They must discover for themselves that all they have read and all they have been told are lies, lies, lies; and each discovery is another nail driven into the body on the cross of life. The strange thing is that each one who has gone through that bitter disillusionment adds to it in his turn, unconsciously, by the power within him which is stronger than himself.
以为青春是快乐的，这是一种错觉，是失去了青春的人的错觉。年轻人知道自己是不幸的，因为他们被灌输而来的、不切实际的理想充斥着，他们只要接触到现实，就会碰得头破血流。看起来他们就像是一场阴谋的牺牲品，因为他们读的书由于被精挑细选过而变得完美。长辈回忆往事时，隔了健忘这一层玫瑰色薄雾，用他们的话为年轻人准备了不真实的生活。
年轻人必须自己去发现，那些他们读来、听来的事情，全都是谎言、谎言、谎言。每一次这样的发现，都像是一根钉子，把身体钉在生活的十字架上。奇怪的是，每个人在?过这种苦涩的幻灭之后，因内心某种无法自已的力量，而无意识地为它继续增添幻觉。
青春不代表快乐，多少年轻人在理想与现实间奔波的时候碰得头破血流。青春虽拥有快乐，却也并不易。
两条道路
The Two Roads
[英国]约翰·罗斯金/John Ruskin
It was New Year' s Night. An aged man was standing at a window. He raised his mournful eyes towards the deep blue sky, where the stars were floating like white lilies on the surface of a clear calm lake. Then he cast them on the earth, where few more hopeless people than himself now moved towards their certain goal—the tomb. He had already passed sixty of the stages leading to it, and he had brought from his journey nothing but errors and remorse. Now his health was poor, his mind vacant, his heart sorrowful, and his old age short of comforts.
The days of his youth appeared like dreams before him, and he recalled the serious moment when his father placed him at the entrance of the two roads—he leading to a peaceful, sunny place, covered with flowers, fruits and resounding with soft, sweet songs; the other leading to a deep, dark cave, which was endless, where poison flowed instead of water and where devils and poisonous snakes hissed and crawled.
He looked towards the sky and cried painfully, "O,youth, return! O, my father, place me once more at the entrance to life, and I' ll choose the better way!" But both his father and the days of his youth had passed away.
He saw the lights flowing away in the darkness. These were the days of his wasted life; he saw a star fall from the sky and disappeared, and this was the symbol of himself. His remorse, which was like a sharp arrow, struck deeply into his heart. Then he remembered his friends in his childhood, who entered on life together with him. But they had made their way to success and were now honoured and happy on this New Year' s Night.
The clock in the high church tower struck and the sound made him remember his parents' early love for him. They had taught him and prayed to God for his good. But he chose the wrong way. With shame and grief he dared no longer look towards that heaven where his father lived. His darkened eyes were full of tears, and with a despairing effort, he burst out a cry, "Come back, my early days! Come back!"
And his youth did return, for all this was only a dream, which he had on New Year' s Night. He was still young though his faults were real; he had not yet entered the deep, dark cave, and he was still free to walk on the road which leads to the peaceful and sunny land.
Those who still linger on the entrance of life, hesitating to choose the bright road, remember that when years are passed and your feet stumble on the dark mountains, you will cry bitterly, but in vain: "O youth, return! O give me back my early days!"
新年之夜，一位上了年纪的人伫立在窗前。他抬起充满哀伤的眼睛，仰望着深蓝色的天空，星星在那里游移着，如同朵朵百合散落在清澈而平静的湖面上。接着，他把目光投向地面，看到几个比他更加绝望的人正走向他们的终点——坟墓。在通往人生终点的道路上，他已?走过了六十个驿站，除了过失和悔恨之外，他一无所获。现在，他健康欠佳，精神空虚，心情忧郁，缺少晚年应有的舒适和安逸。
年轻的时光如梦幻般浮现在他眼前，他回想起父亲将他放在人生道路的入口处时那个关键的时刻。当时，摆在他面前的有两条道路：一条通向和平宁静、阳光灿烂的地方，那里充满花果，回荡着柔和甜美的歌声；另一条则通向黑暗无底的深渊，那里流淌着毒?而非清水，恶魔肆虐，毒蛇横行。
他仰望着天空，痛苦地叫喊：“啊，青春，请回来吧！啊，父亲，请把我重新放到人生道路的起点上吧，我将会作出更好的选择。”然而，父亲和他的青春都已离他远去。
他看着灯光被黑暗吞没，那就是他虚度的时光；他看见一颗星星从空中陨落、消逝，那正是他自身的写照，悔恨如同利箭深深刺进他的心脏。然后，他回想起儿时的朋友，他们曾与他一同踏上人生的旅程，现在已走在成功的道路上，受到人们的尊敬，此时正沉浸在欢度新年的幸福中。
教堂高塔上的钟声敲响了，这让他回忆起父母早年对他的爱，他们曾给予他谆谆教诲，曾为他的幸福向上帝祈祷。但他偏偏选择了人生的歧途。羞愧和忧伤使他再也不敢正视他父亲所在的天堂。他双眼无神，饱含着泪水，在绝望中，他奋力高喊：“回来吧，我那逝去的岁月！回来吧！”
他的青春真的回来了，因为上面所发生的一切只不过是他在新年所做的一场梦。他依然年轻，当然他也曾真的犯过错误，但还不至于堕入黑暗深渊，他仍然可以自由地走在通向宁静和光明的道路上。
正在人生路口徘徊，正在犹豫是否要选择光明大道的年轻人啊，你们一定要记住：当你青春已逝，在黑暗的群山中举步维艰、跌跌撞撞的时候，你才会痛心疾首、徒劳无功地呼喊：“啊，回来吧，青春！啊，把我美好的年华还给我吧！”
人生没有彩排，每天都是现场直播。当我们站在人生路口时，更应该仔细斟酌，走一条无悔的道路。
亚顿河水
Afton Water
[英国]罗伯特·彭斯/Robert Burns
Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes,
Flow gently, I' ll sing thee a song in thy praise;
My Mary' s asleep by thy murmuring stream,
Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.
Thou stock-dove whose echo resounds thro' the glen,
Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den,
Thou green-crested lapwing, thy screaming forbear,
I charge you, disturb not my slumbering fair.
How lofty, sweet Afton, thy neighbouring hills,
Far mark' d with the courses of clear winding rills;
There daily I wander as noon rises high,
My flocks and my Mary' s sweet cot in my eye.
How pleasant thy banks and green valleys below,
Where, wild in the woodlands, the primroses blow;
There oft, as mild Evening weeps over the lea,
The sweet-scented birch shades my Mary and me.
Thy crystal stream, Afton, how lovely it glides,
And winds by the cot where my Mary resides,
How wanton thy waters her snowy feet lave,
As, gathering sweet flowerets she stems thy clear wave.
Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes.
Flow gently, sweet river, the theme of my lays;
My Mary' s asleep by thy murmuring stream,
Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.
轻轻地流淌，甜美的亚顿河，在青碧的山坡之间，
轻轻地流淌，我为你歌唱，为你颂扬；
伴着你的流水潺潺，我的玛丽安然入眠，