Would I live it over again, that life of the garret and the cellar? Not with the assurance of fifty years' contentment such as I now enjoy to follow upon it! With man's infinitely pathetic power of resignation, one sees the thing on its better side, forgets all the worst of it, makes out a case for the resolute optimist. Oh, but the waste of energy, of zeal, of youth! In another mood, I could shed tears over that spectacle of rare vitality condemned to sordid strife. The pity of it! And --- if our conscience mean anything at all --- the bitter wrong!
我是否还愿意回到顶楼或地下室,再次陷人那般艰苦的生活境地呢?如果不能确知五十岁之后可以过上现在这样让我满意的富足生活,我是不会愿意的。人们总能屈从于境遇,这真是一种无比可悲的力量,它使一个人往往只看到事物更好的方面,而忘记了它所有的不利之处,从而将自己塑造成一个坚定不移的乐观者。哦，这只不过是在浪费精力、热情及青春!在另一种情绪中,我则会为那可贵的生命力却命定要在卑贱的生活中挣扎求存的悲惨景象而伤心落泪。多么遗憾啊!而且一一如果我们的良心真的能有所感知一一这是多么令人痛苦的道义上的过失啊!
Without seeking for Utopia, think what a man's youth might be. I suppose not one in every thousand uses half the possibilities of natural joy and delightful effort which lie in those years between seventeen and seven-and-twenty. But all men have to look back upon beginnings of life deformed and discoloured by necessity, accident, wantonness. If a young man avoid the grosser pitfalls, if he keep his eye fixed steadily on what is called the main chance, if, without flagrant selfishness, he prudently subdue every interest to his own (by "interest" understanding only material good), he is putting his youth to profit, he is an exemplar, and a subject of pride. I doubt whether in our civilization any other ideal is easy of pursuit by the youngster face to face with life. It is the only course altogether safe. Yet compare it with what might be, if men respected manhood, if human reason were at the service of human happiness. Some few there are who can look back upon a boyhood of natural delights, followed by a decade or so of fine energies honourably put to use, blended therewith, perhaps a memory of joy so exquisite that it tunes all life unto the end; they are almost as rare as poets. The vast majority think not of their youth at all, or glancing backward, are unconscious of lost opportunity, unaware of degradation suffered. Only by contrast with this thick-witted multitude can I pride myself upon my youth of endurance and of combat. I had a goal before me, and not the goal of the average man. Even when pinched with hunger, I did not abandon my purposes, which were of the mind. But contrast that starved lad in his slum lodging with any fair conception of intelligent and zealous youth, and one feels that a dose of swift poison would have been the right remedy for such squalid ills.
如果不寄希望于乌托邦，想一想一个人的青年时期会变成什么样子吧。我认为在十七岁至二十七岁的青年中，一千个人里面也没有一个能享受到那个年龄所应获得的自然喜悦与奋斗乐趣的一半。请每个人都去回顾一下自己那因贫穷、意外和放荡而变形、失色的年轻时代吧!如果一个年轻人能够避免重大的失误,如果他的双眼能够牢牢盯住所谓的重要机遇,如果他并不是非常自私自利,而是审慎地追求属于自己的一切利益(这里的“利益”应理解为只是物质上的利益),那么,他的青春便是一-段有价值的时光,他便称得上是一个楷模，并有理由为自己感到自豪。当年轻人与生活迎面相遇时,在我们的文明中是否还有其他比这更容易追求的理想一一我对这一点持怀疑态度。除此之外,难以寻求到其他安全的途径。然而,如果人们尊重勇气,如果人的理性可以为人类的幸福效力的话,还是将其与可能发生的情况比较一下吧。极少有这样的人:他们在回顾童年时,能感到一种天然的快乐;在之后的数十年中,他能将自己的精力投入到最适合的领域,物尽其用,或许其中还伴随着一段非常快乐、令他终生难忘的记忆。这样的人就像诗人一样,寥若晨星。大多数人根本不去回顾他们的年轻时代，或者在回想的时候也只是匆匆一瞥;他们意识不到失去的机会,也觉察不到自己已经堕落。只有与这些愚钝的大众相比,我才能为自己那在忍耐与奋斗中度过的年轻时代感到自豪。我的前方有一个目标，它远远高于平庸的追求。即使在忍饥挨饿之时,我也没有放弃过自己的决心一那是心灵的追求。但如果将那个在寄宿的贫民窟中挣扎的饥饿青年与青春、热情、智慧这些美好观念进行一下比较的话，一个人或许会觉得一剂快速生效的毒药才是将其从这种悲惨境遇中解脱出来的正确途径。
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