Youth -Samuel Ullman

Samuel Ullman（塞繆爾.厄爾曼）

Youth is not a time of life,it is a state of mind;
青春不是年華，而是心境；

it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees;
青春不是桃面、丹脣、柔膝，

it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions;
而是深沉的意志、宏偉的想象、熾熱的感情；

it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
青春是生命的深泉在涌流。

Youth means a tempera mental predominance of courage over timidity,
青春氣貫長虹，勇銳蓋過怯弱，

of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.
進取壓倒苟安，如此銳氣，

This often exists in a man of 60 more than a boy of 20.
二十後生有之,六旬男子則更多見.

Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.
年年有加，並不是垂老；理想丟棄，方墮暮年。

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
歲月悠悠，衰微只及肌膚；熱忱拋卻，頹唐必至靈魂。

Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spring back to dust.
煩憂、惶恐、喪失自信，定使心靈扭曲，意氣如灰。

Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being`s heart the lure of wonder,
不管年屆花甲，抑或二八芳齡，心中皆有生命之歡樂，奇蹟之誘惑，

the unfailing childlike appetite of what`s next and the joy of the game of living.
孩童般天真久盛不衰。

In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station,
人人心中皆有一臺天線，

so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the Infinite,
只要你從天上人間接受美好、但願、歡樂、勇氣和力量的信號，

so long are you young.
你就青春永駐，風華常存。

When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism,
一旦天線倒塌，銳氣被冰雪覆蓋，玩世不恭、自暴自棄油然而生，

then you are grown old, even at 20,
即便年芳二十,實已垂老矣;

but as long as your aerials are up,to catch waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at 80.然則只要豎起天線，捕捉樂觀的信號，你就有望在八十歲高齡告別塵寰時仍以爲年輕。