Ladies and Gentlemen , Good afternoon! I’m very glad to stand here and give you a short speech. today my topic is “youth”. I hope you will like it , and found the importance in your youth so that more cherish it.
First I want to ask you some questions:
1、 Do you know what is youth?
2、 How do you master your youth?
Youth
Youth is not a time of life, it is a state of mind ; it is not rosy cheeks , red lips and supple knees, it is a matter of the emotions : it is the freshness ; 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 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 of 16 , there is in every human being ‘s heart the lure of wonders, the unfailing childlike appetite of what’s next and the joy of the game of living . In the center of your heart and my heart there’s a wireless station : so long as it receives messages of beauty , hope ,cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long as you are 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.
Thank you!
青春
青春不是指岁月，而是指心态。粉嫩的脸，红润的唇，矫健的膝并不是青春。青春表现在意志的坚强与懦弱。想象的丰富与苍白、情感的充沛与贫乏等方面。青春是生命深处清泉的喷涌。
青春是追求。只有当勇气盖过怯弱、进取压倒苟安之时，青春才存在。果如此，则60见之长者比20岁之少年更具青春活力。仅仅岁月的流逝并不能使他们衰老。而一旦抛弃理想和信念，则垂垂老也。
岁月只能使皮肤起皱。而一旦丧失生活的激情，则连灵魂枯老，使人生枯如死水，毫无活力。
60岁长者也好，16岁少年也罢，每个人的内心深处都渴望奇迹，都如孩子一般眨着期待的双眼，期待着下一次，期待着生活的情趣，你我灵魂深处都有一座无线电中转站------只有你我年轻，则总能听到希望的呼唤，总能发出喜悦的欢呼，总能传达勇气的讯号，总能表现出青春的活力………
一旦青春的天线倒下，你的灵魂即为玩世不恭之雪、悲观厌世之冰覆盖;即使你年方20.其实你已垂垂老也。而只要你青春的天线高高耸起，就可以随时接收到乐观的电波-----即使你年过八旬，行将就木，而你却仍然拥有青春，你仍然年轻。
You may wonder if I believe in afterlife. My answer is: I know nothing about my previous life, so I dare not make improper comments on afterlife. But I do hope there’s afterlife! Because our present life is so short that so many things slip away before our proper understanding. I have so many dreams, so many wishes, so many ambitions, as well as so many regrets and concerns. If there were no afterlife, all of them will remain unrealized!
也许有人会问我,你相信来世吗?我的回答是：我不知道前生,因而也不敢妄谈后世.但我真的希望能有来世!因为这辈子时间太短,许多事情都是在还没弄明白的时候,就已经匆匆过去了.我有那么多的理想,我有那么多的心愿,我有那么多的奢望,我有那么多的遗憾,我有那么多的牵挂,我有那么多的雄心壮志,如果没有来世,那就一切皆空了.
I’m not contented with the present commonplace life, I’m very much attached to the affections that should have been mine but have been washed away by the hurrying time, and I yearn for the perfection and maturity if I could start all over again. So believe it or not, I’d rather there were afterlife.
我不甘心眼前的碌碌无为,我留恋被岁月冲走的本应属于我的亲情,更向往从头再来的完美和成熟.为此,信也好,不信也好,我宁愿有来世.
