富兰克林的智慧

On Aging

论老化

By my rambling digressions I perceive myself to be grown old.

依我絮叨离题的程度来看，我知道我的确老了。

All would live long,but none would be old.

所有人都企盼长生，却没人愿意变老。

At twenty years of age the will reigns; at thirty the wit; at forty the judgment.

二十靠意志，三十靠机智，四十靠判断。

Hot things, sharp things, sweet things, cold things. All rot the teeth, and make them look like old things.

热食，烈食，甜食，冷食都有害于牙齿，令其老化腐蚀。

Wish not so much to live long as to live well.

企盼活得老，不如企盼活得好。

Many foxes grow grey, but few grow good.

狐狸老了毛皮都会变成灰，个性却不会变好。

An old young man will be a young old man.

年轻时懂得深谋远虑，老年就能自在如意。

Old boys have their playghings as well as young ones; the difference is only in the price.

大男孩和小男孩一样都有玩具，只是价格不同罢了。

The older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others.

年纪越大，我越怀疑自己的判断，而越尊重别人的判断力。

Youth is pert and positive, age modest and doubting. So ears of corn, when young and light, stand bolt upright, but hang their heads when weighty, full and ripe.

年轻人急躁而激进，老年人谨慎而多疑；所以玉米穗青葱之时都挺直而立，成熟结实之后则垂下头来。

In every animal that walks upright the deficiency of the fluids that fill the muscles appears first in the highest part. The face first grows lank and wrinkled; then the neck; then the breast and arms; the lower parts continuing to the last as plump as ever.

在所有直立行走的动物身上，充实肌肉的体液都先从身体上端流失。脸部最早变得削瘦且长出皱纹；接着是颈部；然后是胸部和双臂；身体下半部则一直维持丰润圆实的体态。

（来源：网络 编辑：许晶晶）