Youth 青春

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 wonders, the unfailing appetite for 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, courage and power from man and from the infinite, so long as you are young.

When your aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you’ve grown old, even at 20; but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there’s hope you may die young at 80.

青春不是生命的一个阶段,它是一种精神状态;它不是红润的面颊,红唇和冰肌柔骨,它是一种意愿、最优的创造力和充满活力的情感;它是生命深泉的新鲜。

青春是一种气质:勇猛果敢而不是怯懦退缩,渴望冒险而不是贪图安逸。如此锐气,一个60岁的老者比一个20岁的青年更多。人老不仅仅是岁月流逝所致年之久。年岁有加,并非垂老,理想丢弃,方堕暮年。

岁月悠悠,衰微只及肌肤;热忱抛却,颓唐必至灵魂。忧虑、恐惧、缺乏自信,会扭曲人的灵魂,并将青春化为灰烬。

无论是60岁还是16岁,你需要保持永不衰竭的好奇心,永不熄灭的孩提奇迹之诱惑的欲望和对未来的什么享受生活带来的乐趣。中心的心中,都有一座无线电台,它能在多长时间里接收到人间万物传递来的美好、希望、欢乐、勇气和力量的电波永不消失,人,你就会年轻多长时间。

一旦天线倒塌,锐气便被冰雪覆盖,玩世不恭的霜雪和悲观厌世的冰层,那么即使你已经年老了,已垂垂老矣;然则只要竖起天线,捕捉乐观的信号,你就有希望在80岁死去,也仍然年轻可以吗?