英汉英语美文：经典传世 青春---by 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，不是肉体表征，而是思想境界；不是非主流，脑残和恶搞。敢闯敢拼，敢想敢做，敢爱敢恨，才是青春真谛，是长生不老之源。
青春意味着一种灵魂内战的胜利，意味着勇敢向前战胜畏惧退缩，意味着渴望冒险压倒安逸平淡。二十岁年轻人的青春是伪青，六十岁不老者的青春才是真青。一个人青春不再不只是因为年华逝去，而是因为理想和热血被匆匆埋葬。
岁月的腐蚀止于肌肤，放弃热望的腐蚀则深及灵魂。忧虑、恐惧、自卑，使人的心灵卑微，把青春燃为灰烬。
无论是六十岁的花甲老人，还是十六岁的少男少女，每个人的心中都充满对新鲜事物的好奇渴望，对未来无尽的烂漫憧憬，对人生游戏的欢欣享受。在我们的心底都有一个绿坝，只要它接受着人类和宇宙间美好、希望、快乐、勇气和力量的信号，你就不会衰老。
而当电线倾倒，坝体洞穿，你的精神被玩世不恭和悲观主义的冰雪覆盖，你就老了，即使只有二十岁。但若你的电线保持一柱擎天，始终捕捉乐观主义的信号，那么，即使你在80岁逝去，仍有望保持童子之身。
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