Youth
Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy（粉红色的）cheeks, red lips and supple（柔软的） 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（使…变皱）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（天线）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.
Written by Samuel Ullman (1840 Hechingen, Germany - March 21, 1924) : American businessman, poet, humanitarian.
【参考译文】
青春
塞缪尔?厄尔曼
青春不是年华，而是心境；青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝，而是深沉的意志，恢宏的想象，炙热的恋情；青春是生命的深泉在涌流。
青春气贯长虹，勇锐盖过怯弱，进取压倒苟安。如此锐气，二十后生而有之，六旬男子则更多见。年岁有加，并非垂老，理想丢弃，方堕暮年。
岁月悠悠，衰微只及肌肤；热忱抛却，颓废必致灵魂。忧烦，惶恐，丧失自信，定使心灵扭曲，意气如灰。
无论年届花甲，拟或二八芳龄，心中皆有生命之欢乐，奇迹之诱惑，孩童般天真久盛不衰。人人心中皆有一台天线，只要你从天上人间接受美好、希望、欢乐、勇气和力量的信号，你就青春永驻，风华常存。
一旦天线下降，锐气便被冰雪覆盖，玩世不恭、自暴自弃油然而生，即使年方二十，实已垂垂老矣；然则只要树起天线，捕捉乐观信号，你就有望在八十高龄告别尘寰时仍觉年轻。
第二篇：美文欣赏
英语短文欣赏
2007-05-21 15:13
However mean your life is, meet it and live it do not shun it and call it hard names.It is not so bad as you are.It looks poorest when you are richest.The fault-finder will find faults in paradise.Love your life,poor as it is.You may perhaps have some pleasant,thrilling,glorious hourss,even in a poor-house.The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man's abode;the snow melts before its door as early in the spring.I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there,and have as cheering thoughts,as in a palace.The town's poor seem to me often to live the most
independent lives of any.May be they are simply great enough to receive without misgiving.Most think that they are above being supported by the town;but it often happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means.which should be more disreputable.Cultivate poverty like a garden
herb,like sage.Do not trouble yourself much to get new things,whether clothes or friends,Turn the old,return to them.Things do not change;we change.Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.
不论你的生活如何卑贱，你要面对它生活，不要躲避它，更别用恶言咒骂它。它不像你那样坏。你最富有的时候，倒是看似最穷。爱找缺点的人就是到天堂里也能找到缺点。你要爱你的生活，尽管它贫穷。甚至在一个济贫院里，你也还有愉快、高兴、光荣的时候。夕阳反射在济贫院的窗上，像身在富户人家窗上一样光亮；在那门前，积雪同在早春融化。我只看到，一个从容的人，在哪里也像在皇宫中一样，生活得心满意足而富有愉快的思想。城镇中的穷人，我看，倒往往是过着最独立不羁的生活。也许因为他们很伟大，所以受之无愧。大多数人以为他们是超然的，不靠城镇来支援他们；可是事实上他们是往往利用了不正当的手段来对付生活，他们是毫不超脱的，毋宁是不体面的。视贫穷如园中之花而像圣人一样耕植它吧！不要找新的花样，无论是新的朋友或新的衣服，来麻烦你自己。找旧的，回到那里去。万物不变，是我们在变。你的衣服可以卖掉，但要保留你的思想
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.
译文：
青春
青春不是年华，而是心境；青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝，而是深沉的意志，恢宏的想象，炙热的恋情；青春是生命的深泉在涌流。
青春气贯长虹，勇锐盖过怯弱，进取压倒苟安。如此锐气，二十后生而有之，六旬男子则更多见。年岁有加，并非垂老，理想丢弃，方堕暮年。
岁月悠悠，衰微只及肌肤；热忱抛却，颓废必致灵魂。忧烦，惶恐，丧失自信，定使心灵扭曲，意气如灰。
无论年届花甲，拟或二八芳龄，心中皆有生命之欢乐，奇迹之诱惑，孩童般天真久盛不衰。人人心中皆有一台天线，只要你从天上人间接受美好、希望、欢乐、勇气和力量的信号，你就青春永驻，风华常存。
一旦天线下降，锐气便被冰雪覆盖，玩世不恭、自暴自弃油然而生，即使年方二十，实已垂垂老矣；然则只要树起天线，捕捉乐观信号，你就有望在八十高龄告别尘寰时仍觉年轻。
Life
By Langston Hughes
Life can be good,
Life can be bad,
Life is mostly cheerful,
But sometimes sad.
Life can be dreams,
Life can be great thoughts;
Life can mean a person,
Sitting in court.
Life can be dirty,
Life can even be painful;
But life is what you make it,
So try to make it beautiful.
