1、.精品.the virtues of growing older （長(zhǎng)大變老有好處） our society worships youth. advertisements convince us to buy grecian formula and oil of olay so we can hide the gray in our hair and smooth the lines on our face. television shows feature attractive young stars with firm bodies, perfect complexions, and th

2、ick manes of hair. middle-aged folks work out in gyms and jog down the street, trying to delay the effects of age. 我們所處的社會(huì)崇尚年輕。連篇累牘的廣告勸我們買(mǎi)希臘配方的洗發(fā)水和玉蘭油，這樣的話，白發(fā)無(wú)處可尋，面部的皺紋也能被撫平。電視節(jié)目上盡是體魄強(qiáng)健，膚色無(wú)暇，頭發(fā)濃密的年輕明星。而中年人則在體育館里鍛煉，在馬路上慢跑，盡量不讓歲月過(guò)早地留下痕跡。 wouldnt any person over thirty gladly sign with the devil just t

3、o be young again? isnt aging an experience to be dreaded? perhaps it is unamerican to say so, but i believe the answer is no. being young is often pleasant, but being older has distinct advantages. 不是所有三十出頭的人都會(huì)為了重獲青春而心甘情愿地與魔鬼訂立合約嗎？長(zhǎng)大變老難道不可怕嗎？說(shuō)它不可怕可能不是美國(guó)人的回答，但我卻認(rèn)為長(zhǎng)大變老不可怕。青春年少令人愉悅，但長(zhǎng)大變老也有明顯的好處。when yo

4、ung, you are apt to be obsessed with your appearance. when my brother dave and i were teens, we worked feverishly to perfect the bodies we had. dave lifted weights, took megadoses of vitamins, and drank a half-dozen milk shakes a day in order to turn his wiry adolescent frame into some muscular idea

5、l. and as a teenager, i dieted constantly. no matter what i weighed, though, i was never satisfied with the way i looked. my legs were too heavy, my shoulders too broad, my waist too big. when dave and i were young, we begged and pleaded for the right clothes. if our parents didnt get them for us, w

6、e felt our world would fall apart. how could we go to school wearing loose-fitting blazers when everyone else would be wearing smartly tailored leather jackets? we could be considered freaks. i often wonder how my parents, and parents in general, manage to tolerate their children during the adolesce

7、nt years. now, however, dave and i are beyond such adolescent agonies. my rounded figure seems fine, and dont deny myself a slice of pecan pie if i feel in the mood. dave still works out, but he has actually become fond of his tall, lanky frame. the two of us enjoy wearing fashionable clothes, but w

8、e are no longer slaves to style. and women, im embarrassed to admit, even more than men, have always seemed to be at the mercy of fashion. now my clothes - and my brothers - are attractive yet easy to wear. we no longer feel anxious about what others will think. as long as we feel good about how we

9、look, we are happy. 年輕時(shí)，你可能為你的外形傷腦筋。我兄弟戴維和我十來(lái)歲時(shí)拼命鍛煉以健美體形。戴維練舉重，大量服用維生素，一天喝上半打奶昔，目的是想讓他瘦長(zhǎng)的體形變得想象中那般肌肉發(fā)達(dá)。我在十來(lái)歲時(shí)堅(jiān)持節(jié)食。但不管我體重是多少，都對(duì)自己的外形不滿意。我嫌自己腿太結(jié)實(shí)，肩膀太闊，腰圍太大。那時(shí)候，戴維和我都纏著父母，央求他們買(mǎi)“合適”的衣服。如果父母沒(méi)給買(mǎi)的話，我們就覺(jué)得自己的世界要崩塌了一樣。我們?cè)趺春么┲伤煽蹇宓倪\(yùn)動(dòng)衣去上學(xué)，別人可是穿著款式時(shí)髦的皮夾克?。∪思視?huì)把我們當(dāng)怪人來(lái)看的。我常常納悶：我的父母和大多數(shù)的父母怎能如此縱容他們的小孩子。但現(xiàn)在戴維和我都已度過(guò)了痛苦

