Youth
——Samuel Ullman
简介
Youth（青春）是美国作家Samuel Ullman（塞缪尔·厄尔曼） 创作的一篇散文。作者从三方面展开论述：第一层诠释青春的内涵，暗示青春并不像人们认为的那样短暂易逝；第二层说明青春的实质，并指出衰老是放弃理想而非年龄增长造成的；第三层分析如何保持青春。作者先用排比和对偶修辞增强论述气势和语言魅力，而后通过鲜明的对比，不仅使论述形象生动，而且让道理更加明晰通透。
摘自：百度百科
Youth
青春
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.
青春并非年华，而是心境；青春并非桃面、丹唇、柔膝，而是坚定的意志、超凡的想像、热烈的感情；青春是生命深泉的活力。
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 body of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. 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.
青春意味着对冒险的渴望，而非对安逸的依恋。这种锐气常见于花甲之年胜过弱冠之际。人不会仅因岁月流逝而衰老，而会因放弃理想而衰老。时光漫漫，岁月可能使皮肤起皱，但抛却热忱则使心灵颓唐。忧虑、惶恐、自疑会使人心理扭曲，意志消沉。
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. 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.
无论年届花甲，或是二八芳龄，人人心中都对奇迹心怀向往，对未知事物心怀孩童般的无限渴望，对事业心怀欢喜与热情。人的心胸应浩淼如海，只有不断接纳美好、希望、鼓舞、勇气和力量的百川，才能青春永驻、风华长存。
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 twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.
人一旦心海枯竭，精神世界被愤世嫉俗和悲观主义覆盖，即使年仅二十，也判若垂暮；然则只要虚怀若谷，乐观豁达，就有望在八十高龄时仍觉年轻。
解读
塞缪尔·厄尔曼，1840年生于德国，后移居美国。年届70，才开始写作。本文就是他丰富社会阅历和人生体验对“青春”的最好诠释：“青春不是年华，而是心境”。悠悠岁月，给人带来的只是面目的苍老。“青春”没有年限，无论年届花甲，或是二八芳龄，只要心如浩海，容纳美好、希望、欢乐、勇气和力量的百川，那么你就永远拥有青春。正如诗人刘禹锡所言：“莫道桑榆晚，为霞尚满天。”即使到了人生的晚年，也要像夕阳那样，绽放出自己的光彩。
《青春》一文打动了无数人的心灵，其表现出对生命的无限热忱，对希望的执著渴求，是我们每个人断不可少的。生命如星河般壮美，但人们往往认为“青春”则像流星般转瞬即逝。作者用他坚定的信念告诉人们，青春年华虽然易逝，但可以用美好的理想、乐观的心态去铸就永恒的青春。
来源：苏州大学外国语学院新媒体中心
图片：外院新媒体中心图库
译文：余永慧
编辑：余永慧
审核：朱苏静 陈晓宇 张毕真 徐妍溦
