Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. This often exits in a man of 60, more than a boy of 20.nobody grows merely by the number of years; we grow old by deserting our ideas. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust1 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 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 infinite, so long as you are young.
When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with the 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.
青春不是年华,而是心境;青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝,而是深沉的意志、宏伟的想象、炽热的感情;青春是生命的深泉在涌流。
青春气贯长虹,勇锐盖过怯弱,进去压倒苟安,如此锐气,二十后生有之,六旬男子则更多见。年年有加,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。烦忧、惶恐、丧失自信,定使心灵扭曲,意气如灰。
无论年届花甲,抑或二八芳龄,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。
一旦天线倒塌,锐气被冰雪覆盖,玩世不恭、自暴自弃油然而生,即使年方二十,实已垂老矣;然则只要竖起天线,捕捉乐观的信号,你就有望在八十高龄告别尘寰时仍觉得年轻。
The Last Rose Of Summer夏日最后的玫瑰
'Tis the last rose of summer
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone;
No flower of her kindred,
No rosebud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes,
Or give sigh for sigh.
I'll not leave thee, thou lone one!
To pine on the stem;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
Go, sleep thou with them.
Thus kindly I scatter
Thy leaves o'er the bed
Where thy mates of the garden
Lie scentless and dead.
Soon may I follow,
When friendships decay,
And from Love's shining circle
The gems drop away.
When true hearts lie withered,
And fond ones are flown,
O! Who would inhabit
This bleak world alone?
这是夏日最后的玫瑰
独自绽放着;
所有昔日动人的同伴
都已凋落残逝;
身旁没有同类的花朵,
没有半个玫瑰苞,
映衬她的红润,
分担她的忧愁。
我不会离开孤零零的你!
让你单独地憔悴;
既然美丽的同伴都已入眠,
去吧!你也和她们一起躺着。
为此,我好心在散放
你的丽叶在花床上
那儿,也是你花园的同伴
无声无息躺着的地方。
不久我也可能追随我朋友而去,
当友谊渐逝,
像从灿烂之爱情圈中
掉落的宝石。
当忠诚的友人远去,
所爱的人飞走,
啊!谁还愿留在
这荒冷的世上独自凄凉?
A Psalm Of Life人生礼颂
Tell me not in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art , to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined and our way;
But to act,
That much to-morrow.
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and time is fleeting.
And our hearts, though stout and brave.
Still, like muffled drums, are beating.
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no future.however howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God O’erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again,
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing
Learn to labour and to wait.
请别用哀伤的诗句对我讲;
人生呵,无非是虚梦一场!
因为沉睡的灵魂如死一般,
事物的表里并不一样。
人生是实在的!人生是热烈的!
人生的目标决不是坟墓;
你是尘土,应归于尘土。
此话指的并不是我们的精神。
我们的归宿并不是快乐,
也不是悲伤,
实干,
才是我们的道路,
每天不断前进,蒸蒸日上。
光阴易逝,而艺海无涯,
我们的心啊——虽然勇敢坚强,
却像被布蒙住的铜鼓,
常把殡葬的哀乐擂响。
在这人生的宿营地,
在这辽阔的世界战场,
别做无言的牲畜任人驱赶,
做一名英雄汉立马横枪!
别相信未来,哪怕未来多么欢乐!
让死去的往昔将死亡一切埋葬!
上帝在上,我们胸怀勇气,
行动吧——趁现在活着的好时光!
伟人的生平使我们想起,
我们能使自己的一生变得高尚!
当我们辞别人间,
能把足迹留在时间的流沙上,
也许有个遭了船灾的苦难弟兄,
他曾在庄严的人生大海中飘航,
见到我们的脚印,
又会满怀信心。
让我们起来干吧,
下定决心,不管遭遇怎样;
不断胜利,不断追求,
要学会苦干和耐心等待。
Stray Birds飞鸟集
Stray birds of summer come to my window to sing and fly away.
And yellow leaves of autumn, which have no songs, flutter and fall there with a sign.
夏天的飞鸟,飞到我的窗前唱歌,又飞去了。
秋天的黄叶,它们没有什么可唱,只叹息一声,飞落在那里。
Troupe of little vagrants of the world; leave your footprints in my words.
世界上的一队小小的漂泊者呀,请留下你们的足印在我的文字里。
The world puts off its mask of vastness to its lover.
It becomes small as one song, as one kiss of the eternal.
世界对着它的爱人,把它浩瀚的面具揭下了。
它变小了,小如一首歌,小如一回永恒的接吻。
It is the tears of the earth that keep here smiles in bloom.
是大地的泪点,使她的微笑保持着青春不谢。
The mighty desert is burning for the love of a blade of grass who shakes her head and laughs and flies away.
无垠的沙漠热烈追求一叶绿草的爱,她摇摇头笑着飞开了。
If you shed tears when you miss the sun, you also miss the stars.
如果你因失去了太阳而流泪,那么你也将失去群星了。
The sands in your way beg for your song and your movement, dancing water. Will you carry the burden of their lameness?
舞动着的流水呀,在你途中的泥沙,要求你的歌声、你的流动呢。你肯挟瘸足的泥沙而俱下么?
Her wishful face haunts my dreams like the rain at night.
她的热切的脸,如夜雨似的,搅扰着我的梦魂。
Once we dreamt that we were strangers.
We wake up to find that we were dear to each other.
有一次,我们梦见大家都是不相识的。
我们醒了,却知道我们原是相亲相爱的。
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Sorrow is hushed into peace in my heart like the evening among the silent trees.
忧思在我的心里平静下去,正如暮色降临在寂静的山林中。
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Some unseen fingers, like an idle breeze, are playing upon my heart the music of the ripples.
有些看不见的手,如懒懒的微风似的,正在我的心上奏着潺沅的乐声。
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What language is thine, O sea?
The language of eternal question.
What language is thy answer, O sky?
The language of eternal silence.
“海水呀,你说的是什么?”
“是永恒的疑问。”
“天空呀,你回答的话是什么?”
“是永恒的沉默。”
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