摘要： 调查发现，退休人群认为让他们印象深刻的人生中至关重要的事情在他们25岁之前就发生了。

If you thought your life was over when you hit 30 or 40, then bad news – it may havehappened much earlier.

Most people have enjoyed the best memories of their life by the age of 25, according to newresearch.

如果你觉得30岁或者40岁的时候人生就无望了，那么坏消息来了。这个时间点可能更早一些。

根据这项新研究，大多数人在25岁以前就拥有了他们一生中最美好的回忆。

25岁以前是最好的青春时光

A survey of retired people found the life changing highlights etched on their brains happenedbefore they reached age of 25.

调查发现，退休人群认为让他们印象深刻的人生中至关重要的事情在他们25岁之前就发生了。

It is the first study of its kind to use a ‘naturalistic approach’ by collecting free flowing storiesin which participants were asked to narrate their own biographies in just 30 minutes.

这次调查中在同类调查中首次使用“自然主义方法”，也就是随机收集故事，要求参与者用30分钟讲述他们的个人经历。

A week later they divided these into self defined ‘chapters’ which revealed a dramatic‘reminiscence bump’ between 17 and 24-years-old – when many people defined these partsbeginning and ending.

一周之后，他们把这些故事划分成自定义的“篇章”，结果显示17岁到24岁这个阶段形成了明显的“回忆波峰”。许多人的故事的开头和结尾都在这个年龄阶段内。

Psychologist Kristina Steiner, of the University of New Hampshire in the US, said: ‘When peoplelook back over their lives and recount their most important memories, most divide their lifestories into chapters defined by important moments that are universal for many: a physicalmove, attending college, a first job, marriage, military experience, and having children.’

美国新罕布什尔大学的心理学家克里斯蒂娜·施泰纳说：“当人们回顾人生，追忆对他们最重要的事情时，大多数人把他们的人生故事划分成由许多重要时刻标记的章节：一次身体接触、上大学、第一份工作、结婚、参军以及生小孩。这些重要的时刻对许多人来说都是通用的。”

In the study, all the participants were white, and three in four of them had earned at least anundergraduate degree.

在这项调查中，所有的参与者都是白人，其中四分之三的人至少是大学本科毕业。

青春

Man's youth is a wonderful thing: it is so full of anguish and of magic and he never comes to know it as it is, until it has gone from him forever. It is the thing he cannot bear to lose, it is the thing whose passing he watches with infinite sorrow and regret, it is the thing whose loss with a sad and secret joy, the thing he would never willingly relive again, could it be restored to him by any magic.

青春奇妙无穷，充满魅力，充满痛楚。青春年少的时候根本不知青春为何物，直到青春一去不复返了才对青春有了真正的认识。谁都想让青春永驻，不忍青春离去; 眼睁睁地看着青春流逝,心中会涌起无穷的忧伤和惋惜;青春的失去是人们永远感到悲哀的事;青春的失去是人们真正觉得悲喜交集的事;即便奇迹出现青春复苏， 谁都不会心甘情愿重度青春的岁月。

Why is this? The reason is that the strange and bitter miracle of life is nowhere else so evident as in our youth. And what is the essence of that strange and bitter miracle of life which we feel so poignant , so unutterable, with such a bitter pain and joy, when we are young? It is this: that being rich, we are so poor; that being mighty, we can yet have nothing; that seeing, breathig, smelling, tasting all around us the impossible wealth and glory of this earth, feeling with an intolerable certitude that the whole structure of the enchanted life – the most fortunate, wealthy, good, and happy life that any man has ever known – is ours – is ours at once, immediately and forever, the moment that we choose to take a step, or stretch a hand, or say a word- we yet know that we can really keep, hold, take, and possess forever- nothing. All passes; nothing lasts: the moment that we put our hand upon it , it melts away like smoke, is gone forever, and the snake is eating at our heart again; we see then what we are and what our lives must come to.

为什么如此?因为在青春时代，生活充满了奇特而辛酸的不可思议的事。我们在青春年少时带着悲喜交集的心情，十分强烈而不可名状地感受到人生的奇特辛酸、不 可思议的经历。其实质是什么呢?其实质是这样的：青春年少的时候，虽然殷实富足，却非常贫穷;虽然力气强大，却一无所有;世间的富贵荣华触目皆是，简直可 以呼吸到，闻到嗅到，还可以品尝到，心中的自信按捺不住，深切地感受到整个被陶醉了的生活----人类迄今为止所知道的最幸运、最富有的美好幸福的生活， 只要我们决定向前迈步，奋发努力，便立即归我们所有了，并将永远属于我们。然而，我们知道，我们真的永远不能抓到什么，永远不能获得什么，永远不能占有什 么。一切匆匆过去，荡然无存。我们一出手它就烟消云散，飘然而去，一去不复返了。于是，心中泛起阵阵隐痛，看到了自己真实的面孔，看到了自己未来生活的必 然走向。

A young man is so strong, so mad, so certain, and so lost. He has everything and he is able to use nothing. He hurls the great shoulder of his strength forever against phantasmalbarriers, he is a wave whose power explodes in lost mid – oceans under timeless skies, here-aches out to grip a fume of painted smoke, he wants all, feels the thirst and power foreverything, and finally gets nothing. In the end, he is destroyed by his own strength, devoured by his own hunger, impoverished by his own wealth. Thoughtless of money or the accumulation of material possessions, he is none the less defeated in the end by his own greed a greed that makes the avarice of King Midas seem paltry by comparison.

青年人非常坚强，狂热自信，但容易迷惘混沌，虽然机缘无数，却把握不住，虽然身强体壮，试图冲破重重虚幻的屏障，却如同一个波浪，最终还是无力地消失在旷 远浩淼的大海中央，他伸出手想要抓住斑斓的云烟，他想得到世间的万物，渴望主宰一切，最终却是一无所获。最后，他被自己的力量所毁灭，被自己的饥饿所吞 食，被自己的财富弄得贫穷潦倒。他对金钱或财富的积累不以为意漫不经心，然而最终还是被自己的贪欲所吞噬。

And that is the reason why, when youth is gone, every man will look back upon that period of his life with infinite sorrow and regret. It is the bitter sorrow and regret of a man who knows that once he had a great talent and wasted it , of a man who knows that once he had a great treasure and got nothing from it , of a man who knows that he had strength enough for everything and never used it.

青春消逝，蓦然回首，无论是谁，心中都会充满无尽的忧伤，充满无穷的懊悔。曾经才智卓越，却白白浪费了，曾经财富殷实，却一无所有，曾经本事高强，却从未利用。一个认识到自己失落青春的人回忆起来总是充满悲伤和懊悔。