年岁
威廉·詹姆斯
年纪愈大,就愈感觉时间短促······年轻时,我们在每天的每个时刻里,都可能有全新的主观或客观经验。那时领悟力佳,记忆力好,那段时期的回忆就像一场快脚步的有趣旅游,内容杂乱而丰富,时间也被拉长。但随着岁月一年一年地过去,这种经验变成了一种无意识的例行生活,我们一点也不再留心它们。时间一天天一周周地流逝,没有在记忆里留下些什么,一年也就比一年变得更加空洞虚掷。
Age
William James (1842-1910)
The same space seems shorter as we gorw older… in youth we may have an absolutely new experience, subjective or objective, every hour of the day. Apprehension is vivid, retentiveness strong, and our recollections of that time, like those of a time spent in rapid and interesting travel, are of something intricate, multitudinous, and long-drawn out. But as each passing year converts some of this experience into automatic rountine which we hardly note at all, the days and the week smooth themselves out in recollection to contentless units, and years grow hollow and collapse.
来源:《英语文选菁华》
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