Now that members of Generation Z are graduating college this spring—the most commonly-accepted definition says this generation was born after 1995, give or take a year—the attention has been rising steadily in recent weeks. Gen Zs are about to hit the streets looking for work in a labor market that’s tighter than it’s been in decades. And employers are planning on hiring about 17 percent more new graduates for jobs in the U.S. this year than last, according to a survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Everybody wants to know how the people who will soon inhabit those empty office cubicles will differ from those who came before them.

If “entitled” is the most common adjective, fairly or not, applied to millennials (those born between 1981 and 1995), the catchwords for Generation Z are practical and cautious. According to the career counselors and experts who study them, Generation Zs are clear-eyed, economic pragmatists. Despite graduating into the best economy in the past 50 years, Gen Zs know what an economic train wreck looks like. They were impressionable kids during the crash of 2008, when many of their parents lost their jobs or their life savings or both. They aren’t interested in taking any chances. The booming economy seems to       have done little to assuage this underlying generational sense of anxious urgency, especially for those who have college debt. College loan balances in the U.S. now stand at a record $1.5 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve.

One survey from Accenture found that 88 percent of graduating seniors this year chose their major with a job in mind. In a 2019 survey of University of Georgia students, meanwhile, the career office found the most desirable trait in a future employer was the ability to offer secure employment (followed by professional development and training, and then inspiring purpose). Job security or stability was the second most important career goal (work-life balance was number one), followed by a sense of being dedicated to a cause or to feel good about serving the greater good.

That’s a big change from the previous generation. “Millennials wanted more flexibility in their lives,” notes Tanya Michelsen, Associate Director of YouthSight, a UK-based brand manager that conducts regular 60-day surveys of British youth, in findings that might just as well apply to American youth. “Generation Zs are looking for more certainty and stability, because of the rise of the gig economy. They have troubles seeing a financial future and they are quite risk averse.”

1.Generation Zs graduating college this spring _________.

A are recognized for their abilities

B are optimistic about the labor market

C are in favor of office job offers

D are drawing growing public attention

解析：选D。D 细节理解题。根据题目定位到第一段第一句，可知Z一代（1995后）将在今年春天从大学毕业，最近几周对他们的关注也在不断增加，故选D。

2.Generation Zs are keenly aware _________.

A what their parents expect of them

B how valuable a counselor’s advice is

C what a tough economic situation is like

D how they differ from past generations

解析：选C。C 细节理解题。根据Generation Z和aware定位到第二段第三句，可知Z一代知道经济列车失事是什么样子，在2008年的经济危机中，他们正处于易受影响的年龄，他们中很多人的父母失去了工作和毕生积蓄，故选C。

3.The word “assuage” (Para. 2) is closet in meaning to _________.

A deepen

B define

C maintain

D relieve

解析：选D。D 词义猜测题。根据assuage定位到第二段倒数第二句“蓬勃发展的经济似乎没有assuage这一代人潜在的焦虑紧迫感，尤其是对那些背负大学债务的人来说”，其中“缓和，减轻”更符合语境，故选D。

4.It can be learned from Paragraph 3 that Generation Zs _________.

A give top priority to professional training

B have a clear idea about their future job

C care little about their job performance

D think it hard to achieve work-life balance

解析：选B。B 细节理解题。根据题目定位到第三段，可知调查发现今年88%的应届毕业生早在选专业时就有了心中理想的工作，故选B。

5.Michelsen thinks that compared with millennials, Generation Zs are _________.

A less realistic

B less adventurous

C more diligent

D more generous

解析：选B。B 推理判断题。根据compared with millennials定位到第二段第一句，可知Z一代的流行语是务实和谨慎，故选B。