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Lesson 37
The process of ageing
衰老过程
What is one of the most unpleasant discoveries we make about ourselves as
we get older?
At the age of 12 years, the human body is at its most vigorous. It has yet
to reach its full size and strength, and its owner his or her full intelligence;
but at this age the likelihood of death is least. Earlier, we were infants and
young children, and consequently more vulnerable; later, we shall undergo a
progressive loss of our vigour and resistance which, though imperceptible at
first, will finally become so steep that we can live no longer, however well we
look after ourselves, and however well society, and our doctors, look after us.
This decline in vigour with the passing of time is called ageing. It is one of
the most unpleasant discoveries which we all make that we must decline in this
way, that if we escape wars, accidents and diseases we shall eventually 'die of
old age', and that this happens at a rate which differs little from person to
person, so that there are heavy odds in favour of our dying between the ages of
65 and 80. Some of us will die sooner, a few will live longer -- on into a ninth
or tenth decade. But the chances are against it, and there is a virtual limit on
how long we can hope to remain alive, however lucky and robust we are.
Normal people tend to forget this process unless and until they are
reminded of it. We are so familiar with the fact that man ages, that people have
for years assumed that the process of losing vigour with time, of becoming more
likely to die the older we get, was something self-evident, like the cooling of
a hot kettle or the wearing-out of a pair of shoes. They have also assumed that
all animals, and probably other organisms such as trees, or even the universe
itself, must in the nature of things 'wear out'. Most animals we commonly
observe do in fact age as we do, if given the chance to live long enough; and
mechanical systems like a wound watch, or the sun, do in fact run out of energy
in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics (whether the whole universe
does so is a moot point at present). But these are not analogous to what happens
when man ages. A run-down watch is still a watch and can be rewound. An old
watch, by contrast, becomes so worn and unreliable that it eventually is not
worth mending. But a watch could never repair itself -- it does not consist of
living parts, only of metal, which wears away by friction. We could, at one
time, repair ourselves --well enough, at least, to overcome all but the most
instantly fatal illnesses and accidents. Between 12 and 80 years we gradually
lose this power; an illness which at 12 would knock us over, at 80 can knock us
out, and into our grave. If we could stay as vigorous as we are at 12 , it would
take about 700 years for half of us to die, and another 700 for the survivors to
be reduced by half again.
New words and expressions 生词与短语
likelihood
n. 可能性
infant
n. 婴儿
vulnerable
adj. 脆弱
imperceptible
adj. 感觉不到的
steep
adj. 急转直下
ageing
n. 老化
odds
n. 可能性
virtual
adj. 实际上的
robust
adj. 强健的
organism
n. 有机体
thermodynamics
n. 热力学
moot
adj. 争论未决的
run-down
adj. 破旧的
friction
n. 摩擦
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发表于 2016-7-11 22:48:01