Youth

Youth《年轻》 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 the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor ['vɪgə] of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life. Youth means a temperamental predominance [prɪˈdɒmɪnəns] of courage over timidity[tɪ'mɪdətɪ] 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/ˈdezətɪŋ/ 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. Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being’s heart the lure [lʊə(r)] 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[ˈwaɪələs] 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. When the aerials['eərɪəlz] are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism['sɪnɪsɪzəm] and the ice of pessimism [ˈpesɪmɪzəm], then you are grown old, even at twenty , but as long as your ['eərɪəlz]aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty. 青春不是年华，而是心境；青春不是桃面，丹唇，柔膝，而是深沉的意志，恢宏的想 象，炽热的感情；青春是生命的源泉在不息的涌流。 青春气贯长虹，勇锐盖过怯懦，进取压倒苟安。如此锐气，弱冠后生有之，耳顺之年 ，则亦多见，年岁有加，并非垂老；理想丢弃，方堕暮年。 岁月悠悠，衰微只及肌肤，热忱抛却，颓唐必至灵魂。忧烦，惶恐，丧失自信，定使 心灵扭曲，意气如灰。 无论年届古稀，抑或二八芳龄，心中皆有生命之欢乐，奇迹之诱惑，孩童般天真久盛 不衰。人人心中皆深植一片追求，只要你从天上，人间追求美好，希望，欢乐，勇气 和力量，你就青春永驻，风华长存。 一旦追求消失，锐气如同冰雪覆盖，玩世不恭，自暴自弃油然而生，即使年方二十， 实已老矣。然坚持追求，你就有望在百岁高龄告别尘寰时仍觉年青。