【背景介绍】

走入青春的大门，好象是一夜间的事，然后沉湎其间不知道岁月时间的长短，将要走出大门时，却是那么的恋恋不舍，恨不能从新来过

【英文原文】

Advice to Youth

　　Being told I would be expected to talk here, I inquired what sort of talk I ought to make. They said it should be something suitable to youth-something didactic, instructive, or something in the nature of good advice. Very well. I have a few things in my mind which I have often longed to say for the instruction of the young; for it is in one’s tender early years that such things will best take root and be most enduring and most valuable. First, then. I will say to you my young friends—and I say it beseechingly, urgingly—

　　Always obey your parents, when they are present. This is the best policy in the long run, because if you don’t, they will make you. Most parents think they know better than you do, and you can generally make more by humoring that superstition than you can by acting on your own better judgment.

　　Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any, also to strangers, and sometimes to others. If a person offend you, and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures; simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick. That will be sufficient. If you shall find that he had not intended any offense, come out frankly and confess yourself in the wrong when you struck him; acknowledge it like a man and say you didn’t mean to. Yes, always avoid violence; in this age of charity and kindliness, the time has gone by for such things. Leave dynamite to the low and unrefined.

　　Go to bed early, get up early- this is wise. Some authorities say get up with the sun; some say get up with one thing, others with another. But a lark is really the best thing to get up with. It gives you a splendid reputation with everybody to know that you get up with the lark; and if you get the right kind of lark, and work at him right, you can easily train him to get up at half past nine, every time—it’s no trick at all.

参考译文

给青年人的劝告

只要你的父母在面前，一定要遵从他们。

在漫长的人生路上，这是最好的原则， 因为如果你不这样的话，他们会让你这么做。

大部分的父母认为他们比你懂得多，而如果你肯听从他们，会比你按自己想法干要获得更多的收益。

如果你有上级的话，要尊重他们，当然还要尊重陌生人，和其他人。

如果有人冒犯你，你会怀疑他是否蓄意的，不要采取极端手段，只需等待时机，再给其教训。

那就足够了。

若你发现他没有故意的冒犯，要为你所做的错事坦诚地道歉，像个男人一样勇敢地承认，并指出你不是故意的。

的确，一定不要诉诸暴力，在这个宣扬慈善和仁爱的时代，暴力已经与这个时代的主题不符了。

把炸药留给那些低劣的人吧。

早睡早起，这是聪明人的做法。

一些权威人士称日出而起，一些人则另立标准。

但是最好在百灵鸟活动的时候就起床。

倘若人们知道你与百灵鸟一样早起，会对你印象颇佳，倘若你得到一只百灵鸟，并好好饲养，当然你就能训练它每天九点半起床，我的确没有骗你们。

重点词汇

1. didactic adj. 说教的；教诲的

如：Their lack of form, represents the weakening of an older line of didactic communication.
他们在写作上没有形式，表明老一派说教性的表达方式已在走下坡路。

2. beseechingly adv. 恳求地

如：However, he spoke these last words so gently, so beseechingly, that I dared not answer.
他跟我说最后几句话的语气是那么温柔，那么恳切，我都不敢回答他。

3.superstition n. 迷信

如：Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.
科学是治疗狂热和迷信毒害的最有效的解毒剂。

4. respectful adj. 恭敬的；有礼貌的

如：As we all know, mother is the most respectful person to everyone.
我们都知道，母亲对每个人来说都是最值得尊敬的。

5.intentional adj. 故意的；蓄意的；策划的

如：If I hurt you, it was not intentional.
如果我伤了你，那并不是有意的。

6.unrefined adj. 未提炼的