Between the preparation and the work,the apprenticeship¹ and the actual dealing² with a task or an art,there comes, in the experience of many young men,a period of uncertainty³ and wandering which is often misunderstood and counted as time wasted,when it is, in fact, a period rich in full and free development.

It is as natural for ardent⁴ and courageous⁵ youth to wish to know what is in life, what it means, and what it holds for its children,as for a child to reach for and search the things that surround and attract it.Behind every real worker in the world is a real man, and a man has a right to know the conditions under which he must live,and the choices of knowledge, power, and activity which are offered him.In the education of many men and women, therefore, there comes the year of wandering;the experience of traveling from knowledge to knowledge and from occupation to occupation.

The forces which go to the making of a powerful man can rarely be adjusted and blended without some disturbance⁶ of relations and conditions.This disturbance is sometimes injurious, because it affects the moral foundations upon which character rests;and for this reason the significance of the experience in its relation to development ought to be sympathetically studied.The birth of the imagination and of the passions, the perception of the richness of life,and the consciousness of the possession of the power to master and use that wealth, create a critical moment in the history of youth,—a moment richer in possibilities of all kinds than comes at any later period.

Agitation⁷ and ferment⁸ of soul are inevitable⁹ in that wonderful moment.There are times when agitation is as normal as is self-control at other and less critical times.The year of wandering is not a manifestation¹⁰ of aimlessness, but of aspiration,and that in its ferment and uncertainty youth is often guided to and finally prepared for its task.

从准备到投身工作，从学徒到某一项技能或艺术的真正的实践过程之间，很多你年轻人都要经历一段充满疑惑徘徊的时期。这段时期经常遭到误解，被认为是浪费时间，事实上这段时间正是年轻人得到充分自由发展的时期。

要一样。这个世界上，每个工作者的背后都是个实实在在的个人，每个人都有权了解他得在什么样的条件下生存，他能接触到什么样的知识，他的权利范围有多大以及他能从事什么活动。因此，很多人都要面临这段犹豫徘徊的时期，从这个知识领域转到那个知识领域，从一个岗位跳到另一个岗位。

将一个人塑造成强者各种力量，没有经过与他人和环境之间的摩擦，是很难整合在一起的。这种摩擦会影响人的道德信念，即个性形成的基础，所以有时候他可能造成某种伤害。鉴于此，这段经历对后期发展所造成的影响重要性应该得到高度的重视。想象力和激情的萌芽，对富足生活的感悟，以及对拥有掌握和利用这笔财富的能力的觉醒，都使这段时期成为整个青年时期最重要的一刻。这一时期拥有的种种机遇是此后任何时候都无法提供的。在这一青春烂漫的季节，精神上的焦虑骚动不可避免。生命中某些不太关键的时候，自我控制是正常表现，但有时焦虑也是正常的。

徘徊时期不是胸无大志的表现，而恰恰是雄心壮志的表现。年轻人正是在这一时期的骚动不安中明确人生的方向并为人生使命的实现做好了最后的准备。