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Britain Young people
英國的年輕人
The continent generation
節制的一代
Why young Britons have turned responsible
為什么英國年輕人變得有責任感了
“I hope I die before I get old”—so sang Roger Daltrey of The Who in 1965. A new concept was then sweeping Britain: the “teenager”. Liberated by high wages and new types of contraception, young people started a sexual and social revolution. Mods and rockers fought at the seaside. Now, it seems, the change they wrought is being undone. Despite the images of teenage looters beamed across the world during last year’s riots, young people in Britain are broadly, and increasingly, well-behaved. Unlike Mr Daltrey, they appear to want to get old before they die.
“我希望在正值青春時就死去”——1965年，誰人樂隊主唱羅杰·達爾特瑞在一首歌里唱到。“青少年”這個新概念從此橫掃英倫。薪資上漲及避孕方式多樣化解放了年輕人，他們掀起了一場性革命及社會革命。摩登派青少年和搖滾歌手在海邊群斗互毆。而現在，他們帶來的變化似乎正在消弭。盡管去年各地發生的騷亂中出現過青少年趁機劫掠的現象，英國的年輕人大致上——并且越來越——表現得體。和達爾特瑞不同的是，他們想趁活著的時候成熟起來。
Youthful continence shows up in all manner of social indicators. In 1998 fully 71% of 16- to 24-year-olds admitted drinking in the previous week. In 2010 just 48% did. The decline in drug-taking is even sharper. Teenage pregnancies are down by a quarter since 1998, to the lowest level since 1969. School-truancy rates have fallen since 2007, along with levels of youthful criminality. Young people have even become more polite: according to the Offending, Crime and Justice Survey, people born between 1992 and 1996 are less frequently rude and noisy in public places than were previous cohorts at the same age.
各方面社會指數都體現了年輕人的節制。1998年，16-24歲的青少年中足足有71%的人承認前一周喝了酒。而2010年只有48%。吸毒人數甚至下降得更為明顯。自1998年以來，青少年懷孕率減少了四分之一，達到自1969年以來的最低水平。逃學率自2007年以來也有所下降，青少年犯罪率也是如此。年輕人甚至還變得更加禮貌了：根據違法犯罪及司法調查，1992年至1996年出生的人在公共場所比前幾代同齡人表現得更為禮貌和安靜。
“It’s no longer all sex, drugs and rock and roll,” says Christian Kurtz, a vice president at Viacom, which runs MTV, a television network aimed mostly at young audiences. To attract viewers from the “millennial” generation, MTV has replaced the glamour-driven programmes of the past with grittier ones such as “Teen Mom”, which emphasises family and responsibility. Millennials in Britain and elsewhere want reality rather than fantasy, explains Mr Kurtz. This extends to what they buy: above all else, brands must appear to be “authentic” if they want to succeed, says Rodney Collins, a director at McCann, an advertising firm.
美國維亞康姆集團的副總裁克里斯丁·庫爾茲說：“年輕人不再只關注性、毒品和搖滾”。MTV是維亞康姆集團旗下以年輕人為主要受眾的電視網絡。為了吸引“千禧年”一代，MTV撤下了過去夸張浮華的節目，換上了“年輕的媽咪”之類強調家庭和責任的更現實的節目。據庫爾茲解釋，英國及世界各地的千禧年一代追求現實而非玄幻。這一特點也體現在他們的購物習慣上：麥肯廣告公司董事羅德尼·科林斯說，品牌想要成功，就必須看起來“真實可信”。
Whatever has happened to carefree youth? Public-health campaigns, better education and more hands-on parenting have no doubt had some effect. Some young people are probably staying inside watching television and playing video games instead of smoking behind the bike sheds. And Britain’s population is changing. The proportion of 15- to 24-year-olds who identify themselves as “white British” has fallen slightly in the past decade, to about 80%. Among the groups filling the gap are British Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, who are less likely to drink or take drugs than their white peers.
無憂無慮的青少年們究竟怎么了？各式公共健康運動的展開、教育水平的提高以及父母更多親力親為地指導，無疑都會對他們形成一定影響。許多年輕人也許正待在家里看電視或者玩電子游戲，而不是躲在車棚里抽煙。同時，英國的人口也在發生變化。過去十年里，15-24歲的 “白種英國人”占總人口的80%，比例有些許下滑。其余20%的人群包括巴基斯坦裔英國人及孟加拉裔英國人，他們酗酒和吸毒的可能性比同齡白種人低。
Just as important, young people have less money with which to indulge their hedonistic instincts (see article). Far fewer young people work than did ten years ago, because of the economic slump and the expansion of higher education. Many more of them live with their parents. Even those who do have jobs tend to earn less than they used to. Between 1997 and 2011 the average weekly wage earned by 18- to 21-year-olds declined by one-tenth in real terms. It is considerably harder to be rebellious if you have no money and live in your childhood bedroom.
另一個重要的因素是，年輕人手里的積蓄變少了，也沒辦法放縱自己的享樂本能。受經濟衰退和高等教育擴招影響，現在的年輕人就業率與十年前的相比下降了許多。還有更多人與父母住在一起。即便是有工作的人，賺的也比以前少了。扣除物價因素，1997年至2011年間，18-21歲年輕人的周平均工資下降了十分之一。如果你沒錢而且還住在兒時住過的臥室里，想要叛逆真是難上加難。
Perhaps most interesting is what has not happened. The collapse in marriage rates and the rise of single-parenthood, both of which continued well into the 1990s when today’s young adults were born, might have been expected to unleash a wave of social problems. As it turns out, if there has been an effect, it has been outweighed by bigger, more benevolent forces. For politicians worried about the breakdown of the traditional family model, that ought to be reassuring. For rock music fans, it may be less so.
也許沒發生的事才是最有趣的事。結婚率驟降和單身父母率攀升的現象一直持續到這一代年輕人出生的20世紀90年代，據估計，這本來會引發一系列社會問題。然而結果是，一些更強大、更有益的力量消融了這種影響——如果的確造成了什么影響的話。對那些擔心傳統家庭結構解體的政客們來說，這是令人欣慰的結果。而對搖滾音樂愛好者來說，就沒這么樂觀了。翻譯：陳莎莎
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