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[ti:The Process of Ageing]
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[00:01.51]Lesson 37
[00:03.35]The process of ageing
[00:12.02]What is one of the most unpleasant discoveries we make about ourselves as we get older?
[00:21.76]At the age of twelve years, the human body is at its most vigorous.
[00:27.41]It has yet to reach its full size and strength,
[00:30.64]and its owner his or her full intelligence: but at this age the likelihood of death is least.
[00:39.39]Earlier, we were infants and young children, and consequently more vulnerable;
[00:45.94]later, we shall undergo a progressive loss of our vigour and resistance which, though imperceptible at first
[00:53.59]will finally become so steep that we can live no longer,
[00:57.72]however well we look after ourselves, and however well society, and our doctors, look after us.
[01:04.70]This decline in vigour with the passing of time is called ageing.
[01:10.74]It is one of the most unpleasant discoveries which we all make
[01:14.92]that we must decline in this way, that if we escape wars, accidents and diseases we shall eventually 'die of old age',
[01:25.75]and that this happens at a rate which differs little from person to person,
[01:30.78]so that there are heavy odds in favour of our dying between the ages of 65 and 80.
[01:38.32]Some of us will die sooner, a few will live longer--on into a ninth or tenth decade.