雙語(yǔ)對(duì)照 ● Youth and Age　年輕與年老

Youth and Age　年輕與年老

◎ Robert Louis Stevenson

As we grow old, a sort of equable jog-trot of feeling is substituted for the violent ups and downs of passion and disgust; the same influence that restrains our hopes, quiets our apprehensions[24]; if the pleasures are less intense, the troubles are milder and more tolerable; and in a word, this period for which we are asked to hoard up everything as for a time of famine, is, in its own right, the richest, easiest, and happiest of life. Nay, by managing its own work and following its own happy inspiration, youth is doing the best it can to endow the leisure of age. A full, busy youth is your only prelude to a self-contained and independent age; and the muff inevitably develops into the bore. There are not many Doctor Johnsons, to set forth upon their first romantic voyage at sixty-four. If we wish to scale Mont Blanc or go down in a diving dress or up in a balloon, we must be about it while we are still young. It will not do to delay until we are clogged with prudence and limping with rheumatism[25]and people begin to ask us: “What does Gravity out of bed?” Youth is the time to go flashing from one end of the world to the other both in mind and body; to try the manners of different nations; to hear the chimes at midnight; to see sunrise in town and country; to be converted at a revival; to circumnavigate the metaphysics, write halting verses, run a mile to see a fire, and wait all day long in the theatre to applaud HERNANI.

當(dāng)我們慢慢變老時(shí)，一種平淡而緩慢的感覺(jué)代替了強(qiáng)烈的愛(ài)憎沉浮。同樣，這種感覺(jué)讓我們克制自己的希望，消除心中的憂(yōu)慮。如果快樂(lè)不再那么熱烈，那么煩惱就能變得微不足道，更容易忍受。總而言之，在這段時(shí)間里，我們必須備好一切，以備不時(shí)之需。這段時(shí)間是整個(gè)生命中最豐富多彩、最輕松、最幸福的。不但如此，通過(guò)管理自己的行為，隨著快樂(lè)的靈感律動(dòng)，年輕人盡力讓自己的時(shí)代變得閑適安逸。充實(shí)忙碌的年輕時(shí)代是獨(dú)立自主的老年生活的唯一前奏。而那些年輕時(shí)碌碌無(wú)為的人，他們的晚年注定是沉悶無(wú)聊的。世上的約翰遜博士并不多——在64歲那年才開(kāi)啟人生中的首次浪漫之旅。如果我們想要丈量勃朗峰，或者穿上潛水衣潛水，或者坐著熱氣球飛上高空，我們必須趁年輕時(shí)去做，不要拖到自己變得小心謹(jǐn)慎、腿腳不便時(shí)才去。那時(shí)，人們就會(huì)問(wèn)我們：“為何如此不安分？”年輕時(shí)代就是周游世界的時(shí)代，不論是精神游歷還是身體力行；去體驗(yàn)不同國(guó)家的不同風(fēng)情；去聆聽(tīng)午夜的鐘聲；去欣賞城市和鄉(xiāng)間的日出；去為了重生而虔誠(chéng)悔過(guò)；去博覽玄學(xué)，寫(xiě)一些差強(qiáng)人意的詩(shī)句，跑一英里的路看篝火，等上一整天只是為了給《艾那尼》喝彩。

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