青春是一种心境，一种气质。如果你正值青春年少，那就随着青春的脉搏一起跳动吧;即使你已经岁月沧桑，心态依然可以保持年轻。让我们青春到老。
Youth
Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of pink cheeks, red lips and flexible knees; it is a matter of will, a quality of imagination, a vigor of the emotion, it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
Youth means a dispositional control of courage over cowardice, 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 spirit back to dust.
Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human beings’ heart the looking forward to wonder, the endless child-like appetite of what’s next and the joy of the game of living.① In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station: so long as it is receiving messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from God, you are young.②
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.
[243 words]
[点评]文章一开始使用了一组排比，用四个it is …句型给youth下了定义。第二段将60岁和20岁的人进行对比，从而得出结论：年轻不是单纯指年龄，而是指心态。读到这里，读者可能会提出质疑：那要如何保持心态的年轻呢?作者紧紧抓住读者的心理，在第四段中用a wireless station为例，形象地描述了保持年轻的方法。最后一段将对比the aerials are down和aerials are up进行对比，提出号召：只要乐观向上，我们就能够永远年轻。进一步深化了主题。
这篇散文语言优美，内容凝练。各段落之间有很强的内在联系，形散而神聚，全文紧紧围绕青春这一主题，运用排比、拟人、比喻等多种修辞方法是文章的一大亮点，为文章增色不少。
[译文]青春寄语
青春不是人生的一个时期，而是一种心境。青春不是指粉红色的面颊、红润的嘴唇和灵活的膝盖，而是指坚强的意志、丰富的想象和激越的情感。青春是生命深处的一泓清泉。
青春是一种气质：勇猛果敢而不是怯懦退缩，渴望冒险而不是贪图安逸。一个60岁的老人身上常常散发着这种气息，而20岁的青年身上倒未必可寻。没有人会单纯因为年岁增长而衰老，而一旦丧失理想，就会真正变老。
年岁也许会在皮肤上生出皱纹，而热情不在则会使心灵起皱。忧虑、恐惧、自卑都会使人心灰意懒，一蹶不振。
无论60岁还是16岁，每一个人心里都怀有对新奇事物的向往，都会像儿童一样对未来充满永不衰减的憧憬，都能在生活的游戏中汲取快乐。在你我的心灵中央都有一座无线电台：只要它正在接受其他人和上帝发出的美丽、希望、快乐、勇气和力量的信息，你就会永远年轻。
当你的天线收拢，当你的心灵覆盖着愤世嫉俗的霜雪和悲观厌世的坚冰，即使你年方二十，你也已进入了垂暮之年。然而，只要你的天线张开，接收着乐观向上的电波，那么你可以指望，在80岁死去时你依然年轻。
[重点词汇]
imagination n. 想象力，幻觉
dispositional a. 有某种性情的
cowardice n. 怯懦 胆小
appetite n. 胃口，食欲
enthusiasm n. 热情，积极性
wrinkle n. 皱纹;v. 起皱
aerial n. 天线
cynicism n. 愤世嫉俗，玩世不恭
pessimism n. 悲观，悲观主义
optimism n. 乐观，乐观主义
[词句解析]
①【注释】look forward to 期望做…，盼望…
【临摹】I am looking forward to seeing you again on the Christmas Eve.我期待着在平安夜再次见到你。
②【注释】so long as只要，如果
【临摹】So long as you make Mary happy I’m content.只要你能让玛丽高兴，我就满足了。
[好词好句]
Youth means limitless possibilities.
年轻意味着无限的可能。
If you do not learn to think when you are young, you may never learn.
如果你年轻时不学着思考，你将永远不会。
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