访谈录 2008-12-26&12-28 长寿秘诀

Accountant Sydney Brookman loves two things, working, which he’s been doing since 1937."I don’t wanna retire, I wanna keep working as long as I can live."

 And telling jokes. "I can rattle¹ off 100 jokes, 50 I can tell, just by memory."

 He is 97 years old."And I feel fine. Physically² I feel great. My sexual demands may be a little less, but I can't help that."

 He is a youngster compared to Rhea Tauber, a former school teacher. She writes a weekly column for her local paper and is working on her autobiography³. She recently turned 100.

"They held a big party for me on my 100 birthday and everybody in the whole county came down. Because they've never heard of anybody who is 100 years old still working."

For the last 35 years, she’s been living on her own and said she's happy that way. It keeps her on her toes.

"When I was 100 years old, they said, 'You shouldn’t be living alone. You get all steps to climb up.' But that’s good for me. It's my excercise: up and down the steps."

 At a time when the American life expectancy⁴ is 78 years, there is no obvious reason why Rhea and Sydney should still be alive, much less thriving. Sydney's eating habits would make a nutritionist weep.

"I love fried chicken. I love fried fish. I hate vetegatables. I violate every dietary law." And Rhea is referred to by her own doctors as "the miracle lady". "They can’t figure out why. I love the way I do, enjoy life the way I do, go about, travel."

So why are they living as long and as well as they do? The answer, according to one doctor, is all in their genes⁵.

"This is, for example, a box, where we store the blood and the DNA⁶ of our subjects."

For the last nine years, Doctor Nir Barzilai, Albert Einstein Medical College, has been decoding⁷ the DNA of 1500 very old people and their children, trying to find the secret to longevity⁸. Both Rhea and Sydney are enrolled⁹ in the study.

"Only one of 10 thousand is going to be 100 and we notice that the people who get to be 100, they either delay or they don’t get age-related diseases."

So far, Barzilai has identified three genes that seem to play a big role.

"All the three genes that we've found so far are protecting from a disease that leads to diabetes¹⁰ and heart disease." ("What’s new?","See this one."...)

The genes appear to promote long life by protecting against the illnesses of old age, including heart disease, stroke and Alzheimer’s. "For centenarians, their aging has been delayed by about 30 years."

That it all comes down to the genes is no surprise to Sydney. He has an older brother, who just turned 100. And his grandmother lived until 113.

"It’s an active God. That's, it's genes from my grandma with regard to what age."

As for the rest of us, Barzilai hopes that, one day, his research will lead to a drug, (Oh, that’s it. That's a centenarian. Wow!) giving everyone a shot at living like this.

"When my granddaughter married, I was doing the Cha Cha. I was leading the Cha Cha line and the kids were screaming 'That's grandma dancing.'"

1 rattle   

v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓

参考例句：

• The baby only shook the rattle and laughed and crowed.孩子只是摇着拨浪鼓，笑着叫着。
• She could hear the rattle of the teacups.她听见茶具叮当响。

2 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

3 autobiography   

n.自传

参考例句：

• He published his autobiography last autumn.他去年秋天出版了自己的自传。
• His life story is recounted in two fascinating volumes of autobiography.这两卷引人入胜的自传小说详述了他的生平。

4 expectancy   

n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额

参考例句：

• Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
• The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。

5 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

6 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

7 decoding   

n.译码，解码v.译（码），解（码）( decode的现在分词 )；分析及译解电子信号

参考例句：

• We cannot add any other memory to this system without further decoding. 如果不增加译码，就不能使系统的存贮容量有任何扩展。 来自辞典例句
• Examples using the 8250 will be presented in hardware section to clarify full-decoding schemes. 在硬件一节中有应用说明全译码方案8250的例子。 来自辞典例句

8 longevity   

n.长命；长寿

参考例句：

• Good habits promote longevity.良好的习惯能增长寿命。
• Human longevity runs in families.人类的长寿具有家族遗传性。

9 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。