青春不是年华，而是心境

YOUTH（青春）

原作：Samuel Ullman（塞缪尔·厄尔曼）

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter ofrosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, aquality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

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，恢宏的想象，炙热的恋情；青春是生命的深泉在涌流。

Youth means a tempera-mental predominance of courage over timidity, of theappetite 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 ideals.

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。

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spring back to dust.Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder,the unfailing childlike appetite of what’s next and the joy of the game of living.

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。

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 cynicism 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.

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，风华常存。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希望。

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（以下内容由本人，即Ceeji翻译。）

Author: Samuel Ullman, 1840-1924

作者：塞缪尔·厄尔曼（1840-1924）

“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 . . . .”

「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，恢宏的想象，炙热的恋情；青春是生命的深泉在涌流。」 These words, written by Samuel Ullman of Birmingham, Alabama at the age of 70-plus, are credited with inspiring a generation of Japanese citizens, businessmen, and government leaders who were faced with rebuilding their country after World War II. Ullman died in his chosen hometown in 1924 at the age of 84 never knowing that his poetic essay would be quoted by politicians and generals, appear in Dear Abby and Ann Landers columns, and be read and loved by people all across the world.

这 些句子，是美国伯明翰大学毕业的亚拉巴马州的塞缪尔·厄尔曼在年届八十时所写，由于鼓励了一整代日本百姓、商人和面临在第二次世界大战后重建国家的任务的 政府官员而美誉远扬。厄尔曼在1924年84岁的时候死在了他所选定的故乡，从不知道他充满诗意的短文能够被政治家和大众所引用，出现在亲爱的阿贝和安· 里德尔的字句里，并且被全世界的人们所阅读和喜爱。

Born in 1840 Germany to Jewish parents, Ullman immigrated with his family to America in order to escape the discrimination they met in Europe. The Ullmans settled in Mississippi in 1851, and eldest son Samuel began to help his father in his butchering/grocery business. Educated primarily in the local schools, Ullman turned down an opportunity to attend college because he felt his father needed him to help with family concerns. In May 1861 and only ten years an “American,” Ullman, like his young male neighbors, joined the 16th Mississippi Regiment. Ullman’s regiment joined other Confederate forces that fought in the northern Virginia campaigns with Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. He was wounded twice before he returned to his home in Port Gibson. One of his injuries caused immediate hearing loss in one ear and later led to his permanent deafness.

厄尔曼1840年出生在德国的犹太家庭，为了逃离他们在欧洲遇到的歧视，他和他的家庭一起迁移到美国。厄尔曼在 1851年定居在美国密西西比州，此后长子塞缪尔开始帮助他的父亲屠宰和小商贩的生意。厄尔曼基本上接受了本地学校的教育，但他认为父亲需要他帮助维持家 庭生计而放弃了上大学的机会。在1861年的五月，仅仅十岁的「美国人」厄尔曼，就像他年轻的男邻居一样，加入了第十六届密西西比州同盟。厄尔曼的同盟分 享了其它同盟打击拥有罗伯特·李，托马斯（1816-1870，美国南北战争时期联邦将军）和「石头墙」杰克逊的北方弗吉尼亚州的战役权力。在他返回他在吉布森港口的家之前他两次受到枪伤。其中一次受伤险些夺去了他一个耳朵的听力，后来导致了他长期的耳聋。

At war’s end, Ullman moved to Natchez, Mississippi, where he married the eldest daughter of a wealthy Jewish family, began a family, established a mercantile business, and began what became a pattern of civic and religious activism that continued for the rest of his life. He served on the Natchez Board of Visitors (an early version of a board of education), was several times elected a city alderman, served as president of the Reform Jewish congregation of the city, and was popular and respected for his energy, humor, and ideals.

