英语名篇诵读 论青春之不朽

On Immortality² in Youth

论青春之不朽

William Hazlitt(威廉·黑兹利特)

No young man believes he shall ever die. It was a saying of my brother's, and a fine one.

There is a feeling of eternity³ in youth, which makes us amend⁴ for everything. To be young is

to be as one of the Immortal¹ Gods. One half of time indeed is flown — the other half remains⁵ in

store for us with all its countless⁶ treasures; for there is no line drawn⁷, and we see no limit to our

hopes and wishes. We make the coming age our own.

The vast, the unbounded prospect⁸ lies before us.

Death, old age, are words without a meaning, that pass by us like the idle air which we regard

not. Others may have undergone, or may still be liable to them — we “bear a charmed life”, which

laughs to scorn all such sickly fancies. As in setting out on a delightful⁹ journey, we strain our

eager gaze forward —

Bidding the lovely scenes at distance hail ,

— and see no end to the landscape, new objects presenting themselves as we advance; so, in

the commencement of life, we set no bounds to our inclinations¹⁰, nor to the unrestricted

opportunities of gratifying them. We have as yet found no obstacle, no disposition¹¹ to flag ;

and it seems that we can go on so forever. We look round in a new world, full of life, and motion,

at ceaseless progress; and feel in ourselves all the vigour¹² and spirit to keep pace with it, and do not

foresee from any present symptoms how we shall be left behind in the natural course of things,

decline into old age, and drop into the grave. It is the simplicity¹³, and as it were abstractedness

of our feelings in youth, that (so to seek) identifies us with nature, and(our experience being slight

and our passions strong) deludes¹⁴ us into a belief of being immortal like it. Our short-lived

connexion with existence we fondly flatter ourselves, is an indissoluble and lasting¹⁵ union —

a honeymoon¹⁶ that knows neither coldness, jar , nor separation. As infants smile and sleep, we

are rocked in the cradle of our wayward fancies, and lulled¹⁷ into security by the roar of the

universe around us — we quaff¹⁸ the cup of life with eager haste without draining it, instead of

which it only overflows¹⁹ — the more objects press around us, filling the mind with their

magnitude and with the throng²⁰ of desires that wait upon them, so that we have no room for the

thoughts of death.

没有年轻人认为自己会死亡。这是我兄弟的话，说得不错。年轻时有种永恒的感觉，

使我们可以补偿一切。拥有青春的人就好像一尊不朽的神灵。生命的一半时间已经飞逝，

另一半还为我们留着，蕴藏着无尽的宝藏；没有划定的界线，我们看到的是无尽的希望和

幻想。我们把未来的时代变成我们自己的。

“无垠辽阔的远景展现在我们面前。”

死亡、衰老都不过是空话，如同从我们身边吹过的一股风，我们毫不在意。别人可能

已经衰老、死亡，或者可能会衰老、死亡——我们“享有着魔法保护的生命”，放声大笑，

嘲笑这些脆弱的念头。就像踏上愉快的旅程，我们兴奋地极目眺望——

“向远方的美景欢呼，”

——好风景应接不暇，越往前走，新鲜景致越是美不胜收。同样，年轻的时候，我们

听任志趣驰骋，放手让其得到满足。我们至今还没有遇到过障碍，不知疲倦，意气风发，

好像我们会永远如此。我们看到四周一派新天地，生机盎然，变动不息，日新月异，觉得

自己充满活力，精神焕发，堪与宇宙并驾齐驱。年轻时没有任何征兆会使我们预见到我们

会在事物的自然进程中被甩在后面，迈入老年，进入坟墓。年轻人天性纯真，可以说是茫

然无知，总感到青春常在，因而(试图)将自己与大自然画上等号，并且，(由于经验缺乏，

感情旺盛，)总以为自己也能像大自然一样永生。在这个世界上，我们只是暂时栖身，却痴

心妄想地把它当作永恒的结合，好像没有冷漠、争吵、离别的蜜月。正像婴儿带着微笑入

睡一样，我们躺在用自己一厢情愿的天真幻想所编织的摇篮里，让宇宙的万籁之音把我们

催眠；我们兴奋而急切地畅饮生命之杯，怎么也饮不干，似乎永远是满满欲溢的——我们

四周万象纷至，灯红酒绿，欲望无穷，我们根本不可能想到死亡。

1 immortal   

adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的

参考例句：

• The wild cocoa tree is effectively immortal.野生可可树实际上是不会死的。
• The heroes of the people are immortal!人民英雄永垂不朽！

2 immortality   

n.不死，不朽

参考例句：

• belief in the immortality of the soul 灵魂不灭的信念
• It was like having immortality while you were still alive. 仿佛是当你仍然活着的时候就得到了永生。

3 eternity   

n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷

参考例句：

• The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
• Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞，永世相随。

4 amend   

vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿

参考例句：

• The teacher advised him to amend his way of living.老师劝他改变生活方式。
• You must amend your pronunciation.你必须改正你的发音。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

7 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

8 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

9 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

10 inclinations   

倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡

参考例句：

• She has artistic inclinations. 她有艺术爱好。
• I've no inclinations towards life as a doctor. 我的志趣不是行医。

11 disposition   

n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署

参考例句：

• He has made a good disposition of his property.他已对财产作了妥善处理。
• He has a cheerful disposition.他性情开朗。

12 vigour   

（=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力

参考例句：

• She is full of vigour and enthusiasm.她有热情，有朝气。
• At 40,he was in his prime and full of vigour.他40岁时正年富力强。

13 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

14 deludes   

v.欺骗，哄骗( delude的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• In his work, he often deceives his superiors and deludes his subordinates. 工作中他常欺上瞒下。 来自互联网
• Hope often deludes the foolish man. 愚人常被希望骗。 来自互联网

15 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

16 honeymoon   

n.蜜月（假期）；vi.度蜜月

参考例句：

• While on honeymoon in Bali,she learned to scuba dive.她在巴厘岛度蜜月时学会了带水肺潜水。
• The happy pair are leaving for their honeymoon.这幸福的一对就要去度蜜月了。

17 lulled   

vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• They lulled her into a false sense of security. 他们哄骗她，使她产生一种虚假的安全感。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The movement of the train lulled me to sleep. 火车轻微的震动催我进入梦乡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 quaff   

v.一饮而尽；痛饮

参考例句：

• We quaffed wine last night.我们昨晚畅饮了一次酒。
• He's quaffed many a glass of champagne in his time.他年轻时曾经开怀畅饮过不少香槟美酒。

19 overflows   

v.溢出，淹没( overflow的第三人称单数 )；充满；挤满了人；扩展出界，过度延伸

参考例句：

• He always fills his glass till it overflows. 他总是把杯子斟得很满。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A distributary overflows its banks. 分流水溢出河岸。 来自辞典例句

20 throng   

n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集

参考例句：

• A patient throng was waiting in silence.一大群耐心的人在静静地等着。
• The crowds thronged into the mall.人群涌进大厅。