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），

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。

【讲解】he乃承a young person而选用。to turn to…for …为……求助于……。for protection作turn的目的状语，位置提前是为了使句子更加紧凑。dreary clichés about respect of elders作to的宾语。about respect of elders作clichés的定语。for elders作respect的定语。句中的破折号引出被强调的部分。

【单词和短语】

conceited：自负的，自高自大的，骄傲自满的（someone who is conceited thinks they are very clever, skillful, beautiful etc），名词形式为conceit。

presumptuous：专横的，自行其是的，傲慢的，冒昧的，放肆的（doing sth. that you have no right to do and that seems rude），

例如：
It would be presumptuous for anybody to offer such a view.
任何人提出这种观点都是放肆的。

fatuous：愚笨的，昏庸的，蠢的（very silly or stupid），名词形式为fatuity，

例如：
fatuous talk 昏话
Television commercials seem more fatuous than ever.
电视广告节目似乎比以往任何时候更没意思了。

5-14. I accept that we are equals, and I will argue with him, as an equal, if I think he is wrong.

【译文】我笃信我们是平等的。如果我认为他们错了，我就以平等的身份和他们争个明白。

【单词和短语】

equal:同等的人（someone who is as important, intelligent etc as you are, or who has the same rights and opportunities as you do），

例如：
Mix with your equals or betters. 与同你相仿或更好的人交往。