Youth 青春

作者：塞缪尔・厄尔曼

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.

青春并非粉颊红唇、柔韧身姿。

It is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions.

而是意志如钢、想象丰盈、情感炽热。

It is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

青春是生命深泉的清澈涌动。

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity,

青春气贯长虹，勇锐盖过怯弱，

of the appetite 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，二十后生有之，六旬老者更多。

Nobody grows old merely by a number of years.

年岁有加，并非垂老；

We grow old by deserting our ideals.

理想丢弃，方堕暮年。

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.

岁月流逝，肌肤只添皱纹；热忱散尽，灵魂始见沧桑。

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

忧愁、惶恐、自卑，定让心灵颓靡，意气化为尘土。

Whether sixty or sixteen,

无论年届花甲，抑或二八芳龄，

there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder,

心中皆有生命之欢喜，

the unfailing child-like appetite for what’s next and the joy of the game of living.

孩童般永不泯灭的求知渴望，以及人生乐趣。

In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station.

人人心中皆有一座心灵电台。

So long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power,

只要它持续接收美好、希望、欢悦、勇气与力量的讯号，

so long are you young.

你便青春永驻。

When the aerials are down,

一旦天线倒塌，

and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism,

锐气被冰雪封存，愤世嫉俗笼罩心灵，

then you are grown old, even at twenty.

纵使年方二十，已然垂垂老矣。

But as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism,

但若天线高高竖起，捕捉乐观电波，

there is hope you may die young at eighty.

八十高龄辞世，依旧风华少年。