前言

PREFACE

Youth

青 春

Samuel Ullman

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 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.

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 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.

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.

青春不是年华，而是一种心态；青春不是红润的双颊、鲜红的双唇、柔软的双膝，而是坚忍的意志、丰富的想象、炽热的情感；青春是生命之泉在喷涌。

青春是气贯长虹的勇气，它能战胜怯弱；青春是勇于冒险的渴望，它打败苟安。这股精神，二十岁的人身上有，但六十岁的人身上更多见。年岁的增加，并非真正的衰老。真正的衰老始于放弃理想的那一刻。

悠悠岁月，老去的只是容颜；抛弃激情，衰败的却是灵魂。忧心、恐惧、缺乏自信会使心灵扭曲，意气如灰。

不论花甲之年，还是芳龄十六，奇迹的诱惑、生命的欢乐和孩童般的天真都永存心间。你我心中，都有一台天线：只要你从天地间接收美好、希望、快乐、勇气和力量，你便会青春永驻。

一旦天线掉下来，这股精神就会被冰雪覆盖，变得玩世不恭。即便你芳龄二十，实则早已老去。然而，只要你竖起天线，接收乐观的信号，即使在八十岁时告别尘世，你仍会觉得年轻。