2022年Unit2TheVirtuesofGrowingOlder课文翻译综合教程二

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. 年华老去的好处我们所处的社会崇尚年轻；连篇累牍的广告劝我们买希腊配方的洗发水和玉兰

16、油,这样的话,白发无处可寻,面部的皱纹也能被抚平；电视节目上尽是体魄强健,肤色无暇,头发浓密的年轻明星； 而中年人就在体育馆里锤炼,迹；在公路上慢跑, 尽量不让岁月过早地留下痕不是全部三十出头的人都会为了重获青春而心甘愿意地与魔鬼订立合约吗？长大变老莫非不行怕吗？说它不行怕可能不是美国人的回答,但我却认为长大变老不行怕；青春年少令人愉悦,但长大变老也有明显的好处；年轻时,你可能为你的形状伤脑筋；我兄弟戴维和我十来岁时拼命锤炼以健美体形；戴维练举重, 大量服用维生素,一天喝上半打奶昔,目的是想让他瘦长的体形变得想象中那般肌肉发达；我在十来岁时坚持节食；但不管我体重是多少,都对自己的形状不中意；我

17、嫌自己腿太牢固,肩膀太阔,腰围太大；那时候,戴维和我都缠着父母,恳求他们买“合适 ”的衣服； 假如父母没给买的话,我们就觉得自己的世界要倒塌了一样；我们怎么好穿着松松垮垮的运动衣去上学,别人可是穿着款式时髦的皮夹克啊！人家会把我们当怪人来看的；我经常纳闷： 我的父母和大多数的父母怎能如此纵容他们的小孩子；但现在戴维和我都已度过了痛楚的青少年时期；如今我圆鼓鼓的身躯看上去也不坏,只要我喜爱, 我也不会不让自己吃上一块核桃馅饼；戴维仍在坚持运动,只不过他真的喜爱上了自己瘦长的体形；我们两人仍是喜爱穿时髦衣服,只是我们不再是流行时尚的奴隶；这一点我不得不承认,女人好像要比男人更简单为流行时尚所左右；

18、现在我的衣服, 仍有戴维的衣服都美丽大方,我们不再为别人怎么想而感觉担心了；只要我们对自己的形象感觉不坏,就很高兴；从另一个方面来看,年老比年轻要好；很明显,我仍要就我的生活作一些重要的打算,但我已经作了很多很重要的打算,而年轻人生活刚刚起步,他们仍面临着挑选；我挑选了我丈夫, 我挑选了生育孩子,我挑选了回到高校完成我的训练；但当你仍年轻时,你的每一次转折都等待你作出打算；“我该上哪所高校？我该做什么工作？我是否要结婚？我是否该要孩子？ ”这几个问题仍只是年轻人面临的问题当中的一部分；这就难怪为什么年轻人外表无忧无虑,而事实上迷茫困惑,缺乏信心,为将来的种种未知因素而忧心忡忡；但人到四十的最大好处便是知道我自己到底是谁；年轻时最令人担心的就是不清晰自己的价值、 目标和理想； 年轻就意味着你不知道什么值得做；年轻意味着你在今日特别高兴而明天就宁愿自己没来过这个世界；年轻仍意味着你会在某一刻怨恨你的父母和他们的生活方式, 紧接着又感到永久不会像他们那么好那么胜利；相比之下,四十岁代表着理智；我现在更清晰自己是谁；对自己认为无趣的笑话,我不会将