Lesson 5 Youth第五课青年

【译文】人们总是在谈论“青年问题”。

5-2. If there is one—which I take leave to doubt—then it is older people who create it, not the young themselves.

【译文】假如确有这个问题的话——我冒昧对此表示怀疑——那么这个问题是由老年人而非青年人臆造的。

【讲解】 if there is one中的one指a problem of youth。which I take leave to doubt系插入语。the young意为“年轻人”。the＋形容词表示具有某种性质的一类人。

【单词和短语】

take leave to do sth.:冒昧做某事，擅自做某事。

5-3. Let us get down to fundamentals and agree that the young are after all human beings—people just like their elders.

【译文】让我们来认真研究一些基本事实：承认青年和他们的长辈一样终究也是人。

【讲解】people just like their elders作the young的同位语，对其进一步解说。

【单词和短语】

fundamentals：基本原则（或原理），根本法则（或规律）；基础。

例如：
master the fundamentals of a trade 掌握某行业的基本规律

5-4. There is only one difference between an old man and a young one: the young man has a glorious future before him and the old one has a splendid future behind him: and maybe that is where the rub is.

【译文】老年人和年轻人只有一个区别：青年人有光辉灿烂的前景，而老年人的辉煌已成为过去。问题的症结恐怕就在于此。

【讲解】a young one中one替代man以避免重复。关于句中的两个冒号，前一个介绍difference的同位语，后一个引出说明性内容。

【单词和短语】

the rub：困难，障碍。

例如：
There’s the rub. 难就难在这儿。
We’d like to travel, but the rub is that we have no money.
我们喜欢旅行，问题是没有钱。

5-5. When I was a teenager, I felt that I was just young and uncertain—that I was a new boy in a huge school, and I would have been very pleased to be regarded as something so interesting as a problem.

【译文】我十几岁时，总觉得自己年轻，懵懵懂懂——我感到我就像一所大学校里的新生，假如我当时真的极为有趣地被人看作是个问题，我真会感到非常得意。

【讲解】that I was a new…problem作felt的宾语，破折号表示引出被强调的部分。

请注意句中的暗喻（metaphor）修辞手法，作者把社会比作a huge school，把自己比作a new boy。I would have been very pleased是表示与过于事实不符的虚拟结构。to be regarded as…a problem相当于if anyone regarded me as…a problem，表示条件，作原因状语，修饰pleased。汉语的条件句一般位于主句之前，所以这里的to be regarded as…a problem译成汉语时应前移。so interesting as a problem作something的定语。

【单词和短语】

uncertain的名词形式是uncertainty。

5-6. For one thing, being a problem gives you a certain identity, and that is one of the things the young are busily engaged in seeking.

【译文】因为这至少使我具有某种个性，这正是年轻人孜孜以求的事情之一。

【讲解】that指being a problem gives you a certain identity。

【单词和短语】

identity：个性，特性（the qualities and attitudes that a person or group of people have, that make them different from other people），

例如：

The planners decided to enlarge the four villages and preserve their distinct identities.
设计者们决定扩大这4个村庄并保留它们各自的特色。

The struggle of people in that area to maintain their own identities is continuing.
那地区人民维护自身独特性的斗争仍在继续。

5-7. I find young people exciting.

【译文】我觉得年轻人令人振奋。

5-8. They have an air of freedom, and they have not a dreary commitment to mean ambitions or love of comfort.

【译文】他们无拘无束，不枯燥地沉湎于卑鄙的名利和物质享受。

【单词和短语】

dreary：枯燥无味的；单调的；令人生厌的（dull and making you feel sad or bored），

例如:
a dreary meeting 枯燥的会议

mean：卑鄙的（cruel and not kind），

例如：
a mean motive 卑鄙的动机

It is mean to spread gossip about others.
散布有关他人的流言蜚语是卑鄙的。

5-9. They are not anxious social climbers, and they have no devotion to material things.

【译文】他们不是社会上那些急切向上爬的人，也不一味追求物质享受。

【单词和短语】

devotion：专心，热心，专心（the loyalty that you show towards a person, job etc, especially by working hard），

例如：
sb.’s devotion of time and money to the project
某人对这一项目所花费的时间和金钱

Two devotions have filled her life.
她的生活被两样他所专注的事情占据了。

5-10. All this seems to me to link them with life, and the origins of things.

【译文】在我看来，所有这些使他们与生命以及万物的起源联系在了一起。

【讲解】all this seems to me to link…中to me乃插入语。link…with…意为“把……同……联系起来”。them指年轻人。

【单词和短语】

origin：起源；来源；由来，起因（the place or situation in which something begins to exist），

例如：
the origin of the universe 宇宙的起源
a word of Latin origin 源自拉丁语的词语

5-11. It's as if they were, in some sense, cosmic beings in violent and lovely contrast with us suburban creatures.

【译文】从某种意义上讲，他们似乎是超凡脱俗之人，同我们这些见识短浅的俗物形成鲜明而有趣的对照。

【讲解】as if they were…suburban creatures是表语从句，were是虚拟语气结构。in violent and lovely contrast with作定语修饰cosmic beings。suburban creatures作us的同位语，注意这里作者用creatures（生物）指人，即“以种代类”，属提喻（synecdoche）修辞手法。

【单词和短语】

suburban：有郊区（人）特点的；<贬>平淡乏味的；古板的（boring and typical of people who live in the suburbs），

例如：
a suburban lifestyle 郊区生活方式

5-12. All that is in my mind when I meet a young person.

【译文】每逢遇到年轻人，我就想到这些。

【讲解】all that is in my mind中all that指上文提到的事。a young person中的a表示类别，意即“年轻人”，不是指某个年轻人。

5-13. He may be conceited, ill-mannered, presumptuous or fatuous, but I do not turn for protection to dreary clichés about respect of elders—as if mere age were a reason for respect.

【译文】年轻人也许狂妄自负，举止无理，傲慢放肆，愚昧无知，但我决不求助于要尊重长者云云的陈词滥调来为维护自己的尊严，似乎唯有年长才是受人尊敬的理由。

【讲解】he乃承a young person而选用。to turn to…for …为……求助于……。for protection作turn的目的状语，位置提前是为了使句子更加紧凑。dreary clichés about respect of elders作to的宾语。about respect of elders作clichés的定语。for elders作respect的定语。句中的破折号引出被强调的部分。

【单词和短语】

conceited：自负的，自高自大的，骄傲自满的（someone who is conceited thinks they are very clever, skillful, beautiful etc），名词形式为conceit。

presumptuous：专横的，自行其是的，傲慢的，冒昧的，放肆的（doing sth. that you have no right to do and that seems rude），

例如：
It would be presumptuous for anybody to offer such a view.
任何人提出这种观点都是放肆的。

fatuous：愚笨的，昏庸的，蠢的（very silly or stupid），名词形式为fatuity，

例如：
fatuous talk 昏话
Television commercials seem more fatuous than ever.
电视广告节目似乎比以往任何时候更没意思了。