The young were conventionally portrayed

他们习惯地将年轻人
as being unusually subject to fits of passion,

描绘成极其容易屈服于激情的
to rashness, to volatility, to intemperance,

轻率反复无常没有耐心
and to sexual lasciviousness.

以及性欲过于旺盛的人
Where they got this idea from one can't imagine.

我们无法得知他们这想法是哪来的
Wisdom and self-control were regarded as coming only with age,

人们认为智慧和自律只有随年龄增长才能获得
and accordingly there was a preference for age

因此人们习以为常地
and seniority in all institutional life.

偏好年长的人
Well, one could say, "Well, that's just the same today,"

有人可能会说 "现在也是一样的呀"
But one important difference is that in the sixteenth

但那时与现在有个很大的区别
and seventeenth centuries a far larger proportion

在十六十七世纪年轻人的比例
of the population were young.

要比现在大多了