10、的青少年時(shí)期。如今我圓鼓鼓的身軀看上去也不壞，只要我喜歡，我也不會(huì)不讓自己吃上一塊核桃餡餅。戴維還在堅(jiān)持運(yùn)動(dòng)，只不過(guò)他真的喜歡上了自己瘦長(zhǎng)的體形。我們兩人還是喜歡穿時(shí)髦衣服，只是我們不再是流行時(shí)尚的奴隸。這一點(diǎn)我不得不承認(rèn)，女人似乎要比男人更容易為流行時(shí)尚所左右。現(xiàn)在我的衣服，還有戴維的衣服都漂亮大方，我們不再為別人怎么想而感覺(jué)不安了。只要我們對(duì)自己的形象感覺(jué)不壞，就很開(kāi)心。 being older is preferable to being younger in another way. obviously, i still have important choices to make a

11、bout my life, but i have already made many of the critical decisions that confront those just starting out. i chose the man i wanted to marry. i decided to have children. i elected to return to college to complete my education. but when you are young, major decisions await you at every turn. what co

12、llege should i attend? what career should i pursue? should i get married? should i have children? there are just a few of the issues facing young people. its no wonder that, despite their carefree facade, they are often confused, uncertain, and troubled by all the unknowns in their future. 從另一個(gè)方面來(lái)看，

13、年老比年輕要好。很明顯，我還要就我的生活作一些重要的決定，但我已經(jīng)作了許多很重要的決定，而年輕人生活剛剛起步，他們還面臨著選擇。我選擇了我丈夫，我選擇了生育孩子，我選擇了回到大學(xué)完成我的教育。但當(dāng)你還年輕時(shí)，你的每一次轉(zhuǎn)折都等待你作出決定。“我該上哪所大學(xué)？我該做什么工作？我是否要結(jié)婚？我是否該要孩子？”這幾個(gè)問(wèn)題還只是年輕人面臨的問(wèn)題當(dāng)中的一部分。這就難怪為什么年輕人外表無(wú)憂無(wú)慮，而事實(shí)上迷茫困惑，缺乏信心，為將來(lái)的種種未知因素而憂心忡忡。but the greatest benefit of being forty is knowing who i am. the most unsettl

14、ing aspect of youth is the uncertainty you feel about your values, goals, and dreams. being young means wondering what is worth working for. being young means feeling happy with yourself one day and wishing you were never born the next. it means trying on new selves by taking up with different crowd

15、s. it means resenting your parents and their way of life one minute and then feeling you will never be as good or as accomplished as they are. by way of contrast, forty is sanity. i have a surer self-identity now. i dont laugh at jokes i dont think are funny. i can make a speech in front of a town m

16、eeting or 精品.complain in a store because i am no longer terrified that people will laugh at me; i am no longer anxious that everyone must like me. i no longer blame my parents for my every personality quirk or keep a running score of everything they did wrong raising me. life has taught me that i, n

17、ot they, am responsible for who i am. we are all human beingsneither saints nor devils. 但人到四十的最大好處便是知道我自己究竟是誰(shuí)。年輕時(shí)最令人不安的就是不清楚自己的價(jià)值、目標(biāo)和夢(mèng)想。年輕就意味著你不知道什么值得做。年輕意味著你在今天非常開(kāi)心而明天就寧愿自己沒(méi)來(lái)過(guò)這個(gè)世界。年輕還意味著你會(huì)在某一刻怨恨你的父母和他們的生活方式，緊接著又感到永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)像他們那么好那么成功。相比之下，四十歲代表著理智。我現(xiàn)在更清楚自己是誰(shuí)。對(duì)自己認(rèn)為無(wú)趣的笑話，我不會(huì)勉強(qiáng)自己笑；我可以在全城的人面前演講，也可以在商店里發(fā)牢騷，因?yàn)?/p>

18、我不再擔(dān)心人們會(huì)取笑我；我不會(huì)著急討別人喜歡，我不會(huì)為自己古怪的脾性而抱怨父母，也不會(huì)列舉不該生養(yǎng)我的種種原因。生活教會(huì)了我這一點(diǎn)：我是誰(shuí)，這該我自己負(fù)責(zé)，而不是我父母。父母和我既非圣賢，也非妖魔，我們只是普普通通的人。 most americans blindly accept the idea that newer is automatically better. but a human life contradicts this premise. there is a great deal of happiness to be found as we grow older. my own parents, now in their sixties, recently told me that they are happier now than they have ever been. they would not want to be my age. did this surprise me? at first, yes. then it gladdene