Part A: Reading Comprehension
Text 4
Against a backdrop of drastic changes in economy and population structure, younger Americans are drawing a new 21st-century road map to success, a latest poll has found.
Across generational lines, Americans continue to prize many of the same traditional milestones of a successful life, including getting married, having children, owning a home, and retiring in their sixties.
But while young and old mostly agree on what constitutes the finish line of a fulfilling life, they offer strikingly different paths for reaching it.
Young people who are still getting started in life were more likely than older adults to prioritize personal fulfillment in their work, to believe they will advance their careers most by regularly changing jobs, to favor communities with more public services and a faster pace of life, to agree that couples should be financially secure before getting married or having children, and to maintain that children are best served by two parents working outside the home, the survey found.
From career to community and family, these contrasts suggest that in the aftermath of the searing Great Recession, those just starting out in life are defining priorities and expectations that will increasingly spread through virtually all aspects of American life, from consumer preferences to housing patterns to politics.
Young and old converge on one key point: 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.
While younger people are somewhat more optimistic than their elders about the prospects for those starting out today, big majorities in both groups believe those “just getting started in life” face a tougher climb than earlier generations in reaching such signpost achievements as securing a good-paying job, starting a family, managing debt, and finding affordable housing.
Pete Schneider considers the climb tougher today. Schneider, a 27-year-old auto technician from the Chicago suburbs, says he struggled to find a job after graduating from college.
Even now that he is working steadily, he said, “I can’t afford to pay my monthly mortgage payments on my own, so I have to rent rooms out to people to make that happen.”
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.
“I still grew up in an upper middle-class home with parents who didn’t have college degrees,” Schneider said. “I don’t think people are capable of that anymore.”
36. One cross-generation mark of a successful life is
37. It can be learned from Paragraph 3 that young people tend to
38. The priorities and expectations defined by the young will
39. Both young and old agree that
40. Which of the following is true about Schneider?
答案解析 (Answers & Explanations)
36. [B] having a family with children.
解析：第二段明确指出，“跨越代际（Across generational lines）”，美国人继续珍视相同的传统里程碑，包括“结婚、养育子女（having children）”、买房和退休。这说明养育子女是不同世代公认的成功标志。
37. [C] attach importance to pre-marital finance.
解析：第三段提到年轻人更倾向于认为“在结婚或养育子女之前，夫妻双方应该在经济上是安全的（financially secure）”。这对应选项C“重视婚前财务状况”。
38. [D] reach almost all aspects of American life.
解析：第四段指出，年轻人定义的优先事项和期待将“越来越多地遍及几乎所有美国生活的方面（spread through virtually all aspects of American life）”。D项是原文的近义替换。
39. [D] getting established is harder for the young.
解析：第五段首句指出，“年轻人和年长者在一个关键点上达成一致（converge on one key point）：双方绝大多数人都相信，比起早期的几代人，当今年轻人开启生活更加困难了（it is harder for young people today to get started in life）”。D项中的“getting established”对应原文的“get started in life”。
40. [C] His parents’ good life has little to do with a college degree.
解析：最后一段中，Schneider 提到他的父母能为孩子提供舒适的生活，“即便当他小时候，他们中谁都没有读完大学（neither had completed college）”，且他是在一个父母“没有大学学位”的中产家庭长大的。这说明他父母的优渥生活与大学学位关系不大，选C。
核心长难句精解 (High-Light)
1. 复杂的并列不定式短语：
"Young people... were more likely... to prioritize personal fulfillment..., to believe they will advance..., to favor communities..., to agree that couples should be..., and to maintain that children are..."
【解析】本句主干是 `Young people were more likely than older adults to do...`。后面连接了五个并列的不定式短语作为宾语补足语，详尽列举了年轻人与年长一代在工作、生活节奏、婚姻观念上的显著差异。
"Young people... were more likely... to prioritize personal fulfillment..., to believe they will advance..., to favor communities..., to agree that couples should be..., and to maintain that children are..."
【解析】本句主干是 `Young people were more likely than older adults to do...`。后面连接了五个并列的不定式短语作为宾语补足语，详尽列举了年轻人与年长一代在工作、生活节奏、婚姻观念上的显著差异。
2. 介词短语前置与定语从句：
"Against a backdrop of drastic changes in economy and population structure, younger Americans are drawing a new 21st-century road map to success..."
【解析】`Against a backdrop of...` 作为时间/背景状语前置，设定了全篇论述的前提：经济和人口结构的剧烈变化。主句 `younger Americans are drawing...` 则引出了全文的核心话题——新一代的成功路线图。
"Against a backdrop of drastic changes in economy and population structure, younger Americans are drawing a new 21st-century road map to success..."
【解析】`Against a backdrop of...` 作为时间/背景状语前置，设定了全篇论述的前提：经济和人口结构的剧烈变化。主句 `younger Americans are drawing...` 则引出了全文的核心话题——新一代的成功路线图。
3. 让步状语从句与并列分句：
"Looking back, he is struck that his parents could provide a comfortable life... even though neither had completed college..."
【解析】`that` 引导宾语从句说明 Schneider 感到惊讶的内容。`even though` 引导让步状语从句，强调了其父母在没有高等教育背景的情况下依然实现了阶层跨越，反衬出当代年轻人面临的经济压力。
"Looking back, he is struck that his parents could provide a comfortable life... even though neither had completed college..."
【解析】`that` 引导宾语从句说明 Schneider 感到惊讶的内容。`even though` 引导让步状语从句，强调了其父母在没有高等教育背景的情况下依然实现了阶层跨越，反衬出当代年轻人面临的经济压力。