---
title: 少年不识青春味
date: '2020-05-25'
slug: youth
---

去年说到《[少年不识成功味](/cn/2019/01/what-is-success/)》。几周前我看丽云[一篇日志](http://www.loyhome.com/%e8%ae%a1%e5%88%92%e4%b8%80%e5%8d%8a%e7%9a%84%e7%8e%a9%e8%80%8d/)时，心有所感，想起来我上大一时背过的另一篇短文《[青春](https://baike.baidu.com/item/Youth/6296429)》：

> ## YOUTH
> 
> ### --- Samuel Ullman
> 
> 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 sixty more than a boy of twenty. 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 sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being's heart the lure of wonders, the unfailing child-like appetite of 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, cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long are you young.
> 
> When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you've grown old, even at twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.

当然，这篇文章我现在也背不下来了。现在回想起来，我只记得当时从这篇文章认识了两个新单词：愤世嫉俗和天线。

年青的时候读什么是年青，果然是读不懂的，大概是只缘身在此山中。正因为什么都不懂，才是年青。十二年前我单枪匹马[第一次出国](/cn/2008/06/back-from-bremen/)去德国，不懂德语、没有智能手机，要是放到今天，打死我也没有胆量来一场如此这般说走就走的旅行。[九年前](/cn/2011/09/ny-strata-and-nj-att/)我依旧在没有智能手机和无线网的情况下单枪匹马游荡了一圈纽约和新泽西，而如今在没有手机和网络的情况下，我绝对不敢想象该怎么坐地铁和公交；其实就算有，我都不知道该怎么坐了，现在已经[旅途不能自理](http://www.loyhome.com/2018%e7%9a%84%e4%b8%80%e4%ba%9b%e8%ae%b0%e5%bf%86/#comments)。

尽管几乎失去了旅行的闯劲，我仍然赞同《青春》一文所说的：青春无关年龄，而是心态。只要保持闯劲和好奇心，人就还在青春态。如今我的探索精神基本都交付到厨房里了，不知道这还算不算一种青春态。

## 外一则：你爸比妈咪在家吗？

前阵子正值商家推销各种草坪房屋打理服务的时节。可能是因为疫情缘故，有些公司接不到活儿，便派员工挨家上门推销。几周前来了个推销杀虫服务的小哥。叮咚之后我去开了门，他见我出来，迟疑了一下，先问了句：你爸比妈咪在家吗？我也愣了一下，心想我爹妈远在地球那一边，你找我爹妈做啥。然后我问你有啥事儿，可以跟我说。原来他是上门推销服务的，跟我背诵他的服务项目和优惠时，我才意识到：原来这厮刚才是觉得我是这家未成年的小儿子、做不了主，所以叫我爹妈出来讲话。

真是谢谢你的恭维哦，但老子已经[二十八岁零九十四个月了](/cn/2019/01/weak-youth/)。
