下面你将听到一段有关青少年发展的讲话。

Today, there are 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24 in the world. It is the largest cohort in human history. Meeting their needs will be a big challenge. But it’s also a big opportunity. They hold our shared future in their hands. Every day, we read about young people lending their ideas and passions to fighting for change, social change, political change, change in their communities. Imagine what they’ll create: breakthroughs, inventions and maybe new medicines, new modes of transportation, new ways to communicate, sustainable economies and maybe even a world at peace. But this opportunity, this youth dividend, is not a given. //
    Two hundred million adolescents are out of school worldwide, about the population of Brazil. And those that are in school feel that they may not be getting the right skills. Globally, six in 10 children and young people do not meet the minimum proficiency level for reading and mathematics. No country can be successful if nearly half of its population of young people is unable to read or write. And what about the lucky few who are in secondary school? Many of them are dropping out because they’re worried that they’re not getting skills that they can use to make a livelihood. And sometimes, their parents can no longer afford the fees. It’s a tragedy. //
    Young people are worried that they’re not getting the skills that they need. And again, they’re right. We are finding ourselves at a time when the world is changing so fast for work. We’re in the fourth industrial revolution. Young people do not want to be on the farms and in rural communities. They want to go to the cities. They want to learn future skills for future work. They want to learn digital technology and green technologies. They want to have a chance to learn modern agriculture. They want to learn business and entrepreneurship so that they can create a business of their own. //
    These urgent crises may not be the reality in your life or in your neighborhood. And perhaps you’ve had the opportunities for a good education and for marketable skills, and for getting a job. And maybe you’ve never faced violence, or prejudice, or discrimination. But there are tens of millions of young people who are not so lucky. And they are sounding alarm for their futures. There are goals and ideas put forward to relieve the situation. But these ideas and programs are just a start. They’ll only reach a fraction of the young people that we need to reach. We want to take these ideas and find ways to scale them up, to reach more young people in more communities, in more places around the world. //
    Can each one of us help? In our everyday lives and in our workplaces, are there ways that we could support young people? Young people are asking us for apprenticeships, for job shadowing, for internships. Young people are also asking us for work-study programs, places where they can learn and earn. Young people are also saying that they want to help other young people. They want more space and more voice, so that they can gather to help each other in HIV centers, in refugee camps, but also to stop online bullying and early child marriage. //
    We need ideas. We need ideas that are big and small, ideas that are local and global. This, in the end, is our responsibility. A massive generation of young people are about to inherit our world. It is our duty to leave a legacy of hope and opportunity for them but also with them. Young people are 25 percent of our population. But they are 100 percent of our future. And they’re calling out for a fighting chance to build a better world. So their call should be our calling, the calling of our time. The time is now, the need is urgent. 1.8 billion young people are waiting. //
                                                                                                                                       (原文选自TED演讲)