Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be but there are still plenty of things about childhood that many of us hold dear.

怀旧不似从前，但是童年的很多事依然被我们视作珍宝。

If you are in your 60s, chances are you remember staying out playing hide and seek until dark, fuelled by eating penny sweets.

如果你已年过六旬，或许会回忆起在外边玩捉迷藏直到天黑、靠着吃便士糖保持体力的时光。

You probably knew all your neighbours, read Enid Blyton and loved Angel Delight puddings.

你那时很可能认识所有的邻居，读过伊妮德•布莱顿的书，还爱吃快乐天使牌的布丁。

These are just some of a list of 50 favourite things which, according to 82% of 2,000 British adults over 60, meant it was better being a child 50 years ago than it is now.

以上这些只是2000名60岁以上英国老人选出来的“50件最喜欢的事”中的一些，他们当中有82%的人认为50年前做孩子比现在更幸福。

 
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And three-quarters of the over-60s reckoned childhood was the happiest time of their life.

这些60多岁的老人中，有75%都认为童年是一生中最快乐的时光。

They look back fondly on playing music on record players, watching Doctor Who from behind the sofa and hitting a tennis ball against the back of the house.

他们饱含深情地回忆起往昔，那时候他们用电唱机播放音乐，在沙发背后偷看《神秘博士》，还对着屋后的墙壁打网球。

 
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Most were convinced kids today are missing out on all the fun they had. But, fortunately, 79% said they tried to pass on the practical skills and wisdom they picked up to their grandchildren.

他们大多数都深信，如今的孩子们全然错失了当年的这些乐趣。不过幸运的是，79%的人努力将自己的实践技能和智慧传授给自己的孙辈。

Among some of the life skills they try to transfer are table manners, knitting, bread making, skimming stones, making toys from wood and planting seeds.

他们试图传授的生活技能包括餐桌礼仪、编织、做面包、打水漂、用木头做玩具、播种等等。

TV and radio host Gloria Hunniford, 76, said: “Being a grandparent is a truly wonderful and fulfilling experience.

76岁的广播电视主持人格洛里亚•汉尼福说：“做祖父母真的很美好，让人感到十分充实。”

“Passing on practical skills and sharing experiences that made my own childhood special has to be one of the most satisfying and enjoyable aspects of spending time with my grandchildren.”

“传授实践技能，分享经验，是和孙辈相处中最令人满足、最愉悦的时光，正是这些经验技能让我的童年显得那么特别。”

老人们选出的“50件最喜欢的事”完整榜单：

Playing outside until it got dark

玩到天黑

Respect for your elders

尊重长辈

Knowing all your neighbours

认识所有邻居

Penny sweets

便士糖果

Making dens

打造“秘密基地”

