青春不是年華，而是心境

YOUTH（青春）

原作：Samuel Ullman（塞繆爾·厄爾曼）

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.

青春不是年華，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，炙熱的戀情；青春是生命的深泉在湧流。

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.

青春氣貫長虹，勇銳蓋過怯弱，進取壓倒苟安。如此銳氣，二十後生而有之，六旬男子則更多見。年歲有加，並非垂老;理想丟棄，方墮暮年。

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.

歲月悠悠，衰微只及肌膚；熱忱拋卻，頹廢必致靈魂。憂煩，惶恐，喪失自信，定使心靈扭曲，意氣如灰。

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.

無論年屆花 甲，擬或二八芳齡，心中皆有生命之歡樂，奇蹟之誘惑，孩童般天真久盛不衰。人人心中皆有一臺天線，只要你從天上人間接受美好、希望、歡樂、勇氣和力量的信 號，你就青春永駐，風華常存。一旦天線下降，銳氣便被冰雪覆蓋，玩世不恭、自暴自棄油然而生，即使年方二十，實已垂垂老矣；然則只要樹起天線，捕捉樂觀信 號，你就有望在八十高齡告別塵寰時仍覺希望。

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（以下內容由本人，即Ceeji翻譯。）

Author: Samuel Ullman, 1840-1924

作者：塞繆爾·厄爾曼（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 . . . .”

「青春不是年華，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，炙熱的戀情；青春是生命的深泉在湧流。」 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.

這 些句子，是美國伯明翰大學畢業的亞拉巴馬州的塞繆爾·厄爾曼在年屆八十時所寫，由於鼓勵了一整代日本百姓、商人和麵臨在第二次世界大戰後重建國家的任務的 政府官員而美譽遠揚。厄爾曼在1924年84歲的時候死在了他所選定的故鄉，從不知道他充滿詩意的短文能夠被政治家和大眾所引用，出現在親愛的阿貝和安· 裡德爾的字句裡，並且被全世界的人們所閱讀和喜愛。

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.

厄爾曼1840年出生在德國的猶太家庭，為了逃離他們在歐洲遇到的歧視，他和他的家庭一起遷移到美國。厄爾曼在 1851年定居在美國密西西比州，此後長子塞繆爾開始幫助他的父親屠宰和小商販的生意。厄爾曼基本上接受了本地學校的教育，但他認為父親需要他幫助維持家 庭生計而放棄了上大學的機會。在1861年的五月，僅僅十歲的「美國人」厄爾曼，就像他年輕的男鄰居一樣，加入了第十六屆密西西比州同盟。厄爾曼的同盟分 享了其它同盟打擊擁有羅伯特·李，托馬斯（1816-1870，美國南北戰爭時期聯邦將軍）和「石頭牆」傑克遜的北方弗吉尼亞州的戰役權力。在他返回他在吉布森港口的家之前他兩次受到槍傷。其中一次受傷險些奪去了他一個耳朵的聽力，後來導致了他長期的耳聾。

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.

戰爭結束之後，厄爾曼搬到了密西西比州的納切茲，在那裡他和一個富裕猶太家族的大女兒結婚了。初建家庭，確認了重商，開始成為市民和宗教組織的模範，這些組成了他的餘生。他在納切茲教育板工作，幾次當選為市參議員，作為該市猶太教堂會眾的改革代表而效力，名聲遠揚，並且由於他的活力，幽默和智慧受到人們的尊敬。

（以下內容正在翻譯中）

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.

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據傳，美國麥克阿瑟將軍生前視 《青春》一文為座右銘，不但時常引用，還精心裝裱後襬放在自己的辦公桌上。而一位外籍日本通曾斷言：「任何一個對日本經濟活動懷有興趣的人，都需要了解和 運用這篇短文。」因為欲尋求出類拔萃的、品格卓越的進步，不能不依靠青春的活力，以及由它派生的新鮮認識和實踐精神。人類進入21世紀，一個以煥發創新能 力、進取精神、堅韌品格為主調的，挽住青春思維、抗禦未老先衰的春潮正一浪浪地湧來——這是真正孕育無限新的奧秘和奇蹟的春潮，也是人類再次真實地審度自 身潛能、發掘自身本質之美的春潮，迎著春潮而去，你也許會發現一個全新的自己。

塞繆爾·厄爾曼1840年生於德國，童年時移居美國。參 加過南北戰爭，後來定居於拉巴馬州的伯明翰市。他是一位五金製品商，熱心公益67年如一日。在其生前的最後幾年，他曾在日本得到一本書及其作品的錄音盒帶 稿酬36,000美元，並全部捐贈給伯明翰市的一所亞拉巴馬州立大學作為獎學基金。

1990年9月間，美國《華盛頓郵報》刊登了一篇烏爾曼所作的題為《青春》的短文，這是70年前發表過的文章。 的確，很多人都知道，美國將軍麥克阿瑟就經常在談話中引用《青春》中的詞句。在整個太平洋戰爭過程中，他的辦公桌上始終擺著一個精緻的小鏡框，中間端正地鑲置著《青春》的複印件。 然而，令人驚奇的是，此文後來竟會成為許多日本企業家生活哲學的基礎，許多日本人甚至將這篇文章裝在隨身的皮夾子裡。 17年前，日本數百名商界、企業界和政界人士在東京和大阪聚會，表達他們對烏爾曼這篇文章的讚賞和敬仰之情。松下公司的創始人松下幸之助先生也參加了聚會，他說：「多年來，《青春》始終是我的座右銘」。