富蘭克林的智慧

On Aging

論老化

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

依我絮叨離題的程度來看，我知道我的確老了。

All would live long,but none would be old.

所有人都企盼長生，卻沒人愿意變老。

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

二十靠意志，三十靠機智，四十靠判斷。

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

熱食，烈食，甜食，冷食都有害于牙齒，令其老化腐蝕。

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.

狐貍老了毛皮都會變成灰，個性卻不會變好。

An old young man will be a young old man.

年輕時懂得深謀遠慮，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.

大男孩和小男孩一樣都有玩具，只是價格不同罷了。

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

年紀越大，我越懷疑自己的判斷，而越尊重別人的判斷力。

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.

年輕人急躁而激進，老年人謹慎而多疑；所以玉米穗青蔥之時都挺直而立，成熟結實之后則垂下頭來。

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.

在所有直立行走的動物身上，充實肌肉的體液都先從身體上端流失。臉部最早變得削瘦且長出皺紋；接著是頸部；然后是胸部和雙臂；身體下半部則一直維持豐潤圓實的體態。

（來源：網絡 編輯：許晶晶）