青春 Youth

京彩卓音

　　Youth--by Samuel Ullman

《青春》 ----- 塞缪尔·乌尔曼

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

青春不是年华，而是一种心态；不是玫瑰般的脸庞，红润的嘴唇和敏捷的双腿，而是坚韧的意志，丰富的想象力，以及无穷的激情；青春是生命深处的一股清泉。

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

青春意味着勇气多于怯懦，青春意味着喜欢冒险而讨厌安逸。拥有此种品质的人之中，六十岁的老人往往多于二十岁的年轻人。没有人只因年龄的增长而年老，人们往往因放弃理想而年老。

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

岁月可使肌肤长满皱纹，但放弃激情可使心灵布满灰尘。焦虑，疑惑，猜疑，恐惧和沮丧-------都会挫伤心灵，磨损意志。

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being's heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing child-like appetite of what's next, and the joy of the game of living.

不管是白发老人还是青春少年，每个人的心里皆有其喜欢之新奇事物，对新奇的东西皆有好奇之心，对未知事物如孩子般的渴求之心，乐于享受生活带来的乐趣。

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.

我们因充满信心而变得年轻；因心存疑虑而变得年老；因自信而年轻，因心存恐惧而年老，因充满希望而年轻，因满怀沮丧而年老。

In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long are you young.

人人心里都有一座无线电台，只要接受到来自地球、人类和宇宙的美好、希望、勇气、庄严及力量，就会变得年轻。

　　When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism，then you are grown old, even at twenty , but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.

当心灵的天线倒下，心如大雪般的悲观，如冰块般的愤世嫉俗，那时，惟有那时我们将真正老去。然则只要树起心灵的天线，捕捉乐观信号，你就有望在八十高龄告别尘寰时仍觉年轻。

【作者介绍】塞缪尔·乌尔曼(Samuel Ullman) (1840.4.13-1924.3.21)，美国作家，1840年生于德国，童年时随家人移居美国，参加过南北战争，后来定居于亚拉巴马州的伯明翰市，经营五金杂货，年逾70开始写作。他的这篇写于1917年的散文《青春》因麦克阿瑟将军的喜爱而出名。

"人最宝贵的是生命,生命每个人只有一次.人的一生应该这样度过：当他回首往事的时候,不因虚度年华而悔恨,也不因碌碌无为而羞愧；这样,在临死的时候他就能够说：‘我的整个生命和全部精力.都献给了世界上最壮丽的事业——为人类的解放而斗争"