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In Western culture, 21 was the age at which young people traditionally received a key to their parents’ door, as a symbol of entering adulthood.
在西方传统文化中，年轻人到了21岁便可获得进入父母房间的钥匙，象征着他们开始进入成人世界。
Now, the age of 21 is a time when people ask themselves: where do I go from here?
如今，很多步入21岁的人都会自问：“我要去向哪里？”
Jiang Fangzhou’s 21 years have been filled with the kind of success most young people wouldn’t dare hope for in a lifetime. She published her first book at the age of nine and has written many more since then.
蒋方舟21年的成长历程里取得的成功，是大多数年轻人一辈子都不敢奢求的。9岁时便出版自己的处女作，此后又发表了大量作品。
She is regarded as a spokesperson for her generation. However, her hopes and concerns for the future appear decidedly normal.
蒋方舟被认为是同龄人的代言人。而她对未来流露出的希望和担心，也与一般人并无二致。
Not that Jiang herself sees it that way. The pressures that she feels as a 21-year-old are fairly abstract, while the worries of her peers are more to do with practical issues.
并不单单只有蒋方舟如此忧心忡忡，其他21岁年轻人也有类似的问题，不同点在于，她面临一种无形的压力，而她的同辈们担心的是一些现实问题。
She explains that while her fellow students are chiefly concerned with getting a job or buying an apartment, she frets over how she can excel in her work despite having little experience of the world.
她解释道，身边的同伴们都关心求职和买房问题，而她所烦恼的则是，如何在社会经验有限的基础上，在写作之路上再创佳绩。
“Over the past 10 years what I lacked was not skills, but the ability to perceive society,” says Jiang. “Having lived in China for so long, I’m worried many of my values are not objective anymore. They might have been *assimilated, or compromised, by my surroundings.”
“在过去10年里，我缺乏的不是技能，而是洞悉社会的能力，”蒋方舟说，“在中国生活了这么长时间，我担心自己的许多价值观受周围事物同化或影响，不再像原来那样客观。”
However, Jiang, now a senior at the School of Journalism and Communication of Tsinghua University, notes that her peers face intense pressure and competition at school. They are expected to excel in their field of study despite limited experience, just as Jiang is expected to shine in the literary world.
蒋方舟现在是清华大学新闻与传播学院大四年级的学生，她表示，在学校，同学们承受巨大的压力，面临激烈的竞争，正如蒋方舟希望在文学界再有所建树一样，他们也期待着在经验缺乏的前提下，在学业上取得突破。
Although Jiang believes this level of pressure means young people in China have never “*reveled, been *hippies or lived a bohemian lifestyle”, she notes that young Chinese live in an exciting time; in an era in which social transformation is occurring and in which “possibilities arise and roll on with full force”.
蒋方舟认为，虽然这种压力意味着中国的年轻人无法过着狂欢寻乐、我行我素或者放荡不羁的生活。但他们生活在一个激动人心和社会变革的时代，任何机会的出现都有可能改变命运。
