青春 Youth

[德国]塞缪尔·乌尔曼/Samuel Ullman

塞缪尔·乌尔曼（1840-1920），犹太人，出生于德国，1851年随家人移民到美国密西西比。乌尔曼虽以教育家和社会活动家而闻名于世，但在文学创作方面也很有才华。他的《青春》因为麦克阿瑟将军的推崇而广为传颂。

Youth is not entirely 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 temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions;it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means the temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite of adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than in a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old by merely living 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, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair-these bow the heart and turn the spirit back to dust.

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being's heart the love of wonder, the sweet amazement at the stars and the star like things, the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing child-like appetite for what-next, and the joy of the game of living.

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.

In the central place of your heart there is a wireless station, so long as it receives message of beauty, hope, courage, grandeur and power from the earth, from man and from the Infinite, so long are you young.

When the wires are all down, and all the central places of your heart are covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and only then, are you grown old indeed.

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。

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迈入年老。

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

不管是白发老人还是青春少年，每个人的心里对新奇事物皆充满着喜爱，对星星和类似星星的东西皆有好奇之心，敢于挑战，对未知事物的孩子般的渴求之心，乐于享受生活带来的乐趣。

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。

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

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时，那时，唯有那时，我们将真正老去。

心灵小语

青春是一种品质，每当你睁开双眼，决定以微笑迎接崭新的一天，青春就像小鸟，已经落在你心里了。

词汇笔记

supple['s?p?l]adj.（身体）柔软的；灵活的

That which was dead, or so it seemed, has come to life again-the stiff branch, supple;the brown earth, green.

那些死去的生命和看上似乎已经死去的生命，重获生机，僵硬的树枝柔软了，褐色的土地变绿了。

temperamental[tempr?'mentl]adj.不可靠的；易怒的；易激动的

She was an intelligent, attractive and somewhat temperamental daughter of a well-to-do doctor.

她的父亲是一位非常富有的医生。她聪明、美丽，但就是有点喜怒无常。

timidity[ti'miditi]n.胆怯；羞怯

Timidity is the bridge to dejection.

怯弱是通向消沉的桥。

grandeur['ɡr?nd??]n.宏伟；壮观；富丽堂皇

For truly he did not foresee the catastrophic ending, and had allowed himself to be blindly compromised under promise of power＆grandeur.

他确实没能预见到灾难性的后果，盲目地向权力与名誉的允诺妥协。

小试身手

没有人只因年龄的增长而年老，人们往往因放弃理想而迈入年老。

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岁月可使肌肤长满皱纹，但放弃激情则使心灵布满灰尘。

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我们因充满信心而变得年轻，因心存疑虑而变得年老。

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短语家族

These bow the heart and turn the spirit back to dust.

turn back：往回走；阻挡；翻回到

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When the wires are all down, and all the central places of your heart are covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism.

be covered with：被……盖满；充满着……

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