歌词
Lesson 34
第34课
Adolescence
青春期
What do adolescents respect in parents?
Parents are often upset when their children praise the homes of their friends
当家长听到孩子赞扬自己朋友的家时，总感到不安，
and regard it as a slur on their own cooking, or cleaning, or furniture,
认为孩子在嫌弃自家的饭菜、卫生、或家具，
and often are foolish enough to let the adolescents see that they are annoyed.
而且愚蠢地让孩子看出自己的烦恼。
They may even accuse them of disloyalty, or make some spiteful remark about the friends' parents.
他们甚至责备孩子不忠，或者讲些小朋友家长的坏话。
Such a loss of dignity and descent into childish behaviour on the part of the adults
deeply shocks the adolescents, and makes them resolve that in future
家长这种有失身份和孩子气的作法使青春期的孩子大为震惊，
they will not talk to their parents about the places or people they visit.
决心以后不再向父母讲述去过的地方和见过的人。
Before very long the parents will be complaining that the child is so secretive and never tells them anything,
不要很久,家长就会抱怨孩子守口如瓶，什么事也不告诉他们，
but they seldom realize that they have brought this on themselves.
殊不知这是他们自找的。
Disillusionment with the parents,
however good and adequate they may be both as parents and as individuals,
不管家长的人品有多么好，作为父母有多么合格，
is to some degree inevitable.
孩子们对家长幻想的破灭在某种程度上是不可避免的。
Most children have such a high ideal of their parents,
大多数孩子对父母估价过高，
unless the parents themselves have been unsatisfactory,
除非父母自身不能令人满意，
that it can hardly hope to stand up to a realistic evaluation
以致这种估价很难指望经受住现实的考验。
Parents would be greatly surprised and deeply touched if they realized
how much belief their children usually have in their character and infallibility,
如果家长意识到孩子们通常是多么相信家长的品行和绝对正确，
and how much this faith means to a child.
意识到孩子们的这种信念会对孩子产生多么大的影响，那么家长会大为吃惊和深受感动的。
If parents were prepared for this adolescent reaction,
and realized that was a sign that the child was growing up
如果家长对青少年的这种反应有思想准备，并且意识到这象征着孩子们正在成熟
and developing valuable powers of observation and independent judgment,
和正在发展宝贵的观察力、独立判断力，
they would not be so hurt,
那么他们就不会那样伤心，
and therefore would not drive the child into opposition by resenting and resisting it.
也就不会由于怨恨和抵触这种反应，而把孩子推到自己的对立面去。
The adolescent, with his passion for sincerity,
青少年酷爱真诚，
always respects a parent who admits that he is wrong, or ignorant,
or even that he has been unfair or unjust.
对于能够承认错误或无知、甚至承认自己做得不分平或不公正的父母，他们总是尊敬的。
What the child cannot forgive is the parents' refusal to admit these charges if the child knows them to be true.
孩子们所不能原谅的是：父母错了，孩子们也看出来了，可是做父母的还不肯承认。
Victorian parents believed that they kept their dignity by retreating behind an unreasoning authoritarian attitude
in fact they did nothing of the kind,
维多利亚时代的父母认为，他们可靠无理的权威气派来维护自己的尊严，实际上那是根本不行的。
but children were then too cowed to let them know how they really felt.
孩子们只不过被吓得不敢让父母知道自己的想法罢了。
Today we tend to go to the other extreme,
虽然现在我们倾向于走向另一个极端，
but on the whole this is a healthier attitude both for the child and the parent.
但总地来看，孩子和家长双方态度都比较端正。
It is always wiser and safer to face up to reality, however painful it may be at the moment.
遇事采取面对现实的态度总是比较明智和稳妥的，尽管会有暂时的痛苦。
专辑信息