[美文欣賞]

Between the preparation and the work,the apprenticeship and the actual dealing with a task or an art,there comes, in the experience of many young men,a period of uncertainty and wandering which is often misunderstood and counted as time wasted,when it is, in fact, a period rich in full and free development.

It is as natural for ardent and courageous youth to wish to know what is in life, what it means, and what it holds for its children,as for a child to reach for and search the things that surround and attract it.Behind every real worker in the world is a real man, and a man has a right to know the conditions under which he must live,and the choices of knowledge, power, and activity which are offered him.In the education of many men and women, therefore, there comes the year of wandering;the experience of traveling from knowledge to knowledge and from occupation to occupation.

The forces which go to the making of a powerful man can rarely be adjusted and blended without some disturbance of relations and conditions.This disturbance is sometimes injurious, because it affects the moral foundations upon which character rests;and for this reason the significance of the experience in its relation to development ought to be sympathetically studied.The birth of the imagination and of the passions, the perception of the richness of life,and the consciousness of the possession of the power to master and use that wealth, create a critical moment in the history of youth,—a moment richer in possibilities of all kinds than comes at any later period.

Agitation and ferment of soul are inevitable in that wonderful moment.There are times when agitation is as normal as is self-control at other and less critical times.The year of wandering is not a manifestation of aimlessness, but of aspiration,and that in its ferment and uncertainty youth is often guided to and finally prepared for its task.

[參考譯文]

從準備到投身工作，從學徒到某一項技能或藝術的真正的實踐過程之間，很多你年輕人都要經歷一段充滿疑惑徘徊的時期。這段時期經常遭到誤解，被認為是浪費時間，事實上這段時間正是年輕人得到充分自由發展的時期。

要一樣。這個世界上，每個工作者的背后都是個實實在在的個人，每個人都有權了解他得在什么樣的條件下生存，他能接觸到什么樣的知識，他的權利范圍有多大以及他能從事什么活動。因此，很多人都要面臨這段猶豫徘徊的時期，從這個知識領域轉到那個知識領域，從一個崗位跳到另一個崗位。

將一個人塑造成強者各種力量，沒有經過與他人和環境之間的摩擦，是很難整合在一起的。這種摩擦會影響人的道德信念，即個性形成的基礎，所以有時候他可能造成某種傷害。鑒于此，這段經歷對后期發展所造成的影響重要性應該得到高度的重視。想象力和激情的萌芽，對富足生活的感悟，以及對擁有掌握和利用這筆財富的能力的覺醒，都使這段時期成為整個青年時期最重要的一刻。這一時期擁有的種種機遇是此后任何時候都無法提供的。在這一青春爛漫的季節，精神上的焦慮騷動不可避免。生命中某些不太關鍵的時候，自我控制是正常表現，但有時焦慮也是正常的。