新概念英語第四冊(cè)Lesson+37+The+process+of+ageing+講義

Lesson37Theprocessofageing衰老過程Whatisoneofthemostunpleasantdiscoverieswemakeaboutourselvesaswegetolder?Attheageoftwelveyears,thehumanbodyisatitsmostvigorous.Ithasyettoreachitsfullsizeandstrength,anditsownerhisorherfullintelligence;butatthisagethelikelihoodofdeathisleast.Earlier,wewereinfantsandyoungchildren,andconsequentlymorevulnerable;later,weshallundergoaprogressivelossofourvigour1andresistancewhich,thoughimperceptibleatfirst,willfinallybecomesosteepthatwecanlivenolonger,howeverwellwelookafterourselves,andhoweverwellsociety,andourdoctors,lookafterus.Thisdeclineinvigourwiththepassingoftimeiscalledageing.Itisoneofthemostunpleasantdiscoverieswhichweallmakethatwemustdeclineinthisway,thatifweescapewars,accidentsanddiseaseweshalleventually'dieofoldage',andthatthishappensataratewhichdifferslittlefrompersontoperson,sothatthereareheavyodds2infavourofourdyingbetweentheagesofsixty-fiveandeighty.Someofuswilldiesooner,afewwilllivelonger--onintoaninthortenthdecade.Butthechancesareagainstit,andthereisavirtuallimitonhowlongwecanhopetoremainalive,howeverluckyandrobust3weare.Normalpeopletendtoforgetthisprocessunlessanduntiltheyareremindedofit.Wearesofamiliarwiththefactthatmanages,thatpeoplehaveforyearsassumedthattheprocessoflosingvigourwithtime,ofbecomingmorelikelytodietheolderweget,wassomethingself-evident,likethecoolingofahotkettleorthewearing-outofapairofshoes.Theyhavealsoassumedthatallanimals,andprobablyotherorganismssuchastrees,oreventheuniverseitself,mustinthenatureofthings'wearout'.Mostanimalswecommonlyobservedoinfactageaswedo,ifgiventhechancetolivelongenough;andmechanicalsystemslikeawoundwatch,orthesun,doinfactrunoutofenergyinaccordancewiththesecondlawofthermodynamics(whetherthewholeuniversedoessoisamoot4pointatpresent).Butthesearenotanalogous5towhathappenswhenmanages.Arun-downwatchisstillawatchandcanberewound.Anoldwatch,bycontrast,becomessowornandunreliablethatiteventuallyisnotworthmending.Butawatchcouldneverrepairitself--itdoesnotconsistoflivingparts,onlyofmetal,whichwearsawaybyfriction6.Wecould,atonetime,repairourselves--wellenough,atleast,toovercomeallbutthemostinstantlyfatalillnessesandaccidents.Betweentwelveandeightyyearswegraduallylosethispower;anillnesswhichattwelvewouldknockusover,ateightycanknockusout,andanother700forthesurvivors7tobereducedbyhalfagain.ALEXCOMFORTTheprocessofageingNewwordsandexpressions生詞和短語likelihoodn.可能性infantn.嬰兒vulnerableadj.脆弱imperceptibleadj.感覺不到的steepadj.急轉(zhuǎn)直下ageingn.老化oddsn.可能性virtualadj.實(shí)際上的robustadj.強(qiáng)健的organismn.有機(jī)體thermodynamicsn.熱力學(xué)mootadj.爭(zhēng)論未決的run-downadj.破舊的frictionn.摩擦參考譯文人體在12歲時(shí)是生命力最旺盛的時(shí)期。雖然這個(gè)時(shí)期人的身材、體力和智力還有待發(fā)展和完善，但在這個(gè)年齡死亡的可能性最小。再早一些，我們是幼兒和小孩子，身體較脆弱；再遲一些，我們就要經(jīng)歷生命力和抵抗力逐步衰退的過程。雖然這個(gè)過程起初難以覺察，但最終會(huì)急轉(zhuǎn)直下，不管我們?cè)鯓泳恼樟衔覀冏约?，不管社?huì)和醫(yī)生怎樣對(duì)我們進(jìn)行精心照顧，我們也無法再活下去了。生命力隨著時(shí)間的流失而衰退叫做衰老。人類發(fā)現(xiàn)的最不愉快的一個(gè)事實(shí)是：人必然會(huì)衰老。既使我們能避開戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)、意外的事故和各種疾病，我們最終也會(huì)“老死”；衰老的速度在人與人之間相差甚微，我們最可能死亡的年齡在65至80歲之間，有些人會(huì)死得早一些，少數(shù)人壽命會(huì)長(zhǎng)一些--活到八十幾歲或九十幾歲，但這種可能性很小。不管我們多么幸運(yùn)，多么健壯，我們所希望的長(zhǎng)壽實(shí)際上是有限度的。衰老的過程，不經(jīng)提起，正常人容易忘記；一經(jīng)提醒，才會(huì)記起。我們對(duì)人總是要衰老的現(xiàn)象并不陌生，多年來就已認(rèn)識(shí)到。生命隨著時(shí)間流失而喪失活力，人隨著年齡的增長(zhǎng)而接近死亡，這是不言而喻的，就像一壺?zé)崴t早會(huì)涼不來，一雙鞋漸漸會(huì)磨破一樣。人們不但認(rèn)識(shí)到所有的動(dòng)物，大概也認(rèn)識(shí)到所有的有機(jī)物。如樹木，甚至宇宙本身，從事物的本質(zhì)上來說都會(huì)“磨損掉”。我們通?？吹降拇蠖鄶?shù)動(dòng)物，即使能讓它們活得足夠長(zhǎng)久的話，也會(huì)像我們一樣衰老的。像上緊發(fā)條的手表那樣的機(jī)械裝置，或太陽，也都會(huì)消耗完其能量（整個(gè)宇宙否如此，目前沿有爭(zhēng)論）。不過，這些衰老的情況同人并不相似。手表停了依然是只手表，還可以重上好發(fā)條。然而一只老掉牙的手表，磨損太厲害，老得一點(diǎn)兒不準(zhǔn)了，最終不值得修理了。但是，手表決不會(huì)自行修理，它不是由有生命的部件組成，而是由金屬組成，而金屬可以隨著磨擦而磨損殆盡。而我們?nèi)?，在一定時(shí)間內(nèi)是可以自行修復(fù)的，除了暴病死或意外事故外，至少足以克服一切疾病和事故。在12歲至80歲之間，我們逐漸喪失這種能力。能使我們?cè)?2歲時(shí)病倒的疾病，到了80歲可能會(huì)使我們一厥不振而進(jìn)入墳?zāi)埂＜偃缥覀兡鼙３?2歲時(shí)的旺盛生命力，那么我們當(dāng)中的一半人過700年才會(huì)死去，剩下的一半人再過700年，才會(huì)又減少一半。

