继千禧一代后，如今最年轻的群体便是——Z世代。
Born in 1995 or later, a lot of Gen Z-ers are entering into adulthood and will soon join the workforce. People of Generation Z have grown up with the internet. They are said to be *tech-savvy and *obsessed with social media.
许多1995年及之后出生的Z世代逐渐成年，不久后将走上工作岗位。Z世代在互联网的陪伴下成长起来，被认为是沉迷于社交媒体的科技通。
They live in a progressive era where gay marriage is being legalized in more and more societies. But they’ve also witnessed the rise of global terrorism. Generation Z will shape our future. Policy makers, sociologists, as well as employers and marketers, are trying their best to understand these young people. So, how should we pin down the Gen Z-ers?
他们生活在一个进步的时代，越来越多的社会将同性婚姻合法化。但同时他们也目睹了全球恐怖主义愈演愈烈。Z时代将塑造我们的未来。政策制定者、社会学家、雇主以及营销人员都在努力了解这些年轻人。所以，我们该如何明确定义这些Z世代的年轻人呢？
Most people will agree that the single biggest difference between Gen Z and other generations is how connected they are. This is a group of people who were hooked up to social media as soon as they were born. Social media has changed the way Gen Z-ers interact with each other and how they get and process information. A recent Guardian article says that the average teenager in the UK has at least 150 followers on Instagram and spends around half an hour a day on Snapchat, an image messaging app. “We are the first true digital natives,” Hannah Payne, an 18-year-old UCLA student and lifestyle blogger, was quoted by The New York Times as saying: “I can almost *simultaneously create a document, edit it, post a photo on Instagram and talk on the phone, all from the user-friendly *interface of my iPhone.
Z世代和其他年代的人最大的不同之处就在于他们彼此联系紧密，大多数人都会认同这一点。这群人自打出生以来，便和社交媒体紧密相连。社交媒体改变了Z世代彼此间互动以及获取并处理信息的方式。《卫报》近期的一篇文章指出，平均每个英国年轻人在Instagram 上都至少有150个粉丝，并且每天都要花大约半小时玩照片通讯应用“快拍”。“我们是第一代真正的数字原住民，”加州大学洛杉矶分校学生、18岁的汉娜•佩恩是一名生活方式博客博主，她的这番话还被《纽约时报》引用：“我可以几乎是同时地新建并编辑一份文件、在Instagram上贴出一张照片，再打一通电话，这一切都得益于我的苹果手机人性化的使用界面。
“Generation Z takes in information *instantaneously,” she added, “and loses interest just as fast.”
“Z世代能够即时获取信息“，她补充道，“也很快就失去兴趣。”
Becoming more active
更为活跃
Generation Z-ers may have a shorter attention span than a goldfish, but they are conscientious and *civic-minded. Gen Z-ers are coming of age in the era of the economic *downturn and global terrorism and they have their eyes open from the very beginning, says Lucie Green, a top executive from international advertising agency J. Walter Thompson.
Z世代注意力的持续时间或许比金鱼还短，但他们认真尽责，富有公德心。Z世代在经济低迷和全球恐怖主义的时代背景下步入成年，他们从一开始便睁大眼睛看着这个世界，国际化广告公司智威汤逊的高管露西•格林说道。
Green told The New York Times: “If Hannah Horvath from [TV series] Girls is the typical millennial – self-involved, dependent, flailing financially in the real world as her expectations of a dream job and life *collide with reality - then Alex Dunphy from Modern Family represents the Gen Z *antidote,” Green said. “Alex is a true Gen Z: *conscientious, hard-working, somewhat anxious and mindful of the future.”
格林在接受《纽约时报》采访时表示：“如果（电视剧）《衰姐们》里的汉娜•霍瓦特是典型的千禧一代 —— 专注于自我、依赖他人、由于她理想中的工作生活与现实相冲突而在现实世界中为钱发愁，那么《摩登家庭》里的亚历克斯•邓菲则代表了Z世代的解药，”格林说道。“亚历克斯是一名真正的Z世代：认真尽责、勤奋努力、对未来抱有几分忧虑和关注。”
The Guardian also notes that young people in the UK are becoming more active in politics. According to a British Election Study that is cited by the newspaper, an estimated 58 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds voted in the 2015 general election in the UK, a significant jump from the 38 percent turnout among the same age group in 2005.
《卫报》同时也指出，英国年轻人在政治上日益活跃。据该报纸引述的一项英国大选调查显示，在18-24岁年龄段的人之中，大约有58的人参与了2015年英国大选，比2005年同年龄段人群的参加人数远远高出了38。
Voting is just one way of making one’s voice heard. The Guardian cites 2013 research carried out by the European Commission which found that “young people regard voting as one option among many, and they show their political *engagement in many different, issue-specific ways that can potentially influence policies more directly”.
投票选举只是发声的一种途径。欧盟委员会于2013年发布的一项调查报告发现“年轻人将投票选举视为众多选择之一，他们在许多不同的特定方面展现了政治参与度，并对政策产生了潜在影响”。而《卫报》也引述了该调查结果。
Most of Generation Z are still too young to vote, says The Guardian. Instead of party politics, they focus more on single-topic issues such as *feminism or climate change. And “much of the civic engagement and organizing they do takes place on social media rather than through traditional political structures,” according to the newspaper.
《卫报》表示，大多数Z世代还未达到投票年龄。他们更多地关注女权主义或是气候变化等单一议题，而非政党政治。据该报报道，“许多他们策划的公民参与以及公民组织活动都是通过社交媒体，而非通过传统的政治结构进行。”
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