Climbing trees

爬树

Playing marbles

玩弹珠

Playing conkers

串果戏

Hide and seek

捉迷藏

Trips to sweet shop

去糖果店

Music on record players

用电唱机放音乐

Owning a few toys and playing with them for hours

拥有几个自己的玩具，乐此不疲地玩上几个小时

Reading Enid Blyton

读伊妮德•布莱顿的书

Collecting shells on the beach

在沙滩上捡贝壳

Sherbet dips

冰冻果子露

Swinging on ropes in the woods

在森林里荡秋千

Skipping

跳绳

Playing hopscotch

跳房子

Hitting a tennis ball against the back of the house

对着屋后的墙壁打网球

Collecting stamps

集邮

Playing cowboys and Indians

玩牛仔和印第安人的游戏

Playing Monopoly

玩大富翁游戏

Daisy chains

雏菊花环

Grandma giving you money

外婆给钱花

Playing football in the park

在公园里踢足球

Making paper airplanes

做纸飞机

Roller skating

滑旱冰

Building a go kart

造卡丁车

Watching black and white TV

看黑白电视

Angel Delight

快乐天使牌的布丁

Going to Sunday school

上主日学校

Music on cassette tapes

磁带上的歌

Making balsa wood aeroplanes

用巴尔杉木作飞机模型

Watching Doctor Who from behind the sofa

在沙发后面看《神秘博士》

Scalextric

车模比赛

Watching the FA Cup final

看英格兰足总杯决赛

Blancmange

牛奶冻

Running into the cold sea

跑进冰凉的海水里

Water fights using old Fairy Liquid bottles

用神女洗碗液旧瓶子打水仗

Building tree houses

造树屋

Playing soldiers

扮演大兵

Making things out of wood

用木头做东西

Kicking freshly cut grass

把刚割下的草堆踢乱

Street parties

街头派对

Playing kiss chase

玩追吻游戏

Semolina

粗面粉

Playing Etch A Sketch

蚀刻素描

Collecting coins

集硬币

Playing Poohsticks

玩维尼棒游戏

Playing Subbuteo

玩桌上足球

 
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My boyhood beat today's electronic wasteland

我的童年时代完胜今天的电子荒漠

By Paul Routledge

作者：保尔·卢特来基

The hot summer days and cold winter nights seemed to go on for ever, and there was a game for every hour.

炎热的夏日和寒冷的冬夜年复一年，似乎永无尽头。那时候我们每个钟头都在玩游戏。

Under the gas lamp at the bottom of Railway Terrace we played hide and seek, though we never called it by that posh-sounding name. It was more like “yerrout”!

火车站月台下面，我们在煤气灯下玩捉迷藏，但是那时候我们不用这个时髦的名字称呼这个游戏，我们叫它yerrout！

Far better was “kick-out-can”, which also involved a lot of running and hiding. Best days? Certainly better than today’s electronic wasteland for kids.

“踢罐子躲猫猫”更好玩，我们会边跑边躲。最好的时光？绝对比现在孩子们的电子荒漠好玩。

In school holidays, we played out all day until it got too dark or we were too hungry. We played English v Germans, with home-made tommy guns. Rat-at-at-at! The war was a recent memory.

学校放假的时候，我们会玩上一整天，不到天黑或肚子饿绝不回家。我们玩“英国人对抗德国人”，拿着自制的冲锋枪。“叭叭叭叭！”那时候二战才过去不久。

The girls played hopscotch and skipping – lasses’ games that it was a boy’s delight to interrupt.

女孩们玩跳房子、跳绳，男孩最喜欢给她们捣乱。

Grandma never gave me any money. In any case, what would we have spent it on? Everything was still on the ration, including pear drops, my favourite sweets.

祖母从来不给我零花钱。不过就算给我钱，我也没地方可花。那时所有物资都是定量发放，包括我最喜欢的梨形糖果。

I went to Sunday school but got expelled for trying to tie the teacher’s shoelaces together. When I got home, I found out why my parents wanted me out for the afternoon.

我上过主日学校，但是我总想把老师的鞋带系在一块，所以被开除了。到家后，爸妈整个下午都不让我进门。

Reading Enid Blyton was for cissies. It was Captain W. E. Johns and Biggles.

娘娘腔才会看伊妮德•布莱顿的书，我看W. E.约翰斯上尉写的《消失的战线》。

Go karts hadn’t been invented. We made trolleys, out of old pram wheels from the tip, held together with boards. Lethal, they were, down the muckstacks.

我们还在垃圾堆刨东西做成雷鸣战机。那时还没有卡丁车。我们把旧婴儿车的一端和木板合起来，就是一个手推车。

Good times, simple pleasures, still strong in the memory. Collecting shells on the beach was never as satisfying as making castles of sand and driftwood, then watching the tide destroy them.

那些美好的时光，简单的快乐，都在记忆中挥之不去。沙滩捡贝壳绝对比不上用沙子和浮木做城堡，然后看潮水将其摧毁。

Growing older, there was collecting and swapping cigarette cards of footballers and engines, and graduating to three-card brag.

长大一些后，我们喜欢收集、交换印有足球运动员和军械的香烟卡片，再后来，我们爱玩三张扑克游戏。

Then you realised girls were more interesting than trainspotting. The big boys’ game arrived, and innocence departed.

后来，你会发现女孩子比猜火车更有趣。大男孩的游戏就此展开了，童真也从此远去。

注：electronic wasteland（电子荒漠）指人们沉迷于电子产品，导致情感和文化荒漠化。