪 譯

將立未立的年輕一代

Growing-ups

by Jeffrey Jensen Arnett

烏蕪 譯

在各類媒體的渲染下，脆弱、自私、叛逆、嬌生慣養(yǎng)似乎成了年輕人—從以前80后到現在的00后的典型特征。與中國的情況相似，美國社會也存在著這樣一種看法：年輕人一代不如一代，他們懶惰、自私、過于以自我為中心……年輕一代真的有那么糟糕嗎？還是這只是一種偏見呢？

I will readily admit; it took me a long time to grow up. I graduated from Michigan State University in 1980 at the age of 23, with a freshly printed bachelor’s degree in psychology and no idea what I really wanted to do. After a couple of years, I entered graduate school in psychology, but even after I got my PhD four years later, I still didn’t really know what I wanted to do. Eventually, I did find my way in love and work, but it took years and years. I got my first long-term job (as a professor) at 35, married at 36, and had my kids (twins) at 42.

我會欣然承認—我花了很長時間才真正長大成人。1980年，我當時23歲，剛從密歇根州立大學畢業(yè)。拿著新鮮出爐的心理學學士學位，我并不知道自己想做什么。幾年后，我進入了心理學研究生院。但是，即使四年過后，我拿到了博士學位，我依舊不知道自己真正想做什么。最后，我確實找到了愛情與事業(yè)的方向，但這花了許多年的時間。35歲時，我獲得了第一份長期工作（當一名教授）；36歲時，我結了婚；而在42歲時，我有了自己的孩子（一對雙胞胎）。

When my research on how young people make their way to adulthood first began, the initial inspiration was my own1)odyssey. I was in my early 30s and thinking about how long it was taking me—and lots of my peers—to get there. But I have maintained my research focus on these 18- to 29-year-olds because I found they were so rewarding to talk to. I was to discover, however, that there were many others who didn’t share my warm and2)benevolent views of emerging adults. Quite the contrary.

當我剛開始研究年輕人如何步入成人期這個課題時，我首先想到的就是我自己那漫長的成長之路。我那時三十出頭，思考著我—和我的許多同齡人花了多長時間才長大成人。但是我把我的研究對象定位在十八到二十九歲的年輕人身上，因為我發(fā)現他們身上有著許多值得講述的地方。然而，我發(fā)現，許多人并不認同我對這些將立未立的年輕人抱有的善意友好的觀點，他們的態(tài)度恰恰與之背道而馳。

One of the most common insults about today’s emerging adults is that they’re lazy. According to this view, young people are“slackers” who avoid work whenever possible, preferring to3)sponge off their parents for as long as they can get away with it. They expect work to be fun, and if it’s not fun, they refuse to do it.

對現在這些將立未立的年輕人最常見的責難之一就是—他們很懶惰。根據這個觀點，年輕人都是“懶蟲”，只要有可能，他們就逃避工作，寧愿啃老，能熬多久是多久。