39 The tragedy of old age
老年的悲剧
What is it like to be old in the United States? What will our own lives be like when we are old? Americans find it difficult to think about old age until they are propelled into the midst of it by their own aging and that of relatives and friends. Aging is the neglected stepchild of the human life cycle. Though we have begun to examine the socially taboo subjects of dying and death, we have leaped over that long period of time preceding death known as old age. In truth, it is easier to manage the problems of death than the problem of living as an old person. Death is a dramatic, one-time crisis while old age is a day-by-day and year-by-year confrontation with powerful external forces, a bittersweet coming to terms with one's own personality and one's life.
在美国，人老了会是什么样？当我们年迈时，生活会是什么样的呢？美国人很难考虑到老年问题，直到自己或是亲朋好友开始变老，他们才被迫面对这些问题。在人的一生中，老年就像继子一样被人忽视。虽然我们开始研究这些被社会视为禁忌的有关生老病死的话题，但我们往往跳过了那一段被称作“老年”的最终走向死亡的长长的日子。事实上，死亡问题比老年人的生活问题要容易应对得多。死亡是一次意义重大而转瞬即逝的危机，而老年却是一场日夜不息地与强大外在力量对抗的斗争，是一段苦乐参半、与自身性格和生命相妥协的过程。
Old age is neither inherently miserable nor inherently sublime-like every stage of life it has problems, joys, fears and potentials. The process of aging and eventual death must ultimately be accepted as the natural progression of the life cycle, the old completing their prescribed life spans and making way for the young. Much that is unique in old age in fact derives from the reality of aging and the imminence of death. The old must clarify and find use for what they have attained in a lifetime of learning and adapting they must conserve strength and resources where necessary and adjust creatively to those changes and losses that occur as part of the aging experience. The elderly have the potential for qualities of human reflection and observation which can only come from having lived an entire life span. There is a lifetime accumulation of personality and experience which is available to be used and enjoyed.
老年从本质上讲既不悲惨，也不崇高——就像生命中的任何阶段一样，老年也有矛盾、欢乐、恐惧和希望。人们最终必须懂得，老年足一个渐渐老去直至死亡的过程，是生命中的自然阶段，是老人击完上帝所赐予的生命旅程并为年轻人铺平前进道路的阶段。老年之所以独特，是冈为人要逐渐变老并时刻面临死亡的威胁。老年人一定要搞清楚他们经过一生的学习和适应所获得的经验知识，并将它们用到实处；老年人必须保存力量和智慧，创造性地去适应某些在老年阶段所必然发生的变化和观察，也只有当他们那走完整个人生。他们才能具备这种能力，那是一种经过一生酌积累所形成的成熟经验和特有品质。
But what are an individual’s chances for a “good ” old age in America, with satisfying final years and a dignified death ?Unfortunately , none too good. For many elderly Americans old age is a tragedy, a period of quiet despair, deprivation , desolation and muted rage. This can be a consequence of the kind of life a person has led in younger years and the problems in his or her relationships with others. There are also inevitable personal and physical losses to be sustained, some of which can become overwhelming and unbearable. All of this is the individual factor, the existential element. But old age is frequently a tragedy even when the early years have been fulfilling and people seemingly have everything going for them. Herein lies what I consider to be the genuine tragedy of old age in America—we have shaped a society which is extremely harsh to live in when one is old. The tragedy of old age is not the fact that each of us must grow old and die but that the process of doing so has been made unnecessarily and at times excruciatingly painful, humiliating, debilitating and isolating through insensitivity, ignorance and poverty. The potentials for satisfactions and even triumphs in late life are real and vastly under explored. For the most part the elderly struggle to exist in an inhospitable world.
但是在美国，一个人能够满足地安享晚年并安然逝去的机会有多大呢？非常不幸，答案是微乎其微。对于许多美国人而言，老年是一场悲剧，是一个充满了默默的绝望、失落、孤独和无言的愤怒的阶段。这是他们在年轻时的生活方式和与他人交往所产生的矛盾造成的必然结果。老年人还不可避免地遭受身体和精神上的损失，其中有些损失足以令老人不堪忍受和承受。这些都是个人因素，真切存在着的因素。但是，对于一年在年轻时成就非凡、拥有一切的人们而言，老年依然是一场悲剧。因此我认为，在美国，老年人的真正悲剧在于——我们已经形成了一个老人极其难以生存的社会。老年的悲剧并不在于人们必然变老和死亡的事实，而在于老人在这个过程中由于麻木、无知和贫困而要时常遭受难以忍受的痛苦、屈辱、衰弱和孤独，因此老年阶段在人们心目中变得没有必要。晚年生活是有可能令人满足和骄傲的，只是不为人所开发而已。大多数老年人还是在一个毫不友善的世界中艰难地生存着。
单词讲解
sublime adj.
英语词意：characterized by nobility; majestic
muted rage
英语词意：silent anger
excruciatingly adv.
英语词意：extremely painfully
debilitating adj.
英语词意：week, fragile
inhospitable adj.
英语词意：displaying no hospitality, unfriendly