Youth
Youth is not a time of life； it is a state of mind； it is not a matter of rosy cheeks，red lips and supple knees； it is a matter of the will，a quality of the imagination，a vigor of the emotions； it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
Youth means a temperamental predominancepredominance n.优势 of courage over timidity，of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.This often exists in a man of 60 more than a boy of 20.Nobody grows old merely by a number of years.We grow old by deserting our idealsideal n.理想 adj.理想的，完美的，想像的，观念的，唯心论的.
Years may wrinkle the skin，but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.Worry，fear，selfdistrust bows the heart and turns the spring back to dust.
Whether 60 or 16，there is in every human beings heart the lure of wonder，the unfailing childlike appetiteappetite n.食欲，胃口，欲望，爱好 of whats next and the joy of the game of living.In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station： so long as it receives messages of beauty，hope，cheer，courage and power from men and from the infinite，so long are you young.
When the aerials are down，and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicismcynicism n.犬儒主义，玩世不恭，冷嘲热讽 and the ice of pessimism，then you are grown old，even at 20，but as long as your aerials are up，to catch waves of optimism，there is hope you may die young at 80.
青春
青春不是年华，而是心境；青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝，而是深沉的意志，恢弘的想像，炙热的恋情；青春是生命的深泉在涌流。
青春气贯长虹，勇锐盖过怯弱，进取压倒苟安。如此锐气，二十后生而有之，六旬男子则更多见。年岁有加，并非垂老；理想丢弃，方堕暮年。
岁月悠悠，衰微只及肌肤；热忱抛却，颓废必致灵魂。忧烦、惶恐、丧失自信，定使心灵扭曲、意气如灰。
无论年届花甲，拟或二八芳龄，心中皆有生命之欢乐、奇迹之诱惑、孩童般天真久盛不衰。
人人心中皆有一台天线，只要你从天上人间接受美好、希望、欢乐、勇气和力量的信号，你就青春永驻、风华长存。
一旦天线下降，锐气便被冰雪覆盖，玩世不恭、自暴自弃油然而生，即使年方二十，实已垂垂老矣；然则只要树起天线，捕捉乐观信号，你就有望在八十高龄告别尘寰时仍觉年轻。
Girls of Summer
We lived on the banks of the Tennessee River，and we owned the summers when we were girls. We ran wild through humid summer days that never ended but only melted one into the other. We floated down rivers of weekdays with no school，no rules ，no parents，and no constructs other than our fantasies. We were good girls，my sister and I. We had nothing to rebel against. This was just life as we knew it，and we knew the summers to be long and to be ours.
The road that ran past our house was a onelane rural route. Every morning，after our parents had gone to work，Id wait for the mail lady to pull up to our box. Some days I would put enough change for a few stamps into a mason jarjar n.震动，刺耳声，震惊，争吵，罐，广口瓶 vi.震惊，冲突，发刺耳声，不一致vt.震动，刺激 ligand leave it in the mailbox. I hated bothering mail lady with this transaction，which made her job take longer. But I liked that she knew that someone in our house sent letters into the outside world.
I liked walking to the mailbox in my bare feet and leaving footprints on the dewy grass. I imagined that feeling the wetnesswetness n.湿润，下雨 on the bottom of my feet made me a poet. I had never read poetry，outside of some Emily Dickinson. But I imagined that people who knew of such things would walk to their mailboxes through the morning dew in their bare feet.
We planned our weddings with the help of Barbie dolls and the tiny purple wildflowers growing in our side yard. We became scientists and tested concoctions of milk，orange juice，and mouthwashmouthwash n.漱口水，洗口药，废话，无聊话.We ate handfuls of bittersweet chocolate chips and licked peanut butter off spoons. When we ran out of sweets to eat，we snitched sugary flintstone vitaminsvitamin n.维他命，维生素 out of the medicine cabinet. We became masters of the Kraft macaronimacaroni n.［食］通心面，纨绔子弟 and cheese lunch，and we dutifully called our mother at work three times a day to give her updates on our adventures. But dont call too often or speak too loudly or whine too much，we told ourselves，or else theyll get annoyed and shell get fired and the summers will end.
We shaped our days the way we chose，far from the prying eyes of adults. We found our dads Playboys and charged the neighborhood boys money to look at them. We made crank calls around the county，telling people they had won a new car. “What kind？” theyd ask. “Red” wed always say. We put on our Moms old prom dresses，complete with gloves and hats，and sang backup to the C.W. McCall song
“Convoy”，“which wed found on our dads turntableturntable n.转车，转盘.
We went on hikes into the woods behind our house，crawling under barbedbarbed adj.有刺的，具侧刺毛的，(话语)尖刻的，尖锐的，讽刺的 wirefe nces and through tangled undergrowth. Heat and humidity found their way thought he leaves to our flushed faces. We waded in streams that we were always surprised to come across. We walked past cars and auto parts that had been abandoned in the woods，far from any road. Wed reach the tree line and come out unexpectdly into a cow pasture. Wed perch on the gate or stretch out on the large flat limes tone outcrop that marked the end of the Woods Behind Our House.
One day a thunderstorm blew up along the Tennessee River. It was one of those storms that make the day go dark and the humidity disappear. First it was still and quiet. There was electricity in the air and then the sharp crispnesscrispness n.易碎，精神愉快 of a summer day being blown wide open as the winds rushed in. We threw open all the doors and windows. We found the classical radio station from two towns away and turned up the bass and cranked up the speakers. We let the wind blow in and churn our summer day around. We let the music we were only vaguely familiar with roar through the house. And we twirled. We twirled in the living room in the wind and in the music. We twirled and we imagined that we were poets and dancers and scientists and spring bridesbride n.新娘.
We twirled and imagined that if we could let everything-the thunderthunder n.雷，雷声，轰隆声vi.打雷，雷鸣，the storm，the wind ，the world-into that house in the banks of the Tennessee River，we could live in our summer dreams forever. When we were girls.
夏日女孩
在还是小女孩的时候，夏天是我们的，那时，我家住在田纳西河畔。在那些永无尽头、一天天彼此交融的湿润夏日里，我们撒了野地跑着。我们在长长的周日中放任着自己，没有学校的管束，没有规则的羁绊，没有父母的训诫，没有既定的观念，只有属于我们自己的梦幻。我和姐姐，我们都是好女孩，没有什么需要我们去对抗和反叛的。这就是我们所知的生活，我们知道夏日正长，而且是属于我们的。
