Man’s Youth 别样的青春

By Thomas Wolfe

Man’s youth is a wonderful thing: it is so full of anguish and of magic and he never comes to know it as it is, until it has gone from him forever. It is the thing he cannot bear to lose, it is the thing whose passing he watches with infinite sorrow and regret, it is the thing whose loss with a sad and secret joy, the thing he would never willingly relive again, could it be restored to him by any magic.

青春奇妙无穷,充满魅力,充满痛楚.青春年少的时候根本不知青春为何物,直到青春一去不复返了才对青春有了真正的认识.谁都想让青春永驻,不忍青春离去;眼睁睁地看着青春流逝,心中会涌起无穷的忧伤和惋惜;青春的失去是人们永远感到悲哀的事;青春的失去是人们真正觉得悲喜交集的事;即便奇迹出现青春复苏,谁都不会心甘情愿重度青春的岁月.

Why is this? The reason is that the strange and bitter miracle of life is nowhere else so evident as in our youth. And what is the essence of that strange and bitter miracle of life which we feel so poignant, so unutterable, with such a bitter pain and joy, when we are young? It is this: that being rich, we are so poor; that being mighty, we can yet have nothing; that seeing, breathing, smelling, tasting all around us the impossible wealth and glory of this earth, feeling with an intolerable certitude that the whole structure of the enchanted life – the most fortunate, wealthy, good, and happy life that any man has ever known – is ours – is ours at once, immediately and forever, the moment that we choose to take a step, or stretch a hand, or say a word- we yet know that we can really keep, hold, take, and possess forever- nothing. All passes; nothing lasts: the moment that we put our hand upon it , it melts away like smoke, is gone forever, and the snake is eating at our heart again; we see then what we are and what our lives must come to.

为什么如此?因为在青春时代,生活充满了奇特而辛酸的不可思议的事.我们在青春年少时带着悲喜交集的心情,十分强烈而不可名状地感受到人生的奇特辛酸/不可思议的经历.其实质是什么呢?其实质是这样的:青春年少的时候,虽然殷实富足,却非常贫穷;虽然力气强大,却一无所有;世间的富贵荣华触目皆是,简直可以呼吸到,闻到嗅到,还可以品尝到,心中的自信按捺不住,深切地感受到整个被陶醉了的生活----人类迄今为止所直到的最幸运/最富有的美好幸福的生活,只要我们决定向前迈步,奋发努力,便立即归我们所有了,并将永远属于我们.然而,我们知道,我们真的永远不能抓到什么,永远不能获得什么,永远不能占有什么.一切匆匆过去,荡然无存.我们一出手它就烟消云散,飘然而去,一去不复返了.于是,心中泛起阵阵隐痛,看到了自己真实的面孔,看到了自己未来生活的必然走向.