书城外语双语学习丛书-岁月之海
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第7章 On the Feeling of Immortality in Youth有感于青春永在

There is a feeling of eternity in youth, which makes us amend for everything.

On the Feeling of Immortalityimmortality n.不朽,不朽的声名 in Youth

William Hazlitt

No young man believes he will ever die. It was a saying of my brothers, and a fine one. There is a feeling of eternityeternity n.永远, 来世, 不朽, 来世, 来生 in youth, which makes us amend for everything. To be young is to be as one of the Immortal Gods.

青春有一种永生的感觉——它能够弥补一切。

有感于青春永在

威廉·哈兹利特

青年人没有谁相信自己会死去。这是我哥哥的名言,说的很不错。青春有一种永生的感觉——它能够弥补一切。人在青年时代就像是一尊不朽的神灵。

One half of time indeed is flown—the other half remains in store for us with all its countlesscountless adj.无数的, 数不尽的 treasures, for there is no line drawn, and we see no limit to our hopes and wishes. We make the coming age our own—

The vast, the unbounded prospect lies before us.

Death, old age, are words without a meaning that pass by us like the idea air which we regard not. Others may have undergone, or may still be liable to them—we “bear a charmedcharmed adj.喜悦的, 着迷的 life”, which laughs to scorn all such sickly fancies. As in setting out on delightful journey, we strain our eager gaze forward—

Bidding the lovely scenes at distance hail!

And see no end to the landscape, new objects presenting themselves as we advance. So, in the commencement of life, we set no bounds to our inclinations, nor to the unrestricted opportunities of gratifying them.

生命的一半已经逝去,可是蕴藏着无尽财富的另一半还在守候我们,我们对之抱有无尽的希望和幻想。我们要创造自己的未来——

无限广阔的前景在我们的面前展现。

死亡,变老,不过是没有意义的空话;我们听了,只会当作耳边风,不会放在心上。别人也许经历过这样的事,或者可能正在承受——但我们坚信自己“冥冥之中有神保佑”,对于如此的脆弱念头,统统付之轻蔑的一笑。如同要走上愉快的旅程,极目远望——

向远方的炫丽景色欢呼!

——此时发觉美好风光目不暇接,而且前面更有许多美不胜收的新鲜景致。在这生活的开始,我们任凭自己的志趣纵横驰骋,放手让一切机会来满足它们。

We have as yet found no obstacle, no dispositiondisposition n.部署 to flag; and it seems that we can go on so forever.

We look round in a new world, full of life, and motion, and ceaselessceaseless adj.不停的, 不断的 progress; and feel in ourselves all the vigorvigor n.精力, 活力 and spirit to keep pace with it, and do not foresee from any present symptomssymptom n.[医][植]症状, 征兆 how we shall be left behind in the natural course of things, decline into old age, and drop into the grave.

It is the simplicitysimplicity n.简单, 简易, 朴素, 直率, and as it were abstractedness of our feelings in youth, that (so to speak) identifies us with nature, and (our experience being slight and our passions strong) deludesdelude vt.迷惑, 蛊惑 us into a belief of being immortalimmortal adj.不朽的 like it.

到此为止,我们还没有碰到过什么障碍,也没有感到什么疲劳,所以觉得还可以这样一直前进,直到永远。

我们看到周围一派新的天地——生机盎然,变化不断,日新月异;我们觉得自己精力充沛,斗志昂扬,可与宇宙共进退。而且眼前也没有任何迹象可以表明,在大自然的发展过程中,我们自己将会落伍、变老,然后死去。

因为年轻人的单纯天真,可以说是懵懂无知,因而将自己与大自然划上等号;并且由于缺乏经验而感情旺盛,误认为自己也能像它那样永世长存。

Our shortlives connexionconnexion n.联系, 连结 with existenceexistence n.存在, 实在, 生活, 存在物, 实在物 we fondly flatter ourselves is an indissolubleindissoluble adj.不能分解的 and lasting union—a honeymoon that knows neither coldness, jar, nor separation.

As infants smile and sleep, we are rocked in the cradlecradle n.摇篮, 发源地, 支船架vt.将……放摇篮内 of our wayward fancies, and lulled into security by the roar of the universe around us—we quaffquaff v.一口气喝干, 大口地喝n.一饮而尽, 痛饮 the cup of life with eager haste without draining it, instead of which it only overflows the more—objects press around us, filling the mind with their magnitudemagnitude n.大小, 数量, 巨大, 广大, 量级.

With the strong of desires that wait upon them, so that we have no room for the thoughts of death.

我们一厢情愿,白日做梦,竟把自己在世间的短暂停留,当作千古不变、永世长存的结合,就如同没有冷淡、吵闹、离别的蜜月。

如同婴儿带着笑容入睡,我们躺在用自身编织成的摇篮里,我们在大千世界的万籁声中安然睡梦;我们兴致勃勃地痛饮生命这杯美酒,怎么也不会饮尽,反而像是永远盈满欲溢……

世间万千景象纷至沓来,各种各样的欲望随之而生,使我们没有时间去思考死亡这个问题。

青春无疑是在我们的岁月河流中一道靓丽的风景线,花开花谢,喜怒哀怨,都令人终生难忘。作者在文中表达了对青春长驻的向往,感叹年华易逝的悲凉,多情而又无奈,人类的情感在此充满了脆弱。但人生不应如此,长生不老只是不切实际的空想,我们应该勇敢承受日渐苍老的面孔,笑对人生。