5-8. They have an air of freedom, and they have not a dreary commitment to mean ambitions or love of comfort.

【译文】他们无拘无束，不枯燥地沉湎于卑鄙的名利和物质享受。

【单词和短语】

dreary：枯燥无味的;单调的;令人生厌的(dull and making you feel sad or bored)，

例如:

a dreary meeting 枯燥的会议

mean：卑鄙的(cruel and not kind)，

例如：

a mean motive 卑鄙的动机

It is mean to spread gossip about others.

散布有关他人的流言蜚语是卑鄙的。

5-9. They are not anxious social climbers, and they have no devotion to material things.

【译文】他们不是社会上那些急切向上爬的人，也不一味追求物质享受。

【单词和短语】

devotion：专心，热心，专心(the loyalty that you show towards a person, job etc, especially by working hard)，

例如：

sb.’s devotion of time and money to the project

某人对这一项目所花费的时间和金钱

Two devotions have filled her life.

她的生活被两样他所专注的事情占据了。

5-10. All this seems to me to link them with life, and the origins of things.

【译文】在我看来，所有这些使他们与生命以及万物的起源联系在了一起。

【讲解】all this seems to me to link…中to me乃插入语。link…with…意为“把……同……联系起来”。them指年轻人。

【单词和短语】

origin：起源;来源;由来，起因(the place or situation in which something begins to exist)，新概念英语教材下载

例如：

the origin of the universe 宇宙的起源

a word of Latin origin 源自拉丁语的词语

5-11. It's as if they were, in some sense, cosmic beings in violent and lovely contrast with us suburban creatures.

【译文】从某种意义上讲，他们似乎是超凡脱俗之人，同我们这些见识短浅的俗物形成鲜明而有趣的对照。

【讲解】as if they were…suburban creatures是表语从句，were是虚拟语气结构。in violent and lovely contrast with作定语修饰cosmic beings。suburban creatures作us的同位语，注意这里作者用creatures(生物)指人，即“以种代类”，属提喻(synecdoche)修辞手法。

【单词和短语】

suburban：有郊区(人)特点的;<贬>平淡乏味的;古板的(boring and typical of people who live in the suburbs)，

例如：

a suburban lifestyle 郊区生活方式

5-12. All that is in my mind when I meet a young person.

【译文】每逢遇到年轻人，我就想到这些。

【讲解】all that is in my mind中all that指上文提到的事。a young person中的a表示类别，意即“年轻人”，不是指某个年轻人。

5-13. He may be conceited, ill-mannered, presumptuous or fatuous, but I do not turn for protection to dreary clichés about respect of elders—as if mere age were a reason for respect.

【译文】年轻人也许狂妄自负，举止无理，傲慢放肆，愚昧无知，但我决不求助于要尊重长者云云的陈词滥调来为维护自己的尊严，似乎唯有年长才是受人尊敬的理由。