I think the message is that at the end of the day, everybody has to mature and everybody has to heal and mend their own injuries, emotional injuries, on their own pace.

                                                                                    — Boris Kodjoe

Parents can only give good advice or put their children on the right paths, but the final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.

                                                                                     — Anne Frank

艰难困苦，玉汝于成。                     ——《西铭》

Adversity breeds success.                    

路漫漫其修远兮，吾将上下而求索。   ——《离骚》

My way ahead is a long, long one, oh! I’ll seek my beauty high and low.

天行健，君子以自强不息。           ——《周易》

Our ancestors told us that as heaven maintains vigor through movement, a gentleman should constantly strive for self perfection.

青年在成长和奋斗中，会收获成功和喜悦，也会面临困难和压力。要正确对待一时的成败得失，处优而不养尊，受挫而不短志，使顺境逆境都成为人生的财富而不是人生的包袱。

                      ——习近平2017年五四青年节前夕在中国政法大学考察时的讲话

During one’s growth and endeavor, the young may not only gain success and joy, but may also face difficulties and pressure. One should treat the success and failure at the moment with a correct attitude, not slack in prosperity and not lose faith in adversity. One should consider both the success and failure as wealth in life instead of burdens.

Structure of the text

Part I (Para. 1)

Explains how the traditional way labeled previous life stages: childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old ages.

Part II  (Para. 2)

This transitional paragraph claims that the way of viewing different life stages is changing.

Part III  (Paras.3-5)

Introduces a new life stage, the odyssey years, using comparison and contrast. Specifically, Paragraph 3 describes what young people used to do after college. Paragraph 4 presents young people's assumption of adulthood people today. Paragraph 5 compares the image of young people today in the past and present.

Part IV (Paras.6-10)

This part exclusively deals with the characteristics of the odyssey years such as young people's rebellious reaction, parents' feelings toward the growing children, no new guidelines, young peoples' holding traditional aspirations and so on.

Part IV (Paras.11-12)

Encourages young people never to give up when facing any difficulties. They must have the strength, capacity and confidence to successfully pass through the odyssey years.

Summary of the text

The odyssey years are certainly a very complicated phase of life for young people. The odyssey years can saddle young people with enormous pressure to move forward. During these years, not only do these young people need to overcome many difficulties, they also have to face many challenges from their parents.

But, if you stay strong, be positive, and keep focused, someday you will look back and wonder at the vast changes as you passed through the odyssey years.

Translation Skill

被动语态的翻译

被动语态在英语中的使用非常广泛，相比较而言，由于汉语中的被动式往往表示不幸或不愉快的事情或经历，所以在汉语中使用被动结构的情况较少。在做被动语态的英译汉时，有时需要根据汉语的表达习惯，将被动语态转译为主动结构。

例：These challenges can be overcome by acquainting ourselves with them… (Para. 1)

译文：…… 通过对它们的充分了解，我们就可以战胜这些挑战。

被动语态一般有三种翻译方法：

1 直译为被动结构，即译文中仍保留“被”字，或者根据行文需要将“被”替换成“由”、“给”等词，表示被动含义。

When he left that company, the heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again.

离开那家公司时， 对他而言，成功的负重感被一切从头开始的轻松感所取代。

2 译为汉语主动结构。

       Our products are exported to Europe and America.

    我们的产品远销欧美。

3 动作发出者不明确时，可译为“无主句”或增加“泛指人称代词”。

Smoking is not allowed here.

此处禁止吸烟。

A note was passed up to the speaker.

有人给演讲者递上来一个纸条。

拓展：汉语中的主动语态可译作英语的被动结构。

1）全球100多个国家和国际组织积极支持和参与“一带一路“建设。

分析： “一带一路“在英文中为the Belt and Road Initiative，与Initiative 搭配的”参与“用be involved in 较为合适。

Over 100 countries and international organizations have supported and got involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

2）长江上还坐落着世界最大的水电站。

分析：“坐落”在英文中的对应表达是be situated、be located等被动语态。

On the river is located the world’s largest hydro-power station.

3）中国饮食文化可以追溯到几千年前。

The Chinese dining can be traced back to thousands of years ago.

4）航空服务不断改进，而且经常会有特价机票。

Air service has continued to improve, and from time to time special low-pricetickets are offered.

I. Learn the structure of a comparison / contrast essay. 

In this unit you will be familiarized with another useful writing method: comparison / contrast. You often compare and contrast two things, items, or people in everyday life. To compare means to show the similarities and to contrast means to show the differences. In everyday life, you compare and contrast when you buy a car or choose an apartment. You can also compare two teachers, two jobs, or two ways to spend a weekend. There are some important points to remember when you write a comparison / contrast essay: 

1 The items being compared or contrasted must be from the same category. In other words, they should be comparable. For example, you can compare a desktop with a laptop, but you may not compare a computer with a camera.

2 It is better to mention the points you would like to compare or contrast in the thesis statement so as to let readers know about the main idea in your essay right away. For example, to compare two jobs, you may want to write a thesis statement like this: It's not difficult to choose an ideal job if you compare the job features of salary, benefits, and opportunity for promotion.

3 There are two basic patterns to organize the details of your essay: point-by-point and subject-by-subject. Here, point refers to the aspects you would like to use to develop your essay, and subject refers to the two items or people you want to compare or contrast. In this unit, you will learn how to use the point-by-point pattern. For instance, if you compare two generations, you may organize the details as follows:

4 The key to writing a successful and coherent essay is the appropriate use of comparison and contrast structure words. The common ones are:

Now, take a look at Paragraph 5 of Text A to see how two different life patterns are followed by young people now and then. In this point-by-point comparison, one group is considered more traditional than the other, and these two different groups of young people enable you to portray their opposite attitudes toward life.

II. Writing parctice

Write an essay of no less than 150 words on the topic "Generation gap between parents and children". You can follow the outline given below.

Outline

Please read the following sentences from Paragraph 4 and discuss the following question.

They take breaks from school, live with friends and often return to living with their parents. Similarly,they fall in and out of love, quit one job and try another or even shift to anew career. （Para. 4）

Q: Youngsters, you are the peers of the people mentioned in the passage, then what do you think of their behaviors? Please discuss and share your opinions with your partner.

Reference: 

I think their behaviors are OK.

• From the behaviors of those youngsters, we guess that maybe they have to run away and hide from the reality in order to escape from the living stress and social pressure. 

• Such behaviors reflect their ideal living style—as free as wind—and they are not willing to be bound with one thing.

• They prefer following their heart and pursuing what they are truly passionate about.

• When youngsters are not clear about what their desirable life is, they just try everything they have interest in. It is natural for young people to try out many possibilitiesin job aswell as in relationship before they finally settle down.

I think their behaviors are wrong.

• They change so frequently that they may learn and gain nothing at the end. 

• If young people’s work and life are always in an instable state, they may worry their families and leave a bad impression on others that young people are not responsible or assiduous. 

• After enduring the instability for a long time, they will be at a loss, unable to find the compass in life and most likely to become overwhelmed by the stress from the family and society.