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.
青春不是芳華,而是心境
青春不在於紅潤的面頰
鮮紅的雙唇和靈活的雙膝
而在於意誌、想象力與澎湃的激情
它是生命深泉的鮮活噴湧
Youth means a tempera-mental 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.
青春,意味著
有著初生牛犢不怕虎的優勢
不貪圖安逸勇於進取的銳氣
這種銳氣
往往在六旬以上的男人中
比在二十歲後生中還要多
沒有人
會僅僅因為年齡而變老
而丟棄了我們理想,才會變老
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.
歲月,也許會使我們皺紋滿面
但失卻熱忱,則會使靈魂枯萎
憂慮、惶恐、畏縮
只會扭曲心靈,讓生命之泉蒙塵
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.
無論年屆花甲,還是芳齡二八
好奇之心人皆有之
如孩童壹般,充滿著
對未知、對生命之歡樂的無盡追尋
在妳我的心中,都有壹個無線基站
只要它還在從人類和無限宇宙中
源源不斷地接收著
美好、希望、歡樂、勇氣和力量
妳就會青春永駐,風華長存
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.
壹旦天線下沈,妳的精神
就會被玩世不恭、悲觀失望的冰雪覆蓋
即便年方二十,實則垂垂老矣
但只要讓妳的天線高聳入雲
盡情去捕捉那達觀快樂之波
妳就有望在八十高齡告別人世時
依然年輕!
(真念壹思譯)
作者簡介:
塞繆爾·厄爾曼 Samuel Ullman(1840.4.13-1924.3.21)是壹名生於德國的美國作家。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。
《青春》是塞繆爾·厄爾曼最知名的散文作品。這篇70多年前寫成的只有四百多字的短文,首次在美國發表的時候,引起全美國轟動效應,成千上萬的讀者把它抄下來當作座右銘收藏,許多中老年人把它作為安排後半生的精神支柱。
美國的麥克阿瑟將軍在指揮整個太平洋戰爭期間,辦公桌上始終擺著裝有短文《青春》復印件的鏡框,文中的許多的詞句常被他在談話或開會作報告時引用。松下公司的創始人松下幸之助說:多年來,《青春》始終是我的座右銘。