英语美文.doc

英语美文 YOUTH 》 YOUTH Samuel Ullman Youth is not a time of life; it isa state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it isa 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 tempera-mental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists ina man of 60 more than a boy of 20. Nobody grows old merely bya 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 isa 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. 青春塞缪尔· 厄尔曼青春不是年华, 而是心境; 青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝, 而是深沉的意志,恢宏的想象,炙热的恋情;青春是生命的深泉在涌流。青春气贯长虹, 勇锐盖过怯弱, 进取压倒苟安。如此锐气, 二十后生而有之,六旬男子则更多见。