歌词
Lesson 5
第五课
Youth
青年
How does the writer like to treat young people?
作者喜欢如何对待年轻人
People are always talking about 'the problem of youth'.
人们总是提及“年轻人的问题”
If there is one--which I take leave to doubt
如果真有这个问题，那我对此持怀疑态度
--then it is older people who create it,not the young themselves.
这个问题是由老年人而不是青年人造成的
Let us get down to fundamentals and agree that the young are after all human beings
让我们来认真研究一下基本事实；年轻人毕竟也是人
--people just like their elders.
就像年轻人的长辈一样
There is only one difference between an old man and a young one:
老年人和年轻人唯一的不同点就是
the young man has a glorious future before him
年轻人有灿烂的未来
and the old one has a splendid future behind him:and maybe that is where the rub is.
而老年人只有辉煌的过去，这也许也是问题所在
When I was a teenager,I felt that I was just young and uncertain--
当我还是少年时，我觉得自己很年轻，觉得一切都不定
that I was a new boy in a huge school,
当时我是一名大学新生
and I would have been very pleased to be regarded
如果我被当成一个有趣的问题来看待
as something so interesting as a problem.
我会感到很得意
For one thing,being a problem gives you a certain identity,
这是因为至少使我得到了某种承认
and that is one of the things the young are busily engaged in seeking.
而这种认可又是年轻人所热衷追求的
I find young people exciting.
我觉得年轻人很有活力
They have an air of freedom,
他们有一种自由气息
and they have not a dreary commitment to mean ambitions or love of comfort.
而且她们不追逐卑鄙的名利，也不贪图安逸的生活
They are not anxious social climbers,and they have no devotion to material things.
她们不热衷于社会地位，也不一味追去物质享受
All this seems to me to link them with life,and the origins of things.
在我看来，所有这些优点将他们与生命以及万物起源联系在一起
It's as if they were,in some sense,cosmic beings in violent and lovely contrast with us suburban creatures.
从某种意义上说，他们是宇宙人，同我们这些凡夫俗子形成强烈且鲜明的对比
All that is in my mind when I meet a young person.
当我遇见年轻人，我脑子里就会想到以上的那些
He may be conceited,ill-mannered, presumptuous or fatuous,
年轻人可能狂妄自负、举止无礼、傲慢和无知
but I do not turn for protection to dreary cliches about respect for elders--
但是我不会用尊重长者这一些陈词滥调来为自己辩护
as if mere age were a reason for respect.
似乎年长就是受人尊敬的理由
I accept that we are equals,and I will argue with him,as an equal,if I think he is wrong.
我认为我们是平等的，如果我认为他们错了，我会以平等的身份来和他们理论
专辑信息