雙語閱讀：25歲以前是最好的青春時光

摘要：　調查發現，退休人羣認爲讓他們印象深刻的人生中至關重要的事情在他們25歲之前就發生了。

If you thought your life was over when you hit 30 or 40, then bad news – it may havehappened much earlier.

Most people have enjoyed the best memories of their life by the age of 25, according to newresearch.

如果你覺得30歲或者40歲的時候人生就無望了，那麼壞消息來了。這個時間點可能更早一些。

根據這項新研究，大多數人在25歲以前就擁有了他們一生中最美好的回憶。

25歲以前是最好的青春時光

A survey of retired people found the life changing highlights etched on their brains happenedbefore they reached age of 25.

調查發現，退休人羣認爲讓他們印象深刻的人生中至關重要的事情在他們25歲之前就發生了。

It is the first study of its kind to use a ‘naturalistic approach’ by collecting free flowing storiesin which participants were asked to narrate their own biographies in just 30 minutes.

這次調查中在同類調查中首次使用“自然主義方法”，也就是隨機收集故事，要求參與者用30分鐘講述他們的個人經歷。

A week later they divided these into self defined ‘chapters’ which revealed a dramatic‘reminiscence bump’ between 17 and 24-years-old – when many people defined these partsbeginning and ending.

一週之後，他們把這些故事劃分成自定義的“篇章”，結果顯示17歲到24歲這個階段形成了明顯的“回憶波峯”。許多人的故事的開頭和結尾都在這個年齡階段內。

Psychologist Kristina Steiner, of the University of New Hampshire in the US, said: ‘When peoplelook back over their lives and recount their most important memories, most divide their lifestories into chapters defined by important moments that are universal for many: a physicalmove, attending college, a first job, marriage, military experience, and having children.’

美國新罕布什爾大學的心理學家克里斯蒂娜·施泰納說：“當人們回顧人生，追憶對他們最重要的事情時，大多數人把他們的人生故事劃分成由許多重要時刻標記的章節：一次身體接觸、上大學、第一份工作、結婚、參軍以及生小孩。這些重要的時刻對許多人來說都是通用的。”

In the study, all the participants were white, and three in four of them had earned at least anundergraduate degree.

在這項調查中，所有的參與者都是白人，其中四分之三的人至少是大學本科畢業。

　　青春

Man's youth is a wonderful thing: it is so full of anguish and of magic and he never comes to know it as it is, until it has gone from him forever. It is the thing he cannot bear to lose, it is the thing whose passing he watches with infinite sorrow and regret, it is the thing whose loss with a sad and secret joy, the thing he would never willingly relive again, could it be restored to him by any magic.

青春奇妙無窮，充滿魅力，充滿痛楚。青春年少的時候根本不知青春爲何物，直到青春一去不復返了纔對青春有了真正的認識。誰都想讓青春永駐，不忍青春離去; 眼睜睜地看着青春流逝,心中會涌起無窮的憂傷和惋惜;青春的失去是人們永遠感到悲哀的事;青春的失去是人們真正覺得悲喜交集的事;即便奇蹟出現青春復甦， 誰都不會心甘情願重度青春的歲月。

Why is this? The reason is that the strange and bitter miracle of life is nowhere else so evident as in our youth. And what is the essence of that strange and bitter miracle of life which we feel so poignant , so unutterable, with such a bitter pain and joy, when we are young? It is this: that being rich, we are so poor; that being mighty, we can yet have nothing; that seeing, breathig, smelling, tasting all around us the impossible wealth and glory of this earth, feeling with an intolerable certitude that the whole structure of the enchanted life – the most fortunate, wealthy, good, and happy life that any man has ever known – is ours – is ours at once, immediately and forever, the moment that we choose to take a step, or stretch a hand, or say a word- we yet know that we can really keep, hold, take, and possess forever- nothing. All passes; nothing lasts: the moment that we put our hand upon it , it melts away like smoke, is gone forever, and the snake is eating at our heart again; we see then what we are and what our lives must come to.

爲什麼如此?因爲在青春時代，生活充滿了奇特而辛酸的不可思議的事。我們在青春年少時帶着悲喜交集的心情，十分強烈而不可名狀地感受到人生的奇特辛酸、不 可思議的經歷。其實質是什麼呢?其實質是這樣的：青春年少的時候，雖然殷實富足，卻非常貧窮;雖然力氣強大，卻一無所有;世間的富貴榮華觸目皆是，簡直可 以呼吸到，聞到嗅到，還可以品嚐到，心中的自信按捺不住，深切地感受到整個被陶醉了的生活----人類迄今爲止所知道的最幸運、最富有的美好幸福的生活， 只要我們決定向前邁步，奮發努力，便立即歸我們所有了，並將永遠屬於我們。然而，我們知道，我們真的永遠不能抓到什麼，永遠不能獲得什麼，永遠不能佔有什 麼。一切匆匆過去，蕩然無存。我們一出手它就煙消雲散，飄然而去，一去不復返了。於是，心中泛起陣陣隱痛，看到了自己真實的面孔，看到了自己未來生活的必 然走向。

A young man is so strong, so mad, so certain, and so lost. He has everything and he is able to use nothing. He hurls the great shoulder of his strength forever against phantasmalbarriers, he is a wave whose power explodes in lost mid – oceans under timeless skies, here-aches out to grip a fume of painted smoke, he wants all, feels the thirst and power foreverything, and finally gets nothing. In the end, he is destroyed by his own strength, devoured by his own hunger, impoverished by his own wealth. Thoughtless of money or the accumulation of material possessions, he is none the less defeated in the end by his own greed a greed that makes the avarice of King Midas seem paltry by comparison.

青年人非常堅強，狂熱自信，但容易迷惘混沌，雖然機緣無數，卻把握不住，雖然身強體壯，試圖衝破重重虛幻的屏障，卻如同一個波浪，最終還是無力地消失在曠 遠浩淼的大海中央，他伸出手想要抓住斑斕的雲煙，他想得到世間的萬物，渴望主宰一切，最終卻是一無所獲。最後，他被自己的力量所毀滅，被自己的飢餓所吞 食，被自己的財富弄得貧窮潦倒。他對金錢或財富的積累不以爲意漫不經心，然而最終還是被自己的貪慾所吞噬。

And that is the reason why, when youth is gone, every man will look back upon that period of his life with infinite sorrow and regret. It is the bitter sorrow and regret of a man who knows that once he had a great talent and wasted it , of a man who knows that once he had a great treasure and got nothing from it , of a man who knows that he had strength enough for everything and never used it.

青春消逝，驀然回首，無論是誰，心中都會充滿無盡的憂傷，充滿無窮的懊悔。曾經才智卓越，卻白白浪費了，曾經財富殷實，卻一無所有，曾經本事高強，卻從未利用。一個認識到自己失落青春的人回憶起來總是充滿悲傷和懊悔。