Lesson 2 Four Choices for Young People

　　在毕业前不久，斯坦福大学四年级主席吉姆？宾司给我写了一封信，信中谈及他的一些不安。

　　Shortly before his graduation， Jim Binns， president of the senior class at Stanford University， wrote me about some of his misgivings.

　　他写道：“与其他任何一代人相比，我们这一代人在看待成人世界时抱有更大的疑虑……同时越来越倾向于全盘否定成人世界。”

　　“More than any other generation，” he said， “our generation views the adult world with great skepticism… there is also an increased tendency to reject completely that world.”

　　很明显，他的话代表了许多同龄人的看法。

　　Apparently he speaks for a lot of his contemporaries.

　　在过去的几年里，我倾听过许多年轻人的谈话，他们有的还在大学读书，有的已经毕业，他们对于成人的世界同样感到不安。

　　During the last few years， I have listened to scores of young people， in college and out， who were just as nervous about the grown world.

　　大致来说，他们的态度可归纳如下：“这个世界乱糟糟的，到处充满了不平等、贫困和战争。对此该负责的大概应是那些管理这个世界的成年人吧。如果他们不能做得比这些更好，他们又能拿什么来教育我们呢？这样的教导，我们根本不需要。”

　　Roughly， their attitude might be summed up about like this： “The world is in pretty much of a mess， full of injustice， poverty， and war. The people responsible are， presumably， the adults who have been running thing. If they can't do better than that， what have they got to teach our generation？ That kind of lesson we can do without.”

　　我觉得这些结论合情合理，至少从他们的角度来看是这样的。

　　There conclusions strike me as reasonable， at least from their point of view.

　　对成长中的一代人来说，相关的问题不是我们的社会是否完美（我们可以想当然地认为是这样），而是应该如何去应付它。

　　The relevant question for the arriving generation is not whether our society is imperfect （we can take that for granted）， but how to deal with it.

　　尽管这个社会严酷而不合情理，但它毕竟是我们惟一拥有的世界。

　　For all its harshness and irrationality， it is the only world we've got.

　　因此，选择一个办法去应付这个社会是刚刚步入成年的年轻人必须作出的第一个决定，这通常是他们一生中最重要的决定。

　　Choosing a strategy to cope with it， then， is the first decision young adults have to make， and usually

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