New Times

Paul Dârvariu
Dude, you've lived your whole life in these new times, but you think like people did a century ago. Where did you get these backward ideas? The gentleman wants to marry a virgin, ha. What are you dreaming about? First of all, where are you going to find that longed-for virgin? Secondly, have you heard of gender equality? What do you mean, dude, she's a virgin and you're an experienced bachelor? What? Are you a virgin too? Oh dear, with these incompetents, we'll never build a multilaterally developed capitalist society.

Mihaela Scânteie
The classroom is full. I've got the blank sheet on my board. Who the hell knows how to conjugate the future perfect? Who uses it? I wonder as I gnaw hungrily on an HB pencil. Now it's no longer fashionable to write with a pencil, but with your finger on the touchscreen. HB is a staple food product. There's no telling what it's made of. The teacher levitates among us. Young people, future perfect is rarely used, although it is still taught in school. Why are we still learning it, I ask bored. In Romania, the curriculum has hardly stood any change in the past hundred years.
 
 Horațiu Dudău
Emil was returning home. For two weeks. He was surprised he hadn't driven into potholes. He stopped at the edge of town. A huge, state-of-the-art shopping mall. Full. People shopping, eating, gawping. He almost bumped into a pizza delivery guy. He apologized in English. He sat down for coffee. At another table, young people were casually working on their laptops. The air conditioning made the atmosphere breathable. Emil felt that times were changing. Slowly. Perhaps people here don't even notice anymore.

(Translated by Anca Maria Florea / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by prof. dr. Nadina Vișan, Edited by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)