【冲浪英语】 'We're too young for this!'

At a friendly lunch meeting today, the hostess began by quoting Samuel Ullman's poem Youth:

"Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind......

Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals......"

I noticed that most people were nodding as she read the lines. To set things in the right direction, as soon as the hostess finished reading, I said innocently:

"We're too young for this! To us, youth simply IS a time of life!"

To my satisfaction, everybody laughed out loud. A friend managed to spare a breath and said:

"Speak for yourself, Surfer!"

2011.9.15

 

 

 

 

For reference, here is the poem:

 

Youthby

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 temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty. 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 spirit back to dust.

 

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing child-like 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 twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.

所有跟帖： 

• 很有意思！ -好学又好问- ♀ (0 bytes) () 09/15/2011 postreply 20:20:07

• Thanks for the support! -冲浪潜水员- ♂ (0 bytes) () 09/16/2011 postreply 21:17:22

• 好诗，谢谢分享！ -非文学青年- ♀ (0 bytes) () 09/15/2011 postreply 23:23:52

• Yes, it is a nice poem. Will appreciate it more later :) -冲浪潜水员- ♂ (0 bytes) () 09/16/2011 postreply 21:16:57

• Yes, speak for yourself, not others. Haha. Thanks for sharing! -NewVoice- ♀ (0 bytes) () 09/16/2011 postreply 03:21:14

• You're welcome. -冲浪潜水员- ♂ (0 bytes) () 09/16/2011 postreply 21:16:10

• 谷兴朗诵过《Youth 青春》(中英对照）: -紫君- ♀ (362 bytes) () 09/16/2011 postreply 10:15:45

• Thanks for the link! -冲浪潜水员- ♂ (0 bytes) () 09/16/2011 postreply 20:36:02