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英文词汇学习：Baby boomer 婴儿潮世代
Meaning意思
A person born during the temporary peak in the birth-rate that occurred several countries following WWII, notably the USA and the UK.

Origin起源
A 'baby boom' is any temporary increase in the birth-rate and that term was in use some time before WWII. A 'baby boom' was reported in various newspapers in England in the 1920s; for example, this piece, reprinted in The Coshocton Tribune, April 1920:

There is a 'baby boom' in London. Births during the first six months of this year have broken all records.

'The Baby Boom' - as opposed to 'a baby boom', refers to the increase in population in the countries that were victorious in WWII. The period is generally regarded as beginning in 1946 and ending in the mid-1960s.

There are citations of the term being used in the USA prior to or very early in WWII. At first sight these tend to contradict the view that it referred to the increase in the birth-rate due to the war. Logic would suggest that any baby boom couldn't begin until at least nine months after war had become inevitable and the USA had declared itself neutral in 1939. Those 1939/40 references to a 'baby boom' don't relate to a boom in the number of babies though, but to a small boom in the stock market. This growth in the economy caused by an upsurge in manufacturing caused by increased trade with Europe due to WWII. This 'baby boom' was widely reported in the US press in late 1939 and early 1940; for example, this item from The Syracuse Herald-Journal, April 1940:

'Stocks with a war flavor bounded up to more than 4 points in today's early market, In the fastest sprint since the 'baby boom' of last fall, but the majority stumbled badly in the latter part of the proceedings.'

The 'boom' in babies didn't wait until servicemen returned from the war, as is popularly supposed. There was a temporary increase in the birth-rate when the US effectively entered the war in 1941, as reported by The Galveston Daily News in December, 1941 - 'Baby Boom Increases Population of U. S.'. There was some speculation of the cause of this at the time and some commentators put it down to men trying to avoid the draft by becoming parents - an unsuccessful ploy if true, as many new fathers were drafted into the forces in WWII.

The term 'baby boomer' was coined in the USA, clearly with reference to the already widely known 'baby boom'. This wasn't for some years after WWII and the earliest citation I've found is surprisingly late - a piece in The Bennington Banner from December 1977:

'I grew up in suburban Massachusetts, a postwar baby boomer not used to seeing empty seats in classrooms or enough textbooks to go around.'

The term 'baby boomer' was initially used simply with reference to the peaks in birth-rate in the USA and UK. Over time, the connotations of the term have widened. The major economic, social and demographic changes that have been lived through by the postwar generations in the Western world have given the 'baby boomers' a unique position. They are healthier and wealthier than previous generations and can look forward to an active old-age that was denied previous generations, and also probably future ones as western economies struggle to maintain pension provision. The 'boomers' also developed rebellious, anti-establishment attitudes which have been carried on into older age, which is in contrast with a previous more deferential society and late 20th century apathy.

The 'baby boom' has led on to other expressions - 'baby bust' and 'echo boom'. These refer respectively to the period of relative low birth-rate in the 1950s which resulted in low school enrolments in the 1960s and the high birth-rates in the 1970s, when the original baby boomers had their children. These terms were both referred to in an article in The Newark Advocate, August 1975:

'Newark was not the only school district caught by surprise by the 'baby bust.' Population experts expected the postwar baby boom children, now grown, to produce an echo boom in the 1970s.'

在二战之前出生的美国人较为传统，被称为Silent Generation（沉静的一代）。二战后的美国百废待兴，很多男性从战场返乡，结婚生子，创造了美国史无前例的baby boom（婴儿潮），而在此期间出生的孩子则被称为baby boomer（婴儿潮世代）。人们将战后新生活的希望寄托在baby boomers身上，因此他们从小就受到良好的教育，长大之后在美国诸多领域挑大梁。而目前baby boomers大都面临退休，使社会养老负担加重。

而在baby boom之后，接踵而至的是baby bust（生育低谷），在baby bust这段时期出生的孩子被称为Generation X（被遗忘的一代，或X一代，20世纪60年代到70年代初出生的美国人）。这代人成长的过程，恰逢美国社会风气偏向于个人价值的体现和个人幸福的实现，因此他们身上有着不同程度的不负责任、冷漠和物质主义等特点。

Generation Y（Y一代）是在Generation X之后出生的美国人，他们出生于20世纪七八十年代，伴随着计算机以及互联网的成长而成长。有人认为Y一代有着更开放的文化价值观，和新的消费方式和行为方式，而也有些人认为他们更加以自我为中心，缺乏同情心和责任感。

Boom在这里表示“激增”，例如：population boom（人口激增）。Boom还常用来指“繁荣、兴旺”。最新数据表明，在这个boom town（新兴城市）中，market sales begin to boom（市场销售开始转旺），这得益于manufacturers try to boom their goods（生产商努力宣传产品），因此the industry enjoyed a boom（工业获得了繁荣发展）。