Lesson 45 The Process of ageing

2017-10-28 考研英语作文

  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 an 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 for the survivors to be reduce by half again.

  New words and expressions 生词短语

  infant 婴儿(会说点话)

  baby 婴儿(不会说话)

  the infant industry 新兴产业

  in its infancy 在初始阶段

  vulnerable 脆弱的

  be vulnerable to 受不了

  fragile 脆弱

  barefaced 厚颜无耻的

  defenceless 脆弱的(不设防的,无保护的)

  imperceptible 感觉不到的

  (大多数 p 开头的形容词,反义词加 im)

  invisible 看不到的

  indiscernible 观察不到的

  minute 微小的

  subtle 细微的'

  steep 急转直下的(陡峭的)

  steep demand 苛刻的要求

  ageing 老化

  aged wine 陈酿

  odds 可能性

  likelihood 可能性

  It’s odds that…

  The odds are…

  There are odds… 都是 ……有可能

  Odd 怪异的

  virtual 实际的

  robust 强健的 (乐百氏)

  muscular 强壮的

  athletic 壮的

  kettle 水壶

  wearing-ou t 穿破

  thermodynamics 热力学

  moot point 有争议的

  run-down 破旧的

  decrepit 衰老

  dilapidated 破旧的

  shabby 破旧的(房子)

  Notes on the text 课文注释

  1.vigorous 后省略 stage同义词:livelyrobust dynamic

  2.yet=however yet 可在句中,不用标点however 用在句中要用逗号

  3.stealthy slide out of room 溜出房间 play truant 逃学

  4.injection

  cry one’s eyes out 嚎啕大哭

  5.undergo 经历 up and down/ lows and highs 沉浮

  6.the passing of time 时光流逝

  7.heavy odds 极大可能

  8.virtual:physical

  9.寿命 life-span life expectancy longevity

  10.tend to 倾向,不由自主

  11.spoil oneself 糟蹋自己

  12.the …the …并列比较

  13.organism 有机体

  14.wind 上发条wound 上了发条的run-down 发条不紧的

  15.but=except

  16.fatul=deadly 致命的

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