战争结束之后，厄尔曼搬到了密西西比州的纳切兹，在那里他和一个富裕犹太家族的大女儿结婚了。初建家庭，确认了重商，开始成为市民和宗教组织的模范，这些组成了他的余生。他在纳切兹教育板工作，几次当选为市参议员，作为该市犹太教堂会众的改革代表而效力，名声远扬，并且由于他的活力，幽默和智慧受到人们的尊敬。

（以下内容正在翻译中）

In 1884, Ullman moved to the young city of Birmingham where he hoped to find better economic opportunities for his wife and six children. He became an important progressive leader during Birmingham’s formative years, taking courageous stands on behalf of laborers, women, and children. He served on numerous civic and community boards including one of the nation’s earliest units of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Ullman is best remembered, however, for his eighteen years of service on Birmingham’s Board of Education, where he earned a reputation as a tireless and fearless advocate for improved and equivalent access to educational opportunities for all the city’s children, black and white. Such a position was not without its cost. When Ullman as president of the Board of Education encouraged and succeeded in providing a high school for Birmingham’s black children, the board of city aldermen dismissed him. Nevertheless, The Industrial High School (now Parker) opened in 1900 to the singing, dancing, and prayers of its students. To place this event and Ullman’s support in perspective, it is useful to note that as late as 1915 the states of Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Louisiana had no high schools at all for their black students. Historians suggest that Ullman’s optimism, civic values, and humane philosophy of life flowed naturally from his commitment to the foundational beliefs of Judaism. His unblemished reputation and devotion to his religion led the congregation of Birmingham’s Temple Emanu-El to elect Ullman as its lay rabbi, an incident that is described by Jewish scholars as unique in the congregational life of Judaism. During his tenure in that position, he led the congregation in giving the women of the temple full membership with all rights and privileges.

When his hearing loss forced his retirement from business, Ullman pursued with vigor his lifelong avocation as a poet. In his seventies, Ullman wrote the poetic essay, “Youth,” which became a favorite of General Douglas MacArthur. MacArthur placed a version of the poem on the wall of his office in Tokyo when he became Supreme Allied Commander in Japan, and he often quoted from the poem in his speeches. General MacArthur’s influence gave the poem popularity throughout Japan and provided the people of that nation with spiritual energy to pursue rebuilding their own lives and that of their nation.

Interest in the poet who penned the words of “Youth” led many Japanese to visit Birmingham to learn more about Ullman. Such visits ultimately led in 1993 to a joint fund raising effort in Japan and the United States for the purpose of purchasing and renovating Ullman’s home in Birmingham. That house, owned and operated by the University of Alabama at Birmingham, now serves as a multi-use museum that honors Samuel Ullman’s life and work. It is a fitting memorial for a man who fearlessly, and without fear of consequences, advocated progressive actions in an era when that was neither fashionable nor popular.

（以下为补充部分）

据传，美国麦克阿瑟将军生前视 《青春》一文为座右铭，不但时常引用，还精心装裱后摆放在自己的办公桌上。而一位外籍日本通曾断言：「任何一个对日本经济活动怀有兴趣的人，都需要了解和 运用这篇短文。」因为欲寻求出类拔萃的、品格卓越的进步，不能不依靠青春的活力，以及由它派生的新鲜认识和实践精神。人类进入21世纪，一个以焕发创新能 力、进取精神、坚韧品格为主调的，挽住青春思维、抗御未老先衰的春潮正一浪浪地涌来——这是真正孕育无限新的奥秘和奇迹的春潮，也是人类再次真实地审度自 身潜能、发掘自身本质之美的春潮，迎着春潮而去，你也许会发现一个全新的自己。

塞缪尔·厄尔曼1840年生于德国，童年时移居美国。参 加过南北战争，后来定居于拉巴马州的伯明翰市。他是一位五金制品商，热心公益67年如一日。在其生前的最后几年，他曾在日本得到一本书及其作品的录音盒带 稿酬36,000美元，并全部捐赠给伯明翰市的一所亚拉巴马州立大学作为奖学基金。

1990年9月间，美国《华盛顿邮报》刊登了一篇乌尔曼所作的题为《青春》的短文，这是70年前发表过的文章。 的确，很多人都知道，美国将军麦克阿瑟就经常在谈话中引用《青春》中的词句。在整个太平洋战争过程中，他的办公桌上始终摆着一个精致的小镜框，中间端正地镶置着《青春》的复印件。 然而，令人惊奇的是，此文后来竟会成为许多日本企业家生活哲学的基础，许多日本人甚至将这篇文章装在随身的皮夹子里。 17年前，日本数百名商界、企业界和政界人士在东京和大阪聚会，表达他们对乌尔曼这篇文章的赞赏和敬仰之情。松下公司的创始人松下幸之助先生也参加了聚会，他说：「多年来，《青春》始终是我的座右铭」。