Youth

Youth

Youth

by Samuel Ullman

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind;

青春不是年华，而是心境；

it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees;

青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝，

it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination,

a vigor of the emotions;

而是深沉的意志、恢宏的想象和炽热的感情；

it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

青春如生命的深泉在涌流。

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage

over timidity of the appetite,

青春气贯长虹，勇锐盖过怯弱，

for adventure over the love of ease.

进取压倒苟安。

This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty.

如此锐气，二十后生而有之，六旬老者更多见。

Nobody grows old merely by a number of years.

We grow old by deserting our ideals.

年岁有加，并非垂老；理想丢弃，方堕暮年。

Years may wrinkle the skin,

岁月悠悠，衰微只及肌肤；

but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.

热忱抛却，颓唐必至灵魂。

Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

烦忧、惶恐、丧失自信，定使心灵扭曲，意气如灰。

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.

无论年届花甲，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。

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.

人人心中皆有无线电台，只要它从天上人间接受美好、希望、欢乐、勇气和力量的信号，你就青春永驻。

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 twenty,

一旦天线倒塌，锐气便被冰雪覆盖，玩世不恭、自暴自弃油然而生，

即使年方二十，实已垂垂老矣；

but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty