The Process of Ageing

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

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 (health/body)

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 poor health 身体状况急转直下steep demand苛刻的要求

ageing老化

aged wine陈酿

odds可能性 There are/is odds that he will turn up.=The odds are that he will turn up

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 thickset结实的

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

1.vigorous 后省略stage

同义词:lively/robust/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

Unless and until 连词的连用

11.spoil oneself糟蹋自己

12.the …the …并列比较

13.organism有机体

In the nature of things 插入语

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