人的寿命是否有极限?_BEC初级作文

人的寿命是否有极限?

In 2002, James Vaupel of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany, startled demographers by pointing out that every estimate published of the level at which average life expectancy would level out has been broken within a few years. Jay Olshansky of the University of Illinois, however, argues that since 1980 this has no longer been true for already-old people in rich countries like the U.S.: Official estimates of remaining years of life for a woman aged 65 should be revised downward.

2002年，德国罗斯托克马克斯-普朗克人口研究所（Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research）的詹姆斯•沃佩尔（James Vaupel）指出，每次公开发布的对平均寿命趋稳水平的估计都会在几年内被打破，这令人口统计学家感到吃惊。然而，伊利诺伊大学（University of Illinois）的杰伊•奥尔山斯基（Jay Olshansky）则认为，从1980年开始，在美国等富裕国家，这种规律已经不适用于已经进入高龄的老人了：官方对年龄在65岁的女性剩余寿命的估算应该下调。

Thanks to healthier lifestyles, more and more people are surviving into old age. But that is not incompatible with there being a sort of expiration date on human lifespan. Most scientists think the decay of the body by aging is not itself programmed by genes, but the repair mechanisms that delay decay are. In human beings, genes that help keep you alive as a parent or even grandparent have had a selective advantage through helping children thrive, but ones that keep you alive as a great-grandparent - who likely doesn't play much of a role in the well-being and survival of great-grandchildren - have probably never contributed to reproductive success.