-
Does the Younger Generation Know Best?
发布时间：
2005-05-05
Lesson 14
Does the
Younger Generation Know Best?
Text
The Younger Generation Knows Best
Old people are
always saying that the young are not what they
were. The same comment is
made from
generation to generation and it is always true. It
has never been truer than it is today.
The young are better educated. They
have a lot more money to spend and enjoy more
freedom.
They
grow
up
more
quickly
and
are
not
so
dependent
on
their
parents.
They
think
more
for
themselves and do not
blindly accept the ideals of their elders. Events
which the older generation
remembers
vividly
are
nothing
more
than
past
history.
This
is
as
it
should
be.
Every
new
generation is different from the one
that preceded it. Today the difference is very
marked indeed.
The old always assume that they know
best far the simple reason that they have lieen
around
a bit longer. They don't like to
feel that their values are being questioned or
threatened. And this is
precisely
what
the
young
are
doing.
They
are
questioning
the
assumptions
of
their
elders
and
disturbing their
complacency. They take leave to doubt that the
older generation has created the
best
of all possible worlds. What they reject more than
anything is conformity.
Office hours, for instance, are nothing
more than enforced slavery. Wouldn't people work
best if
they were given complete
freedom and responsibility? And what about
clothing? Who said that all
the men in
the world should wear drab grey suits and convict
haircuts? If we turn our minds to
more
serious matters, who said that human differences
can best be solved through conventional
polities or by violent means? Why have
the older generation so often used violence to
solve their
problems?
Why
are
they
so
unhappy
and
guilt-ridden
in
their
pexsonal
lives,
so
obsessed
with
mean ambitions and the desire to amass
more and
more material
possessions? Can anything be
right with
the ratrace? Haven't the old lost touch with all
that is important in life?
These are not questions the
older generation can shrug off lightly. Their
record over the past
forty years or so
hasn' t been exactly spotless. Traditionally, the
young have turned to their elders
for
guidance.
Today,
the
situation
might
be
reversed.
The
old
-
if
they
are
prepared
to
admit
it-coutd learn a thing
or two from their children. One of the biggest
lessons they could learn is that
enjoyment is not
Enjoyment is a
principle one could apply to all aspects of life.
It is surely not wrong to enjoy
your
work and enjoy your leisure; to shed restricting
inhibitions. It is surely not wrong to live in
the present rather than in the past or
future. This emphasis orr the present is only to
be expected
because the young have
grown up under the shadow of the bomb: the
constant threat of complete
annihilation. This is their glorious
heritage. Can we be surprised that they should so
often question
the sanity of
generaiion that bequeathed it?
II. Read
Read the following passages. Underline
the important viewpoints while reading.
1.
Problems of the Young
More than 20 Chinese and American
experts discovered that young people of both
countries
are facing the same probiems
of economic and social pressures and lack of
confidence.
Wayne
Meisel,
director
of
the
Campus
Outreach
Opportunity
League
of
Minnesota
University, said that under economic
pressure American young people have to work hard
and most
students have to take part-
time work in order to support themselves.
with making money and
getting ahead.
In these circumstances, he
said, young people lack confidence,whicb was not
the case in the
1960s when young
Americans thought themselves capable of doing
anything.
In spite of the different
conditions in China, Li Xuequan, director of the,
higher education
section of the All-
China Youth Federation, said Chinese young people
are alsc facing economic
pressure and
are worried about iriflation and corruption.
Trading has appeared in many Chinese
universities as students with something to sell
try to make
money on campus.
Moreover, Li said, college students
have begun to doubt whether what they are learning
in
class will help them find work,as
many businesses totally ignore students of pure
theory.
So people describe students
as
of the causes in society that are
shaking their confidence.
In
order
to
resolve
these
problems,
the
Chinese
and
American
experts
agreed
that
youth
organizations should call on the whole
of society to create favourable conditions for the
healthy
growth of young people, as well
as to enconrage them to meet the urgent needs of
society and to
challenge the assumption
that young people are apathetic and uncaring.
