By Samuel Ullman
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 will ,a quality of imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep spring of life.
青春不是一段生命流程,而是一種精神狀態(tài);不是紅潤的臉龐、嫣紅的雙唇和柔韌的膝蓋,而是不拔的意志、超凡的想象和澎湃的激情。青春,是從生命之泉深處洋溢出來的鮮活與清涼。
Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. This often exits in a man of 60 more than a boy of 20. No body grows old merely by a number of years, We grow old by deserting our ideas.
青春意味著戰(zhàn)勝怯懦的豪邁氣概和摒棄安逸、崇尚冒險的大無畏精神。(所以)一個60歲的老者往往也可能比一個20歲的小伙兒更富有青春。人們漸長漸老不僅因為歲月的流失,更多的是因為我們對自己理想的背棄。
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.
歲月可以在皮膚上留下痕跡,而激情之火的熄滅則在心靈上刻下烙印。擔(dān)憂、恐懼、缺乏自信等扭曲了人的心靈,也將青春化為灰燼。
Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being’s heart, the lure of wonders, the unfailing childlike appetite of what’s next and the job of the game of living. 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 as you are young.
無論是60歲還是16歲,每個人都要保有強烈的好奇心、永不褪色的孩童般的求知欲和用人生賭明天的冒險精神。在你我的心底,都有一座無線電臺:只要它能接收人類和萬物傳遞來的美好、希望、歡樂、鼓舞和力量的信息,你就會青春永駐。
When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at 20; but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there’s hope you may die young at 80.
當(dāng)這根天線倒毀時,你的靈魂就會被玩世不恭和悲觀厭世的冰雪覆蓋——這時即使你只有20歲,也會未老先衰;而只要你的天線巍然矗立,鼓起自信樂觀的風(fēng)帆,你就可以在80歲去世時依舊青春不逝。