Saying Good-bye to Cambridge Again
by Xu Zhimo
Very quietly I take my leave
As quietly as I came here;
Quietly I wave good-bye
To the rosy clouds in the western sky.
The golden willows by the riverside Are young brides in the setting sun;
Their reflections on the shimmering waves Always linger in the depth of my heart.
The floating heart growing in the sludge Sways leisurely under the water;
In the gentle waves of Cambridge
I would be a water plant!
That pool under the shade of elm trees
Holds not water but the rainbow from the sky; Shattered to pieces among the duck weeds Is the sediment of a rainbow-like dream?
To seek a dream?
Just to pole a boat upstream
To where the green grass is more verdant; Or to have the boat fully loaded with starlight And sing aloud in the splendor of starlight.
But I cannot sing aloud
Quietness is my farewell music;
Even summer insects keep silence for me Silent is Cambridge tonight!
Very quietly I take my leave
As quietly as I came here;
Gently I flick my sleeves
Not even a wisp of cloud will I bring away 再别康桥
徐志摩
轻轻的我走了，
正如我轻轻的来；
我轻轻的招手，
作别西天的云彩。
那河畔的金柳
是夕阳中的新娘
波光里的艳影，
在我的心头荡漾。
软泥上的青荇，
油油的在水底招摇；
在康河的柔波里，
我甘心做一条水草
那榆荫下的一潭，
不是清泉，是天上虹
揉碎在浮藻间，
沉淀着彩虹似的梦。
寻梦？撑一支长篙，
向青草更青处漫溯，
满载一船星辉，
在星辉斑斓里放歌
但我不能放歌，
悄悄是别离的笙箫；
夏虫也为我沉默，
沉默是今晚的康桥！
悄悄的我走了，
正如我悄悄的来；
我挥一挥衣袖，
不带走一片云彩。
Once upon a time there was a child ready to be born. So one day he asked God, “They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?”
God replied, “Among the many angels, I chose one for you. She will be waiting for you and will take care of you.”
But the child wasn't sure he really wanted to go. “But tell me, here in Heaven, I don't do anything else but sing and smile, that's enough for me to be happy.” “Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you every day. And you will feel your angel's love and be happy.”
“And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me,” the child continued, “if I don't know the language that men talk?”
God patted him on the head and said, “Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.”
“And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?”
But God had an answer for that question too. “Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.”
“I've heard that on earth there are bad men, who will protect me?” “Your angel will defend you even if it means risking her life!”
“But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore,” the child continued warily.
God smiled on the young one. “Your angel will always talk to you about me and will teach you the way for you to come back to me, even though I will always be next to you.”
At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from earth could already be heard. The child knew he had to start on his journey very soon. He asked God one more question, softly, “Oh God, if I am about to leave now, please tell me my angel's name.”
God touched the child on the shoulder and answered, “Your angel's name is not hard to remember. You will simply call her Mommy.”
上帝的完美安排：孩子的守护天使
从前，有个孩子马上就要诞生了。因此有一天他问上帝：“听说明天你就送我去人间了，但是，我这么弱小和无助，我在那儿怎么生活呢？”
上帝答道：“在众多的天使中，我特别为你挑了一位。她会守候你、无微不至地照顾你。”
小孩还是拿不准自己是否真的想去。“但是在天堂，我除了唱唱笑笑外，什么也不做。这就足以让我感到幸福了。”
“你的天使每天会为你唱歌，为你微笑。你会感受她的爱，并且因此而幸福。”
“如果我不懂人类的语言，他们对我说话时，我怎么听得懂呢？”孩子继续问道。
上帝轻轻地拍了一下孩子的脑袋说：“你的天使会对你说最最美丽、最最动听的话语，而这些都是你从未听过的。她会不厌其烦地教你说话。”
“如果我想与你说话怎么办？”
上帝胸有成竹地回答：“你的天使会将你的双手合拢，教你如何祈祷。”
“听说尘世有很多坏蛋，谁来保护我呢？”
“即使冒着生命危险，你的天使也会保护你的。”
“但是见不到你，我会难过的。”小孩小心翼翼说道。
听到这儿，上帝对着小孩笑了。“尽管我会一直陪伴你左右，你的天使仍会提起我，教你重返天堂之路。”
此时，天堂一片宁静，凡间的声音已可听到，小孩明白自己得赶紧上路了。 他又轻声问了最后一个问题，“哦，上帝，假如我现在就出发，请你告诉我，我的天使叫什么名字。”
上帝把手放在小孩的肩上，答道：“你的天使的名字很容易记住，她妈妈”
你就叫