Man’s Youth 別樣的青春

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.

青春奇妙無窮,充滿魅力,充滿痛楚.青春年少的時候根本不知青春為何物,直到青春一去不復返了才對青春有了真正的認識.誰都想讓青春永駐,不忍青春離去;眼睜睜地看著青春流逝,心中會涌起無窮的憂傷和惋惜;青春的失去是人們永遠感到悲哀的事;青春的失去是人們真正覺得悲喜交集的事;即便奇跡出現青春復蘇,誰都不會心甘情愿重度青春的歲月.

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.

為什么如此?因為在青春時代,生活充滿了奇特而辛酸的不可思議的事.我們在青春年少時帶著悲喜交集的心情,十分強烈而不可名狀地感受到人生的奇特辛酸/不可思議的經歷.其實質是什么呢?其實質是這樣的:青春年少的時候,雖然殷實富足,卻非常貧窮;雖然力氣強大,卻一無所有;世間的富貴榮華觸目皆是,簡直可以呼吸到,聞到嗅到,還可以品嘗到,心中的自信按捺不住,深切地感受到整個被陶醉了的生活----人類迄今為止所直到的最幸運/最富有的美好幸福的生活,只要我們決定向前邁步,奮發努力,便立即歸我們所有了,并將永遠屬于我們.然而,我們知道,我們真的永遠不能抓到什么,永遠不能獲得什么,永遠不能占有什么.一切匆匆過去,蕩然無存.我們一出手它就煙消云散,飄然而去,一去不復返了.于是,心中泛起陣陣隱痛,看到了自己真實的面孔,看到了自己未來生活的必然走向.