散文《年輕》

【年輕】

塞繆爾·厄爾曼

年輕，並非人生旅程的一段時光，也並非粉頰紅唇和體魄的矯健。

它是心靈中的一種狀態，

是頭腦中的一個意念，

是理性思維中的創造潛力，

是情感活動中的一股勃勃的朝氣，

是人生春色深處的一縷東風。

年輕，

意味著甘願放棄溫馨浪漫的愛情闖蕩生活

意味著超越羞澀、怯懦和欲望的膽識與氣質。

而60歲的男人可能比20 歲的小夥子更多地擁有這種膽識與氣質。

沒有人僅僅因為時光的流逝而變得衰老，隻是隨著理想的毀滅，人類才出現了老人。

歲月可以在皮膚上留下皺紋，

卻無法為靈魂刻上一絲痕跡。

憂慮、恐懼、缺乏自信才使人佝僂於時間塵埃之中。

無論是60歲還是16歲，每個人都會被未來所吸引，

都會對人生競爭中的歡樂懷著孩子般無窮無盡的渴望。

在你我心靈的深處，

同樣有一個無線電台，

隻要它不停地從人群中，

從無限的時間中接受美好、希望、歡欣、勇氣和力量的信息，

你我就永遠年輕。

一旦這無線電台坍塌，

你的心便會被玩世不恭和悲觀失望的寒冷酷雪所覆蓋，

你便衰老了—即使你隻有20歲。

但如果這無線電台始終矗立在你心中，

捕捉著每個樂觀向上的電波，

你便有希望超過年輕的80歲。

英文原文

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 spring back to dust.

Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being's heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing childlike 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.