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.
译文:
青春
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。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,颓废必致灵魂。忧烦,惶恐,丧失自信,定使心灵扭曲,意气如灰。
无论年届花甲,拟或二八芳龄,心中皆有生命之欢乐,奇迹之诱惑,孩童般天真久盛不衰。人人心中皆有一台天线,只要你从天上人间接受美好、希望、欢乐、勇气和力量的信号,你就青春永驻,风华常存。 、
一旦天线下降,锐气便被冰雪覆盖,玩世不恭、自暴自弃油然而生,即使年方二十,实已垂垂老矣;然则只要树起天线,捕捉乐观信号,你就有望在八十高龄告别尘寰时仍觉年轻。
My Mother
My Mother isa kind and gentle woman. She is always very gentle. She takes good care of her children and keeps them all at school. I have one brother and two sistets. So she gets four children in all. She gives us every comfort. We all love her and she loves us also.
My mother has too much to do in bringing us up. As our family is too poor to keep a servant, my mother has always to do very much work. She gets up very early and sleeps very late every day. She works hard, yet without complaining.
She is also a thrifty, and industrious woman. She saves every cent that she can and keeps everything in order. As she has been busy eversince she was young, she looks older than she really is. Her face is wrinkled, her hair becomes silver white, but she works as hard as ever.
Often she says to us, work while you work, play while you play. If you do not work, you will become lazy and of no use to society. What piece of good advice this is! We must worth it well and always keep it in our mind.
我的母亲
我的母亲是一位心地善良、性情温和的女性。她总是彬彬有礼。她细心地照顾孩子并使他们都上学读书。我有一个哥哥,两个妹妹,所以她总共有四个孩子。她使我们做每件事时都感到舒适。我们都爱她,她也爱我们。
为了抚养我们,母亲有太多的事要做。因为我们家很穷,雇不起佣人,母亲总是必须做很多工作。她每天起早贪黑,辛苦地工作,从无怨言。
她又是一位节俭勤勉的妇女。她尽可能地节省每一分钱,并且使每一件事情都井井有条。由于年轻时就一直忙碌,所以从外表看上去更见苍老。她的脸布满皱纹,头发也变成了灰白,但她仍像从前一样辛勤地操劳。
她常对我们说:“工作时工作,玩乐时玩乐,如果不工作,你将变得懒惰,从而无益于社会。”这是一番多么好的忠告啊!我们必须珍视它,并将它牢记心中。
Love Your Life
热爱生活
Henry David Thoreau/享利.大卫.梭罗
However mean your life is,meet it and live it ;do not shun it and call it hard names.It is not so bad as you are.It looks poorest when you are richest.The fault-finder will find faults in paradise.Love your life,poor as it is.You may perhaps have some pleasant,thrilling,glorious hourss,even in a poor-house.The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man\'s abode;the snow melts before its door as early in the spring.I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there,and have as cheering thoughts,as in a palace.The town\'s poor seem to me often to live the most independent lives of any.May be they are simply great enough to receive without misgiving.Most think that they are above being supported by the town;but it often happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means.which should be more disreputable.Cultivate poverty like a garden herb,like sage.Do not trouble yourself much to get new things,whether clothes or friends,Turn the old,return to them.Things do not change;we change.Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.
不论你的生活如何卑贱,你要面对它生活,不要躲避它,更别用恶言咒骂它。它不像你那样坏。你最富有的时候,倒是看似最穷。爱找缺点的人就是到天堂里也能找到缺点。你要爱你的生活,尽管它贫穷。甚至在一个济贫院里,你也还有愉快、高兴、光荣的时候。夕阳反射在济贫院的窗上,像身在富户人家窗上一样光亮;在那门前,积雪同在早春融化。我只看到,一个从容的人,在哪里也像在皇宫中一样,生活得心满意足而富有愉快的思想。城镇中的穷人,我看,倒往往是过着最独立不羁的生活。也许因为他们很伟大,所以受之无愧。大多数人以为他们是超然的,不靠城镇来支援他们;可是事实上他们是往往利用了不正当的手段来对付生活,他们是毫不超脱的,毋宁是不体面的。视贫穷如园中之花而像圣人一样耕植它吧!不要找新的花样,无论是新的朋友或新的衣服,来麻烦你自己。找旧的,回到那里去。 万物不变,是我们在变。你的衣服可以卖掉,但要保留你的思想