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新概念第四册Lesson 37 The process of ageing

2021-07-16 15:32:00来源：网络

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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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