How to grow old

比较喜欢的两首诗歌:

不要温和地走进那个良夜
翻译:巫宁坤

不要温和地走进那个良夜，
老年应当在日暮时燃烧咆哮;
怒斥，怒斥光明的消逝。
虽然智慧的人临终时懂得黑暗有理，
因为他们的话没有迸发出闪电，他们
也并不温和地走进那个良夜。
善良的人，当最后一浪过去，高呼他们脆弱的善行
可能曾会多么光辉地在绿色的海湾里舞蹈，
怒斥，怒斥光明的消逝。
狂暴的人抓住并歌唱过翱翔的太阳，
懂得，但为时太晚，他们使太阳在途中悲伤，
也并不温和地走进那个良夜。
严肃的人，接近死亡，用炫目的视觉看出
失明的眼睛可以像流星一样闪耀欢欣，
怒斥，怒斥光明的消逝。
您啊，我的父亲.在那悲哀的高处.
现在用您的热泪诅咒我，祝福我吧.我求您
不要温和地走进那个良夜。
怒斥，怒斥光明的消逝。

诗歌原文
——狄兰·托马斯
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

青 春

——塞缪尔·厄尔曼

青春不是年华，而是心境；青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝，而是深沉的意志、恢宏的想象、炽热的感情；青春是生命的深泉在涌流。

青春气贯长虹，勇锐盖过怯弱，进取压倒苟安。如此锐气，二十后生有之，六旬男子则更多见。年岁有加，并非垂老；理想丢弃，方堕暮年。岁月悠悠，衰微只及肌肤；热忱抛却，颓唐心至灵魂。忧烦、惶恐、丧失自信，定使心灵扭曲，意气如灰。

无论年届花甲，抑或二八芳龄，心中皆有生命之欢乐，奇迹之诱惑，孩童般天真久盛不衰。

人人心中皆有一台天线，只要你从天上人间接受美好、希望、欢乐、勇气和力量的信号，你无不青春永驻、风华长存。

一旦天线降下，锐气便被冰雪覆盖，玩世不恭、自暴自弃油然而生，即便年方二十，实已垂垂老矣；然则只要竖起天线，捕捉乐观信号，你就有望在八十高龄告别尘寰时仍觉年轻。

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 tempera-mental 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 may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spring back to dust.
Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder,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 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 cynicismand 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.

（作者塞缪尔•厄尔曼。 此人1840年生于德国，儿时随家人移居美利坚，参加过南北战争，之后定居伯明翰，经营五金杂货，年逾70开始写作。）
http://www.douban.com/group/topic/21792609/

先贤关于年老的看法：
孔子

有种人，很难说得准他究竟多大年纪。外表看来，他白发苍苍，分明早已耆耋。但仔细一看，却又不然；他双眼所及，这个世界，好新鲜，处处兴味盎然；他的眼神，清朗明净，又宛如赤子；而其行事，更是神采奕奕，鲜亮照人，那种精神抖擞，可真是朝气。

但若说他年轻，偏又不像。年轻人的难免浮动、容易轻佻，他可是完全没有，也嗅不出半点躁气的。他沉稳安然，像高僧入定。风涛迎面时，他只不动如山；这不动，分明是岁月锻炼出来的。而境界现前，他又眼神静定；这静定，更是因为风霜饱历，见得到他年轮满布，像棵苍老寒木。

这种似老非老、非老实老之人，勉强言之，“无寿者相”，彷佛是没年纪的。一个人彷佛没有年纪，既年长，又年轻，没有老或不老的问题，甚也没有死或不死的问题。就生理的实然，他当然有老亦有死；但在精神的实然上，他的确可以无老亦无死。心经另言，“无老死，亦无老死尽。”这可比孔子一生修行，亦可比今人读论语之鲜活依旧，更可比明明两千多前年的孔子怎么还宛如现今呢？

感悟：不知不觉中忽然发现自己已经年纪大了。他这个人，发愤用功，连吃饭都忘了，快乐得把一切忧虑都忘了，连自己快要老了都不知道，如此而已。孔子63岁时,曾这样形容自己：“发愤忘食,乐以忘忧,不知老之将至。”当时孔子已带领弟子周游列国9个年头，历尽艰辛，不仅未得到诸侯的任用，还险些丧命，但孔子并不灰心，仍然乐观向上，坚持自己的理想,甚至是明知其不可为而为之。

出处：http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_ea1b01e60102vlbq.html

伯特兰·罗素
有些老人因害怕死亡而苦恼。年轻人害怕死亡是可以理解的。有些年轻人担心他们会在战斗中丧身。一想到会失去生活能够给予他们的种种美好事务，他们就感到痛苦。这种担心并不是无缘无故的，也是情有可原的。但是，对于一位经历了人世的悲欢、履行了个人职责的老人，害怕死亡就有些可怜且可耻了。克服这种恐惧的最好办法是—-至少我是这样看的—-逐渐扩大你的兴趣范围并使其不受个人情感的影响，直至包围自我的围墙一点一点地离开你，而你的生活则越来越融合于大家的生活之中。每一个人的生活都应该象河水一样—-开始是细小的，被限制在狭窄的两岸之间，然后热烈地冲过巨石，滑下瀑布。渐渐地，河道变宽了，河岸扩展了，河水流得更平稳了。最后，河水流入了海洋，不再有明显的间断和停顿，而后便毫无痛苦地摆脱了自身的存在。能够这样理解自己一生的老人，将不会因害怕死亡而痛苦，因为他所珍爱的一切都将继续存在下去。而且，如果随着精力的衰退，疲倦之感日渐增加，长眠并非是不受欢迎的念头。我渴望死于尚能劳作之时，同时知道他人将继续我所未竟的事业，我大可因为已经尽了自己之所能而感到安慰。

Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death. In the young there is a justification for this feeling. Young men who have reason to fear that they will be killed in a battle may justifiably feel bitter in the thought that they have been cheated of the best things that life has to offer. But in an old man who has known human joys and sorrows, and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do, the fear of death is somewhat abject and ignoble. The best way to overcome it—-so at least it seems to me—-is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river—-small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being. The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer form the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue. And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought of rest will not be unwelcome. I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do, and content in the thought that what was possible has been done.

出处：http://yingyu.xdf.cn/201111/955545_2.html