評論
打印
The Sad Young Men
悲哀的青年一代
Rod W. Horton and Herbert W. Edwards
羅德w霍頓，赫伯特w愛德華茲
No aspect of life in the Twenties has been more commented upon and sensationally romanticized than the so-called Revolt of the Younger Generation.
二十年代社會生活的各個方面中，被人們評論得最多、渲染得最厲害的，莫過于青年一代的叛逆之行了。
The slightest mention of the decade brings nostalgic recollections to the middle-aged and curious questionings by the young:
只要有只言片語提到那個時期，就會勾起中年人懷舊的回憶和青年人好奇的提問。
memories of the deliciously illicit thrill of the first visit to a speakeasy, of the brave denunciation of Puritan morality, and of the fashionable experimentations in amour in the parked sedan on a country road;
中年人會回憶起第一次光顧非法酒店時的那種既高興又不安的違法犯罪的刺激感，回憶起對清教徒式的道德規范的勇猛抨擊，回憶起停在鄉間小路上的小轎車里顛鸞倒鳳的時髦愛情試驗方式;
questions about the naughty, jazzy parties, the flask-toting sheik, and the moral and stylistic vagaries of the flapper and the drug-store cowboy.
青年人則會問起有關那時的一些縱情狂歡的爵士舞會，問起那成天背著酒葫蘆、勾引得女人團團轉的美男子，
Were young people really so wild? present-day students ask their parents and teachers.
問起那些時髦少女和閑蕩牛仔的奇裝異服和古怪行為等等的情況。
Was there really a Younger Generation problem?
那時的青年果真這樣狂放不羈嗎?
The answers to such inquiries must of necessity be yes and no-Yes because the business of growing up is always accompanied by a Younger Generation Problem;
今天的青年學生們不禁好奇地向他們的師長問起這樣的問題。那時真的有過青年一代的問題嗎?對這類問題的回答必然只能是既對又不對—說對,是因為人的成長過程中一貫就存在著所謂青年一代的問題;
no because what seemed so wild, irresponsible, and immoral in social behavior at the time can now be seen in perspective as being something considerably less sensational than the degenerauon of our jazzmad youth.
說不對是因為在當時的社會看來似乎是那么狂野。那么不負責任，那么不講道德的行為，若是用今天的正確眼光去看的話，卻遠遠沒有今天的一些迷戀爵士樂的狂蕩青年的墮落行為那么聳人聽聞。
