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　　The age of wealthy youth is over．Today's under-thirties are the first generation for a century who can expect a lower living standard than their parents．

　　Research into the lifestyle and prospects of people born since 1970 shows that they arelikely to face a lifetime of longer working hours, lower job security and higher taxes than the previous generation．

　　When they leave work late in the evening they will be more likely to return to a smallrented flat than to a house of their own．When, eventually, they retire it will be on pensions(养老金)far lower in real terms than those of their immediate ancestors．

　　The findings are revealed in a study of the way the ageing of Britain's population isaffecting different generations．

　　Anthea Tinker, professor of social gerontology at King's College London, who carried out much of the work, said the growth of the proportion(比例)of people over 50 had reversed the traditional flow of wealth from older to younger generations．

　　“Today's older middle-aged and elderly are becoming the new winners,” she said．“Theymade relatively small contributions in tax but now makerelativelybigclaimsonthe welfare system．Generations born in the last three to four decades face the prospect of handing over more than a third of their lifetime's earnings to care for them”．

　　The growing number of older people, many living alone, has also increased demand forproperty and pushed up house prices．While previous generations found it easy to raise a mortgage(抵押), today's under-thirties have to live with their parents or rent．If they can afford to buy a home it is more likely to be a flat than a house．

　　Laura Lenox-Conyngham, 28, grew up in a large house and her mother did not need to work．Unlike her wealthy parents, she graduated with student and postgraduate loan debts of ￡13, 000．She now earns about ￡20,000 a year, preparing food to be photographed for magazines．Her home is a one-bedroom flat in central London and she rents the lounge sofa-bed to her brother．

　　“My father took pity and paid off my student debts,” she said．“But I still have no pensionand no chance of buying a property for at least a couple of years－and then it will be some-thing small in a bad area．My only hope is the traditional one of meeting a rich man．”

　　Tinkers research shows Lenox-Conyngham is representative of many young professionals, especially in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Bristol．

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A Good Custodian

　　I know a woman who tries hard to be a good custodian．I pass her every day after school as she pushes her cart down my hallway．Of course, she is my building's cleaner．

　　One Tuesday morning I came into school and saw a 　　1　　 on my desk from my custodian．

　　It seemed that some unbearable first year students had damaged the bathroom in a particularly disgusting way and she had been 　　2　　 to clean it．This took 　　3　　 than she had expected．She had left the typewritten note on my desk to 　　4　　 for not being able to clean my room as she was 　　5　　 to do．

　　At the beginning of the period, I shared her note with my first period 　　6　　 When I mentioned that our custodian had apologized to us, their first 　　7　　 was to volunteer to seek out and beat up those first year students for making our custodian have to clean up their 　　8　　．It turned out that just about all of my students also knew our custodian by name-all of them responded with smiles and 　　9　　 for a long time about this time or that time when she'd 　　10　　 each of them in the hallway．That she felt she needed to apologize 　　11　　 a strong reaction from many of the kids．

　　As the class period was about to end, I asked them to 　　12　　 the floor like I do every period and thanked them for picking up any garbage 　　13　　 it wasn't theirs．My entire class disappeared; they each disappeared instantly 　　14　　 their desks to pick up those annoying tiny pieces of paper that 　　15　　 so easily from notebooks．One girl made a(an)　　16　　 that I later used with my other classes：" Her job might be to clean the room, but she shouldn't have to clean up 　　17　　 us．There's a difference．”

　　I believe that people know the difference between right and wrong．I believe that people appreciate it when others 　　18　　 take care of them．And I believe that people, even adolescents who are not quite yet mature, appreciate it when they see someone who takes 　　19　　 in her work．Sometimes we need a 　　20　　 of the things we take for granted．．．things like a good custodian to take care of us．

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