Meisel said that since last year he has
sent letters of .
people,
urging
them
to
commit
themselves
to
addressing
such
needs
as
feeding
the
hungry,
housing
the
homeless,
educating
the
illiterate,
consoling
the
lonely
and
sick,
serving
the
elderly,and preserving the environment.
The letter says:
2. Students' Mental Health
According to a
study conducted in Tianjin, out of 50, 000 college
students, 16 per cent have
suffered
from
anxiety,
nervousness,
depression
or
problems
due
to
the
early
onset
of
sexual
awareness. Of students from elementary
school to high school age in shanghai, 27 per cent
have
some kind of emotional
disorder,are tired of study, have premature love
affairs, smoke or run away
from home.
In addition, most of them are bothered by
impulsiveness, envy, worry or melancholy.
Not a small number of students show a
sense of inferiority, squeamishness, aggression or
strong
self-will.
Bad psychological health
causes serious repercussions in a teenager's
individual development.
In tliree main
high in the southwest of China, of students
leaving school, 74 per cent left
due to
bad health and 42.2 per cent of those suffered
from emotional problems and stress.
During
puberty,
teenagers
go
through
a
period of
times? During
this
time,
most
teenagers' bodies and sexoal desires
develop. They are beginning to mature both
physically and
mentally. But most of
them can not become mature in both these areas at
the same time. Some
teenagers' emotions
remain childish, dependent and impetuous. hf we do
not resolve the problems
that face rs,
they not only will suffer from them, but they will
also probably go astray.
3. Worries Induce Emotional
Problems
More
than
16
per
cent
of
Chinese
college
and
middle
school
students
have
emotional
problems
caused
by
concern
over
exams,
poor
relationships
with
their
teachers
and
a
lack.
of
enthusiasm for their
studies.
Some students feel
depressed, fearing they fall short of their
parents' expectations.
An unhappy
family Tife can also lead to depression.
These
conclusions
are
the
result
of
research
into
emotional
problems
among
college
and
middle school students.
According to a
study of 2, 961 urban,and rural college and middle
school students,. problems
arise
most
frequently
in
two
groups:
students
in
their
first
and
second
year
of
junior
middle
schools and those in
their last
year at senior middle school
. or the first
year in higher-learning
institutions.
The survey also revealed
that emotional problems increase as students get
older.
The percentage of students
with emotional problems in junior middle schools
is around 13
per cent, while the
figures for students in senior middle school and
higher-learning institutions are
19 and
25 per cent respectively.
4. Eager to Be Off
Me:
Mummy. I've been thinking,
I think I might go to London at the end of
the week.
Mama:
Oh yes?
Me:
Yes, a friend of mine wants someone to
share a flat and I thought it
would be a unity for me to...
Mama:
Well, that sounds a very
good idea. Where exactly flat?
Me:
Well, we haven't exactly got one, but I
thought I might go and look -
it's easier if you're on the spot.
Mama:
Oh yes, I'm sure it is. I
hear it's very difficult to find flats in
London these days. '
Me:
(myheart sinking as 1 think of adverts,
agencies, Evening Standards,
in
etcetera )Oh no, it's not
at all difficult, people get themselves fixed
up no time.
Mama:
Oh well, I suppose you know better than
me. What will you live on while
you're there?
Me:
I'll get a job. I'll have to
sometime
Appointments Board.
Mama:
Just any sort of job?
Me:
Whatever there is.
Mama:
Don't you want a proper career, Sarah?
I mean to say, with a degree like
yours...
Me:
No, not really,
I don't know what I want to do.
Mama:
I'm not sure I like the idea of your
going off all the way to London
without a proper job and with nowhere
to live... still, it's your own
life, I suppose. That's
what I say. No one can accuse me of trying
to keep you at home, either of you...
Who is this friend of yours?
Me:
A girl cailed Gill Slater. She was at
Oxford...
Mama:
And what does she do?