008 Man's Youth

Man's Youth

青春

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 he must lament forever, and it is the thing whose loss he really welcomes with a sad and secret joy, the thing he would never willingly relive again, if it could 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，谁也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 poignantly, so unutterably, 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 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 at once, immediately and forever, the moment that we choose to take a step, or stretch a hand 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，人类迄今为止所知道的最幸运、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。一切都匆匆过去，荡然无存：我们一出手它就烟消云散，飘然而逝，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，看到自己未来生活的必然走向。

A young man is so strong, so mad, so certain, and so lost. He has everything and he is able to use nothing. He hurls the great shoulder of his strength forever against phantasmal barriers, he is a wave whose power explodes in lost midoceans under timeless skies, he reaches out to grip a fume of painted smoke; he wants all, feels the thirst and power for everything, and finally gets nothing. In the end, he is destroyed by his own strength, devoured by his own hunger, impoverished by his own wealth. Thoughtless of money or the accumulation of material possessions, he is none the less defeated in the end by his own greed.

青年人非常坚强，狂热自信，但容易迷惘混沌；虽然机缘无数，却把握不住；虽然身强体壮，试图冲破重重虚幻的屏障，却如同一个波浪，最终还是无力地消失在旷远浩渺的大海中央；他伸出手想要抓住斑斓的云烟；他想得到世间的万物，渴望主宰一切，最终却是一无所获。最后，他被自己的力量所毁灭，被自己的饥饿所吞食，被自己的财富弄得贫穷潦倒。他对金钱或财富的积累不以为意漫不经心，然而最终还是被自己的贪欲所吞噬。

And that is the reason why, when youth is gone, every man will look back upon that period of his life with infinite sorrow and regret. It is the bitter sorrow and regret of a man who knows that once he had a great talent and wasted it, of a man who knows that once he had a great treasure and got nothing from it, of a man who knows that he had strength enough for everything and never used it.

青春消逝，蓦然回首，无论是谁，心中都会充满无尽的忧伤，充满无穷的懊悔:曾经才智卓越，却白白浪费了；曾经财宝富足，却一无所有；曾经本事高强，却从未利用。一个认识到自己失落青春的人回忆起来总是充满悲伤和懊悔。