By WALTER KIRN (abridged)

Of all the great post-war inventions - television, rock 'n' roll, the Internet - the greatest and most
influential is, perhaps, the American teenager. Think about it. While the country has always had adolescents, it
was only in the past 50 or 60 years that it had tens of millions of semi-grownups living in a developmental buffer
zone somewhere between childish innocence and adult experience. This teenage culture of pop songs, cars and
acne ointments, of proms, allowances and slumber parties is still unknown in less developed countries. And until
the reform of child-labor laws in the 1930s, the spread of suburbia in the 1940s and the rise of targeted youth
marketing in the '50s, it was unknown here as well. Early 20th century adolescents were farmers, apprentices,
students and soldiers - perhaps even wives and husbands - but not teenagers. (§1)
Spawned by a mix of prosperity and politics, teenagers are a modern luxury good. The question for the
new century is, “How much longer will teenagers exist, at least in the form that James Dean made famous?”
Twenty years, tops, is my guess. Teenagers, as classically defined, are already dying out, or at least changing into
something different. The buffer zone they once inhabited is
being squeezed out of existence for two reasons: children
are growing up faster than ever before, and adults are
growing up more slowly. (§2)
A few random facts. According to a recent national
survey, 63% of teens reported using a computer in the 30
days previous to being polled. Not long ago, I, a 37-year-
old, suffered a lapse of Internet access that was repaired by
a 16-year-old who charges $50 an hour for his expert labor
and trades stocks over the Web in his spare time. By
comparison, when I was 16, I worked in a gas station for
pocket change and thought that all stockbrokers lived in
New York City. (§3)
An adolescent with his or her own money - real
money, not parental charity - is not, in any meaningful
sense, a teenager, but a capitalist early bird out to get the
worm. This truth informs those ads for Internet stockbrokers
in which young punks with goatees and ponytails give
investment advice to balding bosses or land private
helicopters in their parents' backyard. Exaggerations? Forty-
year-olds wish. Not when silicon billionaires like Jerry Yang
of Yahoo (31 and worth more than $3 billion) have proved
that the traditional interval between a boy's first shave and his first million need not be much of an interval at all.
All over the nation's high-tech landscape, people are retiring within years of taking their first legal sip of alcohol.
Soon they'll be retiring before driving age. This won't be a problem for them, however, because they'll be able to
afford chauffeurs. (§4)
One thing that used to make teenagers was the postponement of family responsibilities, but these days
even 30- and 40-year-olds are postponing family responsibilities, often permanently. Coming of age is becoming
a lifelong process. Teenagerhood as preparation for life makes no sense when the life being prepared for
resembles the one you've been living all along. Meanwhile, teenagers are discovering that there are medical ways
to escape the angst part of growing up. Why have an existential crisis if you can be on Prozac? The teenage
years, as formerly defined, were a time for people to get away with things, to make mistakes and not really have
to pay for them. (§5)
What will a world without teenagers look like? Like the adult world does now, adolescents will feel the
same pressures as their parents do: to succeed financially, to maintain their health, to stay on society's good side.
What's more, adolescents will field these pressures using their elders' traditional techniques: spending money,
taking medication, contracting for professional advice. The carefree years will become the prudent years, and the
prudent years will continue throughout life. That's how it used to be, in the 19th century, and that's how it will be
again in the 21st.(§6)
I.A. Read the text and match the headlines with the paragraphs:
1. Online meeting places __________
2. The latest teen craze __________
3. Reasons for MySpace attractiveness __________
4. Bridging distances __________
5. Personal web pages design __________
6. The Net Generation __________

B.1. Find evidence for the following sentences. Quote from the text.
1.1. It was only in the second half of the 20th century that the teenage concept became a reality.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
1.2. In two decades the line of demarcation between childhood and adulthood will have faded.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
1.3. Today’s teens don’t depend on pocket money provided by their parents.
_______________________________________________________________________________________

B.2. Complete the following sentences according to the text. Use your own words as far as
possible.
2.1. Jerry Yang of Yahoo is living proof of _________________________________________________
2.2. In the past, the teenage years were not only _____________________________________________
2.3. In what concerns the future, Walter Kirn wondered _______________________________________

C.1. Reread paragraphs 2 and 3 and find SYNONYMS/ ANTONYMS for the following words/
expressions
GIVEN WORD SYNONYM ANTONYM
 ruined 1.
 at the most 2.
 concrete 3.
 failure 4.
 specialised 5.

C.2. Say what the following words refer to:

2.1. “which” (§4) 2.2. “them” (§4) 2.3. “their” (§6)

II

A. 1. Select the most appropriate preposition from the box below and complete the following text.

ABOUT IN TO TOWARD AT FOR

A study of German teens finds that those who were exposed (1)______ more cigarette advertisements
during a nine-month observation period were more likely to take up smoking. The study is published in the
journal Pediatrics.
Researchers looked (2)______ the role that any kind of advertising, including cigarette advertising,
plays (3)______ influencing teens to begin smoking. Researchers showed advertisements to 2,102 German
teens who had never smoked. The ads included six cigarette advertisements, and eight ads (4)______ other
products including candy, clothes, cell phones and cars.
Students also answered surveys (5)______ how frequently they had seen each ad, as well as
questions about smoking behaviors among their parents, peers, and their attitudes (6)______ rebellious and
sensation-seeking behaviors.
A. 2. Rewrite the sentences without changing their meaning. Start as indicated.

2.1. Susan spent too much time surfing the net. She was a victim of a cyber stalker.
If _____________________________________________________________________________________

2.2. Advertisements and media from alcohol and tobacco companies target teens, and specifically target our
inexperience.
Teens and specifically our inexperience _____________________________________________________

2.3. Cyberadvisor: “If you ever get involved in a chat room conversation that makes you feel uncomfortable,
or in danger, exit and tell a parent.”
A cyberadvisor told Susan ________________________________________________________________

2.4. Although the new technologies make our lives a lot easier, they shouldn’t rule our life choices.
In spite of ______________________________________________________________________________

III. Choose ONE of the following tasks and write 180-200 words on it.

A. Write an opinion essay on the following

statement:

“Nowadays, anyone who cannot speak English and is

incapable of using the Internet is regarded as backward.”
Al-Waleed bin Talal

OR

B. Analyse the following sticky situation. Suppose you are Mrs Web and write a letter giving
“Desperate mother” some advice.

Dear Mrs. Web,

I am concerned about my 16-year-old son. He has started hanging around with “the wrong crowd”. He was a
good student until the last quarter but his grades have been going down. I asked him if he is doing drugs
but he says no. Last week, he even came home with his tongue pierced! That was the last straw! We had a
big fight and now we don’t even talk. He is a smart kid but I am afraid that if he keeps it up, he will get
into some kind of trouble. How can I talk to him?
Desperate mother