你一生应诵读的50篇美文经典3分钟（关于青春的小短文）

《Youth》青春，作者塞缪尔·厄尔曼（1840－1924)， 生于德国，后迁居美国，其写的这一篇不足500字的短文《Youth》，因麦克阿瑟将军喜欢而出名，大半个世纪以来一直为世人倾倒，产生了经久不息的轰动效应。作者在文章中感叹青春年华易逝，但又表示真正的青春应该是一种坚强的意志，只要乐观进取就能永远年轻。

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.

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite 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.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonders, the unfailing childlike appetite for what’s next and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart, there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, courage and power from man and from the infinite, so long as you are young.

When your aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you’ve grown old, even at 20; but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there’s hope you may die young at 80.

青春不是年华，而是心境；青春不是桃面、朱唇、柔膝，而是深沉的意志、无限的遐想和炙热的恋情；青春如生命的深泉在涌流。

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，六旬老者更多见。年岁有加，并非垂老；理想丢弃，方堕暮年。

岁月悠悠，于肌肤上显露印记；热忱抛却，颓废必至灵魂。烦忧、惶恐、丧失自信，定使心灵扭曲，意气如灰。

无论年届花甲，抑或二八芳龄，心中皆有奇迹之诱惑、孩童般的好奇以及生命之欢乐。人人心中皆有无线电台，只要它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。

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；然则只是竖起天线，捕捉乐观信号，你就有望在八十高龄告别尘寰时仍觉青春相伴左右。