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Are younger generations truly weaker than older ones?

年轻一代真的比上一代更弱吗？

From being branded ‘snowflakes’ to being accused of prioritising buying avocados over houses, younger generations are enduringly maligned as somehow weaker, less hard-working or less resilient than their older counterparts.

从被指责为“雪花”（注：“雪花”指的是那些脆弱、焦虑、为所欲为、懒惰或有优越感的人），到被指责优先购买牛油果而不是房子（注：一个澳大利亚百万富翁曾告诫年轻人，想要买房就要先停止买昂贵的牛油果），年轻一代一直被诟病为比他们的上一代更弱、更懒惰或更缺乏韧性。

This isn’t a new phenomenon; after all, people have complained about ‘kids these days’ for decades. But is there really any truth in the idea that millennials and Gen Z are weaker than Boomers or Gen X?

这不是最近才出现的现象。毕竟，几十年来人们一直在抱怨“现在的孩子”。但是，“千禧一代”和“Z世代”比“婴儿潮”一代或“ X 世代”弱的说法真的有道理吗？

Evidence shows newer generations do, indeed, measure highly on traits that their older counterparts might consider as a sign of weakness.

证据表明，年轻一代确实在可能被上一代认为是软弱标志的特征方面高度吻合。

Yet experts also believe that Baby Boomers (born roughly between 1946 and 1964) and Gen X (born between 1965 and 1980) might be judging the generations that succeed them much too harshly, and measuring them against standards that have long ceased to be the norm.

然而，专家们还认为，“婴儿潮”一代（大约出生于 1946 年至 1964 年之间）和 “X世代“（出生于 1965 年至 1980 年之间）可能过于严厉地评判他们的后代，还会用早已不再适用的标准来衡量他们。

重点词汇

1. brand /brænd/ to say that you think someone is the sort of person that is stated加污名于；谴责

• Because of one minor offence he was branded (as) a common criminal.

2. avocado /ˌæv.əˈkɑː.doʊ/ a tropical fruit with thick, green, or purple skin, a large, round seed, and green flesh that can be eaten 鳄梨，牛油果

• I don't like avocados at all.

3. malign /məˈlaɪn/ to say false and unpleasant things about someone, or to criticize someone unfairly 诽谤，污蔑，中伤

• She has recently been maligned in the gossip columns of several newspapers.

4. counterpart /ˈkaʊn.t̬ɚ.pɑːrt/ a person or thing that has the same purpose as another one in a different place or organization 作用相同者，相对应者

• The prime minister is to meet his European counterparts to discuss the war against drugs.

5. millennial /mɪˈlen.i.əl/ a person who was born around the time of the millennium, that is around the year 2000 2000年左右出生的人，千禧世代

• Millennials have grown up with the internet and can't imagine a world without it.

6. succeed /səkˈsiːd/ to come after another person or thing in time 随后出现；接着发生

• In the weeks that succeeded, five more patients showed similar symptoms.

延伸阅读

People have complained about younger generations for thousands of years. In fact, looking down on the generation that comes after you could simply be human nature.

几千年来，人们一直在抱怨年轻一代。事实上，看不起你之后的一代可能只是出于人性。

“The tendency for adults to disparage the character of youth has been happening for centuries,” says Peter O’Connor, a professor of management at Queensland Institute of Technology, Australia.

澳大利亚昆士兰理工学院管理学教授彼得·奥康纳说：“几个世纪以来，成年人贬低年轻人性格的趋势一直在延续。”

He points out the stereotype remains alive and well, with research showing thousands of Americans believe that ‘kids these days’ lack positive qualities that participants associate with older generations.

他指出，刻板印象仍然存在并且很普遍。研究表明，成千上万的美国人认为“现在的孩子”缺乏一些积极向上的品质，而参与者会把这些品质与上一代人关联起来。

But this wasn’t necessarily because the youths of today actually did lack these qualities – the researchers argued that this was because we project our current selves onto our past selves.

但这并不一定是因为现在的年轻人确实缺乏这些品质——研究人员认为这是因为我们将现在的自我投射到过去的自我上。

By doing this, older people are unconsciously comparing who they are today to today’s young people, giving an impression that today’s youth is somehow on the decline, no matter the decade we’re living in.

通过这样做，上一代在不知不觉中将他们今天的成就与今天的年轻人进行比较，给人的印象是，无论我们生活在哪个年代，今天的年轻人都在某种程度上走下坡路。