雲端的詩瞭望--塞繆爾·厄爾曼的《青春》

年逾花甲的大叔大嬸切莫沮喪，看看這篇既可幫助和回春又可當作座右銘的文章，立馬朝氣勃勃，青春無限。

這篇著名的散文《青春》是美國的德裔作家塞繆爾·厄爾曼(1840.4.13-1924.3.21)的作品，是深受麥克阿瑟將軍喜愛的一篇勵誌文章。

塞繆爾·厄爾曼1840年生於德國，兒時隨家人移居美利堅，參加過南北戰爭，之後定居伯明翰，經營五金雜貨，年逾70開始寫作。著作有散文《青春》等。

《青春》原文：

YOUTH

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 of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of 60 more than a boy of 20. Nobody grows old merely by 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, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

Whether 60 or 16, 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.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.

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 is hope you may die young at 80.

 

《青春》中文譯文:黃誌堅譯

 

青春，並非年輕歲月，而是一種心態；青春的特征，並非粉頰、朱唇、柔肢，而是毅力、激情、創意；青春是生命湧泉的清澈、激揚。
 

青春，是指超越怯懦、勇氣如虹，不圖安逸、敢闖敢試。毅力若此，花甲多勝弱冠。年歲遞增，非必老化；背棄理想，方陷殘年。
 

歲月留痕，隻及肌膚；激情不再，皺起心靈。憂懼自卑，終致身心佝僂、精神萎靡。
 

無論年少或年長，當懷好奇的誘導，像孩子般總渴求著：接下來的進展及馳騁人生的歡樂。
 

人人皆有心靈的感官，隻要感受源源來自人間與穹蒼的啟發，感應有關美好、希望、激情、勇毅和能力的信息，你就會朝氣勃勃、青春無限。

 

 

[小謅07]

真好,我準備背下來.

謝謝分享.

[wuchan]

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