37 · 衰老过程
The Process of Ageing
区分观点、依据、例子与限制，用自己的话准确重建论述。
时代语境：文中的寿命数字、动物比例和七百岁设想，是作者用于展开讨论的材料，不是对个人寿命的预测，也不等于现今衰老研究的共识。
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At the age of twelve 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 sixty-five and eighty. 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 twelve and eighty years we gradually lose this power; an illness which at twelve would knock us over, at eighty can knock us out, and into our grave. If we could stay as vigorous as we are at twelve, it would take about 700 years for half of us to die, and another 700 years for the survivors to be reduced by half again.
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整篇课文
At the age of twelve 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 sixty-five and eighty. 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 twelve and eighty years we gradually lose this power; an illness which at twelve would knock us over, at eighty can knock us out, and into our grave. If we could stay as vigorous as we are at twelve, it would take about 700 years for half of us to die, and another 700 years for the survivors to be reduced by half again.
十二岁时，人的身体生命力最为旺盛。身材和力量尚未完全发育，智力也还没有达到成熟水平，但这个年龄死亡的可能性最低。再往前，我们还是婴幼儿，自然更脆弱；再往后，活力和抵抗力就会逐渐下降。起初，这种变化很难察觉，最后却会急剧加速，直到无法继续活下去，不管自己照料得多好，也不管社会和医生照顾得多周到。这种随时间流逝而发生的活力衰退，便叫作衰老。人人最终都会发现一件很不愉快的事：自己也逃不过这种衰退。即使躲开战争、事故和疾病，我们最终仍会“老死”；人与人之间，这个过程的速度相差不大，因此多数人很可能在六十五岁到八十岁之间离世。有些人会更早去世，少数人会活得更久，进入八十多岁或九十多岁。但长寿的机会并不大；无论多幸运、多健壮，人的寿命似乎都有一个实际的上限。
一般人往往不会去想这个过程，直到有人提醒。我们太熟悉人会变老这件事了，多年来一直把活力随时间减少、年龄越大越容易死亡，看成不言自明的道理，就像一壶热水会变凉、一双鞋会穿坏一样。人们还以为，一切动物，也许包括树木等其他生物，甚至宇宙本身，都会自然“耗损”。我们常见的多数动物，如果有机会活得足够久，确实会像人一样衰老；上了发条的表等机械系统，或太阳，也的确会依照热力学第二定律耗尽能量——整个宇宙是否如此，当时仍有争论。但这些情况并不等同于人的衰老。发条走完的表仍然是表，重新上弦就行；一只老表却会磨损得越来越不可靠，最后连修理都不值得。不过，表永远不能自我修复，因为它由金属而非活的组织构成，金属会因摩擦而磨损。我们却一度能够很好地修复自己，至少足以抵御除几乎立即致命的疾病和事故以外的大多数伤害。从十二岁到八十岁，这种能力逐渐减弱：十二岁时只会让我们病倒的一场病，到了八十岁，可能就会要我们的命。如果能一直保持十二岁时的旺盛活力，大约要过七百年，我们才会有一半人死去；剩下的人再减少一半，又要七百年。
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译文依据整理稿，由本站按中文表达重新校订；解析据吴应时整理资料及首轮审校稿；词伙与练习提示为本站学习设计。原PDF第158—163页，2022年2月第2版。