Being 30: Then, now and tomorrow – C1 English Reading Test

C1 English Reading Test

Read a text about how life at 30 has changed across generations and choose the correct answers.

Being 30: Then, now and tomorrow

For much of the 20th century, many people seemed to have their lives all figured out by the age of 30. Perhaps not in the sense of knowing exactly who they were or what they wanted from life, but they had usually already got married, had had children, had bought a home—or were about to buy one—and had been working in the same place for years. Changing careers or staying single wasn’t part of the plan. There was a script almost everyone was expected to follow: leave school, find a job, buy a home, settle down and start a family. It wasn’t written anywhere, yet somehow everybody knew the lines—and almost nobody stopped to ask who had written them.

A good friend of mine, Jasmine, has recently turned 30. She has changed jobs—and boyfriends—more times than she can remember, has lived in four different places, and has all but given up on the idea of buying a home because house prices are simply out of reach in the city where she lives. Her grandmother still asks her when she’s finally going to settle down. Jasmine usually laughs. She does hope to have a child one day, even if she never finds the right partner and has to fly solo. But she doesn’t see why that decision has to be tied to a particular birthday. She’s been thinking about it more since one of her closest friends became a mum. Perhaps by the time she’s 40, she’ll have figured it all out—or perhaps she’ll have written a different script, like so many people seem to be doing these days.

So why has being 30 changed so much? Part of the answer is economic. House prices have raced ahead of salaries, secure jobs have become harder to find, and many people have spent longer in education. But money only tells half the story. Attitudes towards marriage, parenthood and success have also shifted. People have become less willing to treat adulthood as a checklist and more inclined to ask whether the next milestone is actually right for them. And, if we’re honest, some simply can’t be bothered to chase goals they never chose in the first place. The result is greater freedom—but also greater uncertainty. Having more options sounds liberating, until you have to choose between them.

If Jasmine does eventually have a child, what might their life look like at 30? By then, they will probably have been learning alongside artificial intelligence since primary school and will have been working with it throughout their entire professional life. In fact, they will probably have spent most of their life at home, studying, working, shopping, exercising and socialising without ever needing to step outside—which may be just as well, considering how hot the outside world will probably have become. They will already have changed jobs—or even professions—several times without seeing this as unusual. As for love, perhaps they will have met their partner through technology that hasn’t even been invented yet—or perhaps even fallen for an AI-powered robot and made technology itself their partner. Whether that sounds wonderfully convenient or deeply unsettling probably depends on your generation.

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Page 1 of 7

1 How does the text depict 30-year-olds from past generations?

A. As being certain about their true ambitions.

B. As being naturally more loyal to their employers.

C. As working harder than people from later generations.

D. As not being very inquisitive about social expectations.

Page 2 of 7

2 What does the metaphor of a 'script' suggest about adulthood in the past?

A. People were encouraged to plan every stage of life carefully.

B. Most people followed a socially established sequence of milestones.

C. Adults often felt they were pretending to be more confident than they were.

D. Society expected people to avoid having personal ambitions.

Page 3 of 7

3 Why does the writer introduce Jasmine in paragraph 2?

A. To show that traditional milestones are now unachievable.

B. To contrast one unusual lifestyle with the choices most people make.

C. To suggest that young people today can't keep jobs or relationships.

D. To show how ideas about adulthood have changed today.

Page 4 of 7

4 What can be inferred about Jasmine's attitude towards parenthood?

A. She wouldn't mind being a single mum.

B. She wants to become a parent but would like to find the right person first.

C. She has only considered having a child because one of her friends recently became a mum.

D. She's unsure that becoming a parent is important to her.

Page 5 of 7

5 What does the writer mean by 'treat adulthood as a checklist'?

A. To judge adulthood according to a fixed series of expected achievements.

B. To plan every important life decision well in advance.

C. To compare personal progress with that of other people.

D. To complete adult responsibilities as quickly as possible.

Page 6 of 7

6 What does the writer suggest about some people's attitude towards traditional goals?

A. They have failed to understand why those goals matter.

B. They reject them because they lack ambition.

C. They do not feel motivated to pursue socially imposed goals.

D. They believe such goals have become impossible to achieve.

Page 7 of 7

7 Choose the TWO main ideas in paragraph 4.

A. Future adults may lead more home-based lives.

B. Human relationships will become irrelevant.

C. Future adults will have become more accustomed to change.

D. Climate change will affect people's behaviour.

E. AI will replace education.

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Explanation

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