to age elegantly / 優雅地老去

去了歐洲教育展打聽目前名單裡的學校，剛開始有點不熟悉展場裡的氣氛，我身邊盡是青春洋溢的大學生，雖然我一副運動裝扮，心裡對於自己多人家十幾歲這件事無法不在意。

I went to the U.K. study fair with the intention of collecting more information about schools I would like to apply for. In the beginning I was kind of daunted by the young bobbing heads of college kids. Despite my purposeful sporty looks, I was so aware of the age gap between me and them.

從第一間學校開始，我便不斷地聽到類似的話語：如果你之前不是藝術主修，就要靠作品集博得青睞，因為大部分的學生都還是有藝術背景。這樣的說法還真是不公平，我是帶著筆記去的，如果學校在網上提供充足的資料，我也都說得出來課程內容和教授的作品風格，不過我倒是不放在心上，那多出來的十幾歲還是有用的。

Most school representatives made similar remarks about my qualifications: You need a strong portfolio since you were not an art major. Most students in our programs still have art backgrounds. I hope my case will certainly be an exception. I went with notes about every school. I had no problem pinpointing the features of each school’s courses and the styles of more famous professors. Fortunately, I viewed their words more as a friendly suggestion which would give me an edge when preparing the application forms. There is still something useful about being older.

回家的路上我一邊想，和我同年齡的人都在哪裡，為什麼我還要冒險，而當我走進童裝店幫家裡的小朋友買衣服，店員問我有幾個小孩，我說我沒有小孩，答案是那麼明顯，如果最後都要老去，我想用我的方式記錄人生，雖然沿路還是會有些緊張和害怕，我不想要後悔沒嚐試過的選擇。

On my way home I couldn’t help wondering where people of my age are. I asked myself why I still need to take an adventure. When I walked into a children’s clothing store, the clerk asked me how many children I had. I said I didn’t have any. The answer was so obvious. If we all have to age in the end, I want to record life in my own manner. There will of course be moments of fear and panic along the way, but I don’t want to obsess about the would-have-beens later on.

他們有青春，而我有熊熊的火焰。

They have got youth, while I’ve got flaming fire.