2022年Unit2TheVirtuesofGrowingOlder課文翻譯綜合教程二

1、Unit 2 The Virtues of Growing Older 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 thick man

2、es of hair. Middle-aged trying to delay the effects of age. folks work out in gyms and jog down the street, Wouldnt any person over thirty gladly sign with the devil just to be young again. Isnt aging an experience to be dreaded. Perhaps it is unAmerican to say so, but I believe the answer is No. Be

3、ing young is often pleasant, but being older has distinct advantages. When young, 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 sh

4、akes a day in order to turn his wiry adolescent frame into some muscular ideal. 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 begg

5、ed and pleaded for the right clothes. If our parents didnt get them for us, we 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,

6、and parents in general, manage to tolerate their children during the adolescent 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

7、his tall, lanky frame. The two of us enjoy wearing fashionable clothes, but we 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 fee

8、l anxious about what others will think. As long as we feel good about how we look, we are happy. Being older is preferable to being younger in another way. Obviously, I still have important choices to make about my life, but I have already made many of the critical decisions that confront those just

9、 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 college should I attend. What career should I pursue. Should I get married. Should I have child

10、ren. 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. But the greatest benefit of being forty is knowing who I am. The most unsettling aspect of youth is th

11、e 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 crowds. It means resenting you

12、r 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 meeting or complain in a s

13、tore 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, not they, am responsible for

14、who I am. We are all human beings neither saints nor devils. 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 t

15、hat 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 gladdened me. Their contentment holds out great promise for me as I move into the next - perhaps even better - phase of my life. 年華老去的好處我們所處的社會崇尚年輕；連篇累牘的廣告勸我們買希臘配方的洗發(fā)水和玉蘭

16、油,這樣的話,白發(fā)無處可尋,面部的皺紋也能被撫平；電視節(jié)目上盡是體魄強健,膚色無暇,頭發(fā)濃密的年輕明星； 而中年人就在體育館里錘煉,跡；在公路上慢跑, 盡量不讓歲月過早地留下痕不是全部三十出頭的人都會為了重獲青春而心甘愿意地與魔鬼訂立合約嗎？長大變老莫非不行怕嗎？說它不行怕可能不是美國人的回答,但我卻認(rèn)為長大變老不行怕；青春年少令人愉悅,但長大變老也有明顯的好處；年輕時,你可能為你的形狀傷腦筋；我兄弟戴維和我十來歲時拼命錘煉以健美體形；戴維練舉重, 大量服用維生素,一天喝上半打奶昔,目的是想讓他瘦長的體形變得想象中那般肌肉發(fā)達；我在十來歲時堅持節(jié)食；但不管我體重是多少,都對自己的形狀不中意；我

17、嫌自己腿太牢固,肩膀太闊,腰圍太大；那時候,戴維和我都纏著父母,懇求他們買“合適 ”的衣服； 假如父母沒給買的話,我們就覺得自己的世界要倒塌了一樣；我們怎么好穿著松松垮垮的運動衣去上學(xué),別人可是穿著款式時髦的皮夾克啊！人家會把我們當(dāng)怪人來看的；我經(jīng)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了痛楚的青少年時期；如今我圓鼓鼓的身軀看上去也不壞,只要我喜愛, 我也不會不讓自己吃上一塊核桃餡餅；戴維仍在堅持運動,只不過他真的喜愛上了自己瘦長的體形；我們兩人仍是喜愛穿時髦衣服,只是我們不再是流行時尚的奴隸；這一點我不得不承認(rèn),女人好像要比男人更簡單為流行時尚所左右；

18、現(xiàn)在我的衣服, 仍有戴維的衣服都美麗大方,我們不再為別人怎么想而感覺擔(dān)心了；只要我們對自己的形象感覺不壞,就很高興；從另一個方面來看,年老比年輕要好；很明顯,我仍要就我的生活作一些重要的打算,但我已經(jīng)作了很多很重要的打算,而年輕人生活剛剛起步,他們?nèi)悦媾R著挑選；我挑選了我丈夫, 我挑選了生育孩子,我挑選了回到高校完成我的訓(xùn)練；但當(dāng)你仍年輕時,你的每一次轉(zhuǎn)折都等待你作出打算；“我該上哪所高校？我該做什么工作？我是否要結(jié)婚？我是否該要孩子？ ”這幾個問題仍只是年輕人面臨的問題當(dāng)中的一部分；這就難怪為什么年輕人外表無憂無慮,而事實上迷茫困惑,缺乏信心,為將來的種種未知因素而憂心忡忡；但人到四十的最大好處便是知道我自己到底是誰；年輕時最令人擔(dān)心的就是不清晰自己的價值、 目標(biāo)和理想； 年輕就意味著你不知道什么值得做；年輕意味著你在今日特別高興而明天就寧愿自己沒來過這個世界；年輕仍意味著你會在某一刻怨恨你的父母和他們的生活方式, 緊接著又感到永久不會像他們那么好那么勝利；相比之下,四十歲代表著理智；我現(xiàn)在更清晰自己是誰；對自己認(rèn)為無趣的笑話,我不會將