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1vigour

（=vigor）n.智力，體力，精力參考例句：Sheisfullofvigourandenthusiasm.她有熱情，有朝氣。At40,hewasinhisprimeandfullofvigour.他40歲時(shí)正年富力強(qiáng)。2odds

n.讓步，機(jī)率，可能性，比率；勝敗優(yōu)劣之別參考例句：Theoddsare5to1thatshewillwin.她獲勝的機(jī)會(huì)是五比一。Doyouknowtheoddsofwinningthelotteryonce?你知道贏得一次彩票的幾率多大嗎？3robust

adj.強(qiáng)壯的，強(qiáng)健的，粗野的，需要體力的，濃的參考例句：Sheistootallandrobust.她個(gè)子太高，身體太壯。Chinawantstokeepgrowthrobusttoreducepovertyandavoidjoblosses,APcommented.美聯(lián)社評(píng)論道，中國希望保持經(jīng)濟(jì)強(qiáng)勢(shì)增長(zhǎng)，以減少貧困和失業(yè)狀況。4moot

v.提出；adj.未決議的；n.大會(huì)；辯論會(huì)參考例句：Thequestionmootedintheboardmeetingisstillamootpoint.那個(gè)在董事會(huì)上提出討論的問題仍未決的。Theoilversusnuclearequationislargelymoot.石油和核能之間的關(guān)系還很有爭(zhēng)議。5analogous

adj.相似的；類似的參考例句：Thetwosituationsareroughlyanalogous.兩種情況大致相似。Thecompanyisinapositioncloselyanalogoustothatofitsmainrival.該公司與主要競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手的處境極為相似。6friction

n.摩擦，摩擦力參考例句：WhenJoanreturnedtowork,thefrictionbetweentheminc