托马斯·沃尔夫/ Thomas Wolfe
托马斯·沃尔夫（1900—1938），美国小说家。沃尔夫生于美国北卡罗来纳州山区小城阿什维尔。父亲是雕凿墓碑的石匠，母亲当过书籍推销员和教师。他在大学期间开始创作，写过几个独幕剧。他的小说被认为有很强的自传性质，他的家人和他个人都成为他的小说人物原型，因此有人说他的作品是小说化的编年史。遗憾的是，读过他的代表作《天使，望故乡》的人很少。沃尔夫短暂的一生还留下其他三部小说：《时间和河流》《网与石》《你不能再回家》，以及数十篇中、短篇小说。他仅以这些作品就在美国文学史上获得了与海明威、福克纳和刘易斯几乎同等的地位。
Ace in the Hole
Understand these new words before you read this article.
1. restore [ri'st?:] v. 恢复
2. essence ['es?ns] n. 本质
3. hurl [h?:l] v. 用力投掷
4. devour [di'vau?] v. 毁灭
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 he must lament forever, and it is the thing whose loss he really welcomes with a sad and secret joy, the thing he would never willingly relive again, could it be restored to him by any magic.
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 poignantly, so unutterably, 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, breathing, 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.