读点好英文:Youth 年轻人

Youth 年轻人

Aristotle

To begin with the Youthful type of character. Young men have strong passions, and tend to gratify them indiscriminately. They are changeable and fickle in their desires, which are violent while they last, but quickly over: their impulses are keen but not deep-rooted, and are like sick people's attacks of hunger and thirst. They are hot-tempered, and quick-tempered, and apt to give way to their anger; bad temper often gets the better of them, for owing to their love of honour they cannot bear being slighted, and are indignant if they imagine themselves unfairly treated. While they love honour, they love victory still more; for youth is eager for superiority over others, and victory is one form of this. They love both more than they love money, which indeed they love very little, not having yet learnt what it means to be without it—this is the point of Pittancus, remark about Amphiaraus. They look at the good side rather than the bad, not having yet witnessed many instances of wickedness. They trust others readily, because they have not yet often been cheated.

They are sanguine; nature warms their blood as though with excess of wine; and besides that, they have as yet met with few disappointments. Their lives are mainly spent not in memory but in expectation; for expectation refers to the future, memory to the past, and youth has a long future before it and a short past behind it: on the first day of one's life one has nothing at all to remember, and can only look forward.

They are easily cheated, owing to the sanguine disposition just mentioned. Their hot tempers and hopeful dispositions make them more courageous than older men are; the hot temper prevents fear, and the hopeful disposition creates confidence; we cannot feel tear so long as we are feeling angry, and any expectation of good makes us confident.

They are shy, accepting the rules of society in which they have been trained, and not yet believing in any other standard of honour. They have exalted notions, because they have not yet been humbled by life or learnt its necessary limitations; moreover, their hopeful disposition makes them think themselves equal to great things—and that means having exalted notions. They would always rather do noble deeds than useful ones: their lives are regulated more by moral feeling than by reasoning; and whereas reasoning leads us to choose what is useful, moral goodness leads us to choose what is noble.

They are fonder of their friends, intimates, and companions than older men are, because they like spending their days in the company of others, and have not yet come to value either their friends or anything else by their usefulness to themselves. All their mistakes are in the direction of doing things excessively and vehemently. They disobey Chilon's precept by overdoing everything, they love too much and hate too much, and the same thing with everything else. They think they know everything, and are always quite sure about it; this, in fact, is why they overdo everything... They are ready to pity others, because they think everyone an honest man, or anyhow better than he is: they judge their neighbor by their own harmless natures, and so cannot think he deserves to be treated in that way. They are fond of fun and therefore witty, wit being well-bred insolence.

年轻人

［古希腊］亚里士多德

我们首先来讨论一下年轻人的性格特征。年轻人有炽热的激情，而且想不管不顾地逐个满足。他们的愿望举棋不定，有的时候很猛烈，但转瞬即逝。他们极易冲动，但根基不深，如同病人遭到饥渴的侵袭一样。他们热情奔放，又性如烈火，很容易发火，常常管不住自己的脾气。由于珍惜荣誉，他们不想让人轻视，所以如果想到别人不公平的对待，他们就会怒发冲冠。诚然，他们爱惜荣誉，却更钟情于胜利，青年人热衷于胜人一筹，而胜利就是其中的一种表现形式。他们对荣誉和胜利的爱远远胜过了金钱。他们不太在意钱，因为还没真正明白没钱会怎么样——庇塔喀斯谈论安菲阿劳斯时就是这么说的。他们倾向于看到事物好的发展方向，而非坏的趋势，那是由于他们还没有目睹过多少不道德的事。他们很乐意相信别人，那是由于他们很少上当受骗。

他们面色红润，大自然仿佛用了过度的葡萄酒来温暖他们的血液。除了这些，他们也没有经历过什么沮丧的事。他们不是生活在对往昔的回忆中，而是生活在对未来的盼望中，因为盼望意味着未来，回忆意味着过去，年轻人未来的日子还很长远，过去的时光只有短暂的一小部分。当人第一天来到这个世界的时候，他根本没有什么可以回忆的事情，唯一能做的就是寄希望于未来。

他们会轻而易举地让人欺骗，那都归结于我们刚刚所说的精力旺盛的脾性。因为拥有情绪高涨、满怀希望的气质，他们会比老年人更勇敢，更有胆量。情绪高涨的内心让他们远离恐惧，满怀希望的气质让他们信心百倍；我们感到愤怒的时候，就不会害怕，而任何对美好事物的向往又让我们充满自信。

他们是害羞的，顺其自然地遵守社会的惯例，但还没有承认其他形式的荣誉标准。他们有崇高的理想，因为他们还没有体会生活的艰辛而变得谦虚起来，也没有理解生活中各种必要的束缚。更为严重的是，他们满怀希望，居然以为自己可以与日月相比——这就是心高气傲，目空一切。他们一直从事高尚的行为，而不在乎其实效；他们的生活多是遵循道德感，而非理智。尽管理智教导我们做有用的事，道德品质却指引我们做高尚的事。

与老年人相比，年轻人更喜爱自己的朋友、挚交和伙伴，因为整天呼朋唤友的生活才是他们的钟爱，而且无论是朋友还是其他东西，他们都不会用对自己的实用性来判定其价值。至于他们所犯的错误，是因为他们做事不是过头就是过猛。他们不遵守奇伦法则，做什么事都过分强调，要么爱得过多，要么恨得太狠，做其他事情也是一样。他们认为自己无所不知，而且说起来也信心十足，实际上，这就是他们行事过头的症结所在。他们时刻准备去同情别人，因为他们认为所有人都是诚实的，或者比他真实的为人要好，他们用自己善良的本质来判断左邻右舍，不能忍受自己会亏待邻居们。他们喜欢玩闹，因此非常诙谐机智，而机智是一种文雅的傲慢。

实战提升

Practising & Exercise

导读

亚里士多德（Aristotle），世界古代史上最伟大的哲学家、科学家和教育家之一。他是柏拉图的学生、亚历山大的老师。公元前335年，他在雅典办了一所叫吕克昂的学校，被称为“逍遥学派”。马克思曾称亚里士多德是“古希腊哲学家中最博学的人物”。他的思想对人类产生了深远的影响。

亚里士多德对事物的洞察力、对问题的分析深刻程度非同一般。青春期的少年都是心浮气躁，生活里满是叛逆和没来由的烦恼。亚里士多德从哲学的角度，清晰透彻地分析了年轻人的个性特点，生动具体地描述了年轻人踌躇满志、血气方刚的缘由和利弊。

核心单词

gratify [ˈɡrætifai] v. 使高兴，使满意

fickle [ˈfikl] adj. 易变的，无常的

superiority [sju(ː)piəriˈɔriti] n. 优越，优势

sanguine [ˈsæŋɡwin] adj. 怀着希望的；乐观的

insolence [ˈinsələns] n. 傲慢；无礼

翻译

To begin with the Youthful type of character.

They are shy, accepting the rules of society in which they have been trained, and not yet believing in any other standard of honour.

All their mistakes are in the direction of doing things excessively and vehemently.