YOUTH

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.

青春不是生命的一段，而是心境的一种。她无关乎粉粉的脸,，红红的唇，抑或柔软的膝。她是一种积极向上的意志，一份热爱想象的品质，一段激情洋溢的生气；她散发着浓浓的春意，清新扑面。她与生俱来赞美勇敢，鄙视懦弱；热爱冒险，厌恶安逸。青春有时候在一个20岁的男孩身上便失了踪影，却常常在一个60岁的老翁身上熠熠发光。光阴流逝并不能带走青春，青春只在你抛弃理想时被放逐。岁月可以苍老肌肤，然而热情泯灭却能苍老灵魂。焦虑，恐惧，自卑憔悴了心灵，灰暗了青春。不管是60岁或是16岁，在你的心里总有好奇，总有对未知孩儿般的想念，总有对美好生活的憧憬。在我们心灵的深处都有一座无线电台。它不断地从人类从宇宙接收美丽、希望、鼓舞、勇敢、力量的讯号，于是你便能永葆青春了。一旦天线坏了，你的灵魂被愤世嫉俗和消极悲观的冰雪覆盖，那么你的青春便逝去了，纵使你才20岁；然而只要天线能捕捉住那积极乐观的电波，那么青春便能永驻，纵使你已年高80。