Youth 青春

　　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，而是一种精神状态;不是红润的脸庞、嫣红的双唇和柔韧的膝盖，而是不拔的意志、超凡的想象和澎湃的激情。青春，是从生命之泉深处洋溢出来的鲜活与清凉。

　　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.

　　青春意味着战胜怯懦的豪迈气概和摒弃安逸、崇尚冒险的大无畏精神。(所以)一个60岁的老者往往也可能比一个20岁的小伙儿更富有青春。人们渐长渐老不仅因为岁月的流失，更多的是因为我们对自己理想的背弃。

　　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.

　　岁月可以在皮肤上留下痕迹，而激情之火的熄灭则在心灵上刻下烙印。担忧、恐惧、缺乏自信等扭曲了人的心灵，也将青春化为灰烬。

　　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.

　　无论是60岁还是16岁，每个人都要保有强烈的好奇心、永不褪色的孩童般的求知欲和用人生赌明天的冒险精神。在你我的心底，都有一座无线电台：只要它能接收人类和万物传递来的美好、希望、欢乐、鼓舞和力量的信息，你就会青春永驻。

　　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.

　　当这根天线倒毁时，你的灵魂就会被玩世不恭和悲观厌世的冰雪覆盖——这时即使你只有20岁，也会未老先衰;而只要你的天线巍然矗立，鼓起自信乐观的风帆，你就可以在80岁去世时依旧青春不逝。

　　更多精彩内容 >> 新东方网英语频道  

　　 全国新东方英语课程搜索

（编辑：王美娇）