調查:多數美國人戀舊 寧願回到過去

Most Americans think the quality of life for adults under 30 years old, or Generation Y, won't be as good as it is for their baby-boomer parents, according to a new poll.

More than 60 percent of people were pessimistic about the future, and 71 percent of young Americans under 30 said they would rather go back in time than leap to the future.

"It's interesting how strongly people feel things are getting worse, and how strongly people are backward looking," said Michael Hogan, 35, executive online editor at Vanity Fair which conducted the survey with CBS News.

"This is a time of high unemployment, people coming out of school with very few job prospects. The past probably seems more comforting," he added.

Although the past may seem appealing for young Americans, only 50 percent of seniors over 65 said they wanted to travel back in time.

The nationwide poll of 1,167 adults, which included questions about culture, lifestyle and politics, also revealed that if given the choice to take anything with them to the afterlife, 25 percent would take a pet, 47 percent would opt for a photo album but only nine percent wanted to take an iPhone or a Blackberry.

Despite romancing the past, people believe in rewarding the forward-minded. Thirty-three percent of those polled believe Internet entrepreneurs are most deserving of their large salaries, followed by 15 percent for sports stars and 12 percent for bankers. Only eight percent felt movie stars should get the dollars they do.

And despite a recent trip to the United States, more than three-quarters of people questioned could not identity David Cameron as the prime minister of Great Britain. Twenty seven percent might have confused him with "Avatar" director James Cameron when they thought he was a movie director.

The full results of the poll, which are published in Vanity Fair, can be found on and .

一項最新民調顯示，多數美國人認爲30歲以下的年輕人——也就是所謂的“Y一代”的生活質量將不如他們出生於“嬰兒潮”時期的父母。

超過60%的美國人對未來感到悲觀，30歲以下的美國人中有71%的人說他們寧願回到過去，而不是走向未來。

這項調查由美國《名利場》雜誌和哥倫比亞廣播公司共同開展。《名利場》雜誌網站執行主編、35歲的邁克爾•霍根說：“人們強烈地感覺到生活越來越糟糕，並十分希望回到過去，這一現象值得關注。”

他說：“當今社會失業率高居不下，大學畢業生就業前景黯淡。而過去的歲月可沒有這麼‘慘’。”

儘管多數年輕人留戀過去，但65歲以上的老年人中只有50%的人希望時光倒流。

此外，調查顯示，如果能選擇一樣東西帶到來生，25%的人會帶上寵物，47%的人會選擇相冊，只有9%的人選擇帶iPhone或黑莓手機。這項對1167名成年人開展的全國性調查涉及文化、生活方式和政治等方面。

儘管留戀過去，但人們仍然覺得那些有遠見的人應得到相應的報酬。33%的受訪者認爲互聯網創業者最應得到高收入，其次是體育明星（15%），12%的人認爲是銀行家。

只有8%的人覺得電影明星應得到豐厚的報酬。

儘管英國首相大衛•卡梅倫最近剛前往美國訪問，但超過四分之三的美國人不知道他是何許人也。27%的人以爲他是電影導演，可能是把他和電影《阿凡達》的導演詹姆斯•卡梅倫混淆了。

該調查的完整結果在《名利場》雜誌上刊登，也可登陸和網站查看。

Vocabulary:

Generation Y: the generation of people born in the 1980s and 1990s, also known as the Millennial Generation or Generation Next or Net Generation, describes the demographic cohort following Generation X.（在20世紀80年代和90年代出生的一代人，也稱爲“新千年一代”或“網絡一代”）

baby-boomer: someone who was born during a baby boom, especially during the years after the end of the Second World War 嬰兒潮一代，（尤指英國和美國）生育高峯期（1945-1952）出生的人。

romance: to tell stories that are not true or to describe something in a way that makes it seem more exciting or interesting than it really is 虛構（故事）；渲染