美文阅读和写作课题·学案

美文阅读和写作课题·学案

Post-90s

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BEING a member of the “post-1990s” generation can be frustrating. You are often associated with some not so flattering (赞美的) labels. You are said to be self-centered and feel that you are entitled to all the good things life has to offer. Time Magazine even described your generation as the “me me me generation” in May.

The Telegraph in the UK praised them for abandoning drinking and developing many wholesome (健康的) hobbies. Meanwhile, The New York Times called millennials “Generation Nice” because they are socially responsible do-gooders who prefer to find solutions to the challenges of the moment. But last month, two newspapers in the West painted a rather different picture of the millennials (those born between the early 1980s and late 1990s).

The biggest change that millennials in the UK have brought along may be in young people’s drinking habits.

“The generation before the millennials were drinking heavily. Now there’s a new sense of sobriety (戒酒) among young people,” said Fiona Measham, a professor at Durham University in the UK.

Social media may take the credit to some extent, said the Telegraph, as young people don’t want their worst moments to be captured, shared, and seen by a potential boss or partner.

Knitting (编织), cooking, and gardening have become their favorite pastimes, said the article.With alcohol and drugs kicked out of their life, young people now tend to have healthier hobbies.

“There is a real drive to do something productive. It’s hard to find time for a hobby if you are going out drinking,” Kate Payne, author of The Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking, told The Telegraph.

Changes in their hobbies have also helped them to learn good manners.

The 2013 Youth Justice Statistics in the UK showed that young people are less rude and noisy in public. They are even more rational (理智的) when they go shopping.

An important feature that makes US millennials different from the previous generation is that they are not as interested in luxury (奢侈品) brands, The New York Times reported. People born in the 1990s are more likely to buy from companies that support solutions to specific social issues. For example, they prefer organically-farmed cotton free of pesticides (杀虫剂).

And people are praising the traits of the post-1990s generation worldwide. The Xinhua Daily Telegraph commented that the post-1990s generation in China has become more independent and critical in its thinking, and members are also better at expressing their ideas than their parents’ generation.

“We hold on to a belief not because it makes us different from others, but because it’s the right thing to do,” said Wang Yilin, a Senior 3 student in Chongming High School in Shanghai. “What we pursue (追求) is what genuinely makes us happy.”