雙語閱讀：多大年齡是青春的極限

摘要：英國一項有關人們對於年齡所持態度的調查指出，青年年齡的上限爲45歲。

美國女演員比利·伯克曾經說過：“年齡對於名人來講至關重要，對於其他人而言倒是無所謂。”

US actress Billie Burke is reported to have said that "age is something that does not matter unless you are a cheese".

然而，英國一項有關人們對於年齡所持態度的調查指出，青年年齡的上限爲45歲。

However, an analysis of attitudes to ageing in the UK has suggested that youth ends at the age of 45.

調查還指出，老年的界限將從63歲開始，因此中間18年的時間被定義爲中年時期。

Old age, according to respondents in several surveys, starts at 63 years of age--leaving 18 years of middle age.

英國就業與退休保障部門就年齡對於社會平等與社會凝聚力所起的作用進行了分析與研究。

The Department for work.and Pensions research studied the implications of age on equality and social cohesion.

該研究針對從2004年至2008年間的五次全國性調查進行了分析，共有6000名受訪者參與其中。

The study considered five national surveys conducted between 2004 and 2008, with more than 6,000 respondents in total.

調查顯示，每個人對年齡的態度和解釋可能都不一樣。

The findings showed that people's consideration of age differed when referring to themselves.

被訪者表示從30多歲開始，明顯感到自己不再年輕;而只有到了75歲左右，他們才接受自己已經年老的事實。

By their mid-30s, most respondents stopped describing themselves as young, and only by their mid-70s did they start calling themselves old.

對於年長者的好消息是，人們普遍表示，被一個70歲以上的老闆管理遠比稱呼一個30歲以下的人爲老闆要讓人感覺舒服得多。

There was some good news for the older generation, with more people saying they were more comfortable with a boss aged over 70 than with somebody under 30 being in charge at work.

26%的被訪者表示自己經歷過老年歧視，這不僅僅侷限於是否已退休，工作狀況和婚姻狀況同樣是導致歧視的因素。

But 26% of those asked said they had experienced ageism. This was not just the retired, but also those who were not working or who were not married.

報告指出，大約有四分之一的被訪者認爲70歲以上的老人從社會經濟體系中獲取的遠大於貢獻的。

"Nearly a quarter of respondents believed that people over 70 take out more from the economy than they put in," the report said.

不過，住在英國約克郡和亨伯河三角洲的老人較少會遇到這種歧視。

However, this was less of an issue for people living in Yorkshire and the Humber than anywhere else in the UK.

分析還發現，居住在英格蘭東南部的人們更容易遇到老年歧視的問題。

The analysis found that people in the south-east of England were more likely to have experienced ageism.

該報告做出結論：年齡上的歧視可能會影響青年人和老年人間的關係。而研究也發現，不同年齡羣體之間的交錯也相對較少。

This could affect the young and the old, the report concluded, and it also found that there was relatively little mixing between the age groups.

對於接受自己的“年老”，人們總是顯得很被動。研究人員發現，隨之而來的便是人們不願及時爲以後的生活做準備。

With people delaying their acceptance of being "old" as they went through life, the authors argued that there was evidence of people delaying the preparation for later life.

諾丁漢大學職業健康心理學的阿曼達·格里菲斯教授及她的研究團隊發現，人們工作的壓力於50至55歲之間達到頂峯，之後隨着退休的臨近而日趨衰退。

Separate research led by Amanda Griffiths, professor of occupational health psychology at the University of Nottingham, found that stress levels at work peaked at about 50 to 55 years old and decreased in the years approaching retirement.