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Against a backdrop of drastic changes in economy and population structure,
一項最新的民意調查發現，面對經濟和人口結構的巨大變化，
younger Americans are drawing a new 21st-century road map to success, a latest poll has found.
年輕的美國人正在尋找21世紀的成功之道。
Across generational lines, Americans continue to prize many of the same traditional milestones of a successful life,
縱觀歷代美國人，他們仍然推崇很多不變的成功生活的傳統里程碑，
including getting married, having children, owning a home, and retiring in their sixties.
包括結婚、生子、安家落戶和在60多歲的時候退休。
But while young and old mostly agree on what constitutes the finish line of a fulfilling life,
盡管年輕人和老年人通常對于什么構成了充實人生的終點持相同意見，
they offer strikingly different paths for reaching it.
但他們就實現充實人生的方式有著截然不同的看法。
Young people who are still getting started in life were more likely than older adults to prioritize personal fulfillment in their work,
該調查發現，比起老年人，那些仍然處在生活起跑線的年輕人更加推崇他們在工作中的個人成就，
to believe they will advance their careers most by regularly changing jobs,
更加認同通過定期換工作來推進職業生涯，
to favor communities with more public services and a faster pace of life,
更喜歡具備更多公共服務的社區和更加快節奏的生活，
to agree that couples should be financially secure before getting married or having children,
更堅信夫妻在結婚或者撫育孩子之前應該有經濟上的保障，
and to maintain that children are best served by two parents working outside the home, the survey found.
更主張父母雙方都在外工作才可給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,
從職業到社區到家庭，這些鮮明的對比表明，在嚴重的經濟大蕭條的余波之后，
those just starting out in life are defining priorities and expectations that will increasingly spread through virtually all aspects of American life,
那些人生剛剛起步的人正在明確需要優先處理的重要事項和期望，它們幾乎會逐漸延伸至美國生活的方方面面，
from consumer preferences to housing patterns to politics.
小到消費者喜好到住房模式，大到政治。
Young and old converge on one key point:
年輕人和老年人在關鍵的一點上見解相同：
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.
兩個陣營的絕大多數人都認為，比起前幾代人，今天年輕人的人生起步更加艱難。
Whlie younger people are somewhat more optimistic than their elders about the prospects for those starting out today,
盡管相比他們的長輩，對于現在處于起步階段的人的前景，在某種程度上年輕人更加樂觀一些，
big majorities in both groups believe those "just getting started in life"
但兩個陣營的多數人都認為，相比之前的幾代人，“人生剛剛起步”的人在獲得諸如
face a tougher a good-paying job, starting a family, managing debt, and finding affordable housing.
擁有薪酬豐厚的工作、成家、管理債務以及找到經濟適用的住房等標志性成就上會更加困難。
Pete Schneider considers the climb tougher today.
皮特·施耐德認為，現今這段攀登之路更加艱難。
Schneider, a 27-yaear-old auto technician from the Chicago suburbs says he struggled to find a job after graduating from college.
施耐德是一位來自芝加哥郊區的27歲的汽車技師。他說自己從大學畢業后就努力找工作。
Even now that he is working steadily, he said."
即使現在他工作穩定，
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."
他說：“我自己負擔不起每月的住房貸款，所以我不得不把房子出租給別人，這樣才能支付月供。”
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，他感到不可思議：在他年輕的時候，他的父母居然有能力給他們的孩子提供一個舒適的生活，即使他們沒有一個上過大學。
I still grew up in an upper middle-class home with parents who didn't have college degrees,"Schneider said.
施耐德說：“我的父母沒有大學文憑，但我依舊能成長在一個中產階級偏上的家庭，
"I don't think people are capable of that anymore."
我認為現在的人們再也無法做到了。”
