汪浩:青春永驻 (译)


汪浩-101906  10/04   14830  
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青春永驻
By: Samuel Ullman
汪浩(译)
2015.10.4

青春不在乎年龄
青春最在于精神
在于强大的意志
在于卓越的想象
在于健康的情绪
是勇气战胜胆怯
是探索战胜安逸

衰老不因为年龄
是因为放弃理想
年龄给皮肤皱纹
人若是失去热情
灵魂就多了皱纹
担心猜疑不自信
还有害怕和绝望
徒增了人的年龄
把高傲的头屈服
把精神化为灰烬

不管是16还是70
每个生命的心里
都热爱种种惊奇
看得见星星甜蜜
和像星星一样的
东西和思想的奇
也能够直面挑战
表现出不挠不屈
有孩子般不懈的
对未来和欢乐和
生命竞技的渴望

信仰会使人年轻
猜忌会使人衰老
自信会使人年轻
恐惧会使人衰老
希望会使人年轻
绝望会使人衰老
到头来当人内心
被悲观的雪原和
愤世嫉俗的寒冰
侵蚀完也就老了

所以只要人的心
还接受美丽喝彩
还欣赏勇敢壮丽
还感到大地和人
以及无限的力量
人就会青春永驻

Youth Poem
By: Samuel Ullman

Youth is not a time of life - 
it is a state of mind,
it is a temper of the will, 
a quality of the imagination, 
a vigor of the emotions, 
a predominance of courage over timidity,
of the appetite for adventure over love of ease.

Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years.
People grow old only by deserting their ideals.
Years wrinkle the skin, 
but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. 
Worry, doubt, self-distrust,
fear and despair - these are the long, 
long years that bow the head and
turn the growing spirit back to dust.

Whether they are sixteen or seventy,
there is in every being's heart
the love of wonder, 
the sweet amazement at the stars 
and starlike things and thoughts,
the undaunted challenge of events,
the unfailing childlike appetite
for what is to come next, 
and the joy and the game of life.

You are as young as your faith,
as old as your doubt; 
as young as your self-confidence, 
as old as your fear, 
as young as your hope, 
as old as your despair. 
When the wires are all down 
and all the innermost core of your heart
is covered with the snows of pessimism 
and the ice of cynicism, 
then you are grown old indeed.

But so long as your heart receives messages 
of beauty, cheer, courage, grandeur
and power from the earth, 
from man and from the Infinite, 
so long you are young.

题记:近日对人的年轻和衰老有感。德裔美国人Samuel Ullman大约在1922年写了一首关于年轻的诗,脍炙人口,成为很多人的座右铭。找了找中文的翻译,觉得有的翻得华丽但是不准。故献上这首白话直译。

后记:在几位诗友的帮助下,终于明白了为什么我觉得大家翻译得不对。是因为他们翻译了作者的原稿,而我以前读的是被日本诗人改动的英文诗。其实我觉得改动板更好。我会再把原稿意译后与大家分享。

启发之一是:如果我们要写诗,千万不要提流行的技术,不要提苹果手机什么的。Samuel 诗里提了当时流行的无线电波,近一百年后却觉得是很老气的技术了。