太平洋战争打得正酣之时，麦克阿瑟将军常常从繁忙中抬起头，注视着挂在墙上的镜框，镜框里是篇文章，德国作家塞缪尔·厄尔曼得《青春》。这篇文章一直伴随着他，也跟着他到了日本。后来，日本人在东京的美军总部发现了它，《青春》便开始在日本流传。

   优秀的作品能激励一代人，甚至是一个民族。塞缪尔·厄尔曼的《青春》就是这么一篇美文。这篇文章激励了二战后一代日本人，从普通民众到实业家，到政府官员，发奋重建他们的家园。松下电器的创始人松下幸之助几十年一直把《青春》当作自己的座右铭。

还有这么一件趣事，足以证明《青春》在日本的魅力。一天，美国影片销售协会主席罗森菲尔德参加日本实业界的聚会，晚宴之前的谈话，他随意说了一句：“《青春》的作者，便是我的祖父。”在座的各位实业界领袖大为惊讶，其中有一位一边激动地说“我一直随身带着它呢”，一边从口袋里掏出了《青春》。

YOUTH             ——Samuel Ullman

      Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a  quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
      Youth means a tempera-mental predominance of courage over timidity, of the  appetite for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of  60 more than a boy of 20.　Nobody grows old merely by a number of years.　Wegrow old by deserting our ideals.
      Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spring back to dust.
      Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder,the unfailing childlike appetite of what’s next and the joy of the game of living.　In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless   station: so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.
     When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicismand the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at 20, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at 80.

           《青春》  —— 塞缪尔·厄尔曼

    青春不是年华，而是心境；青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝，而是深沉的意志，恢宏的想象，炙热的恋情；青春是生命的深泉在涌流。

青春气贯长虹，勇锐盖过怯弱，进取压倒苟安。如此锐气，二十后生而有之，六旬男子则更多见。年岁有加，并非垂老，理想丢弃，方堕暮年。

岁月悠悠，衰微只及肌肤；热忱抛却，颓废必致灵魂。忧烦，惶恐，丧失自信，定使心灵扭曲，意气如灰。

无论年届花甲，拟或二八芳龄，心中皆有生命之欢乐，奇迹之诱惑，孩童般天真久盛不衰。人人心中皆有一台天线，只要你从天上人间接受美好、希望、欢乐、勇气和力量的信号，你就青春永驻，风华常存。

一旦天线下降，锐气便被冰雪覆盖，玩世不恭、自暴自弃油然而生，即使年方二十，实已垂垂老矣；然则只要树起天线，捕捉乐观信号，你就有望在八十高龄告别尘寰时仍觉年轻。