经济学人双语阅读 | 一篇告诉你未来趋势的文章——人生需要一个新的阶段

What to call the time of life between work and old age?
我们应该怎么称呼即将成为老年人又不工作的这一个人生阶段

To get the most out of longer lives, a new age category is needed为了最大限度地延长寿命,需要一个新的年龄类别。

WHAT do you call someone who is over 65 but not yet elderly? This stage of life, between work and decrepitude, lacks a name. “Geriactives” errs too much on the side of senescence. “Sunsetters” and “nightcappers” risk being patronising. Perhaps “Nyppies” (Not Yet Past It) or “Owls” (Older, Working Less, Still earning) ring truer.65岁以上但看起来依然的人你应该怎么称呼? 在工作和衰老中间的一个阶段缺少一个名字 “geriactives”错在让人感觉太老。“sunsetters”和“nightcappers”看起来太年轻。 也许“nyppies”(尚未过去)或“owls”(年纪大、工作少,还是收入)更真实。

Branding an age category might sound like a frivolous exercise. But life stages are primarily social constructs, and history shows that their emergence can trigger deep changes in attitudes. Such change is needed if the questions that swirl around rising longevity are to get a fitting answer.也许给年龄分类听起来像是一种无聊的行为。 但生命阶段主要是社会结构,历史表明,它们的出现会引发态度的深刻变化。 如果关于如何长寿的问题要得到一个恰当的答案,新的分类出现是必要的。

End of Generation zzz

Before 1800 no country in the world had an average life expectancy at birth beyond 40. Today there is not a country that does not. Since 1900, more years have been added to human life than in the rest of history combined, initially by reducing child mortality and lately by stretching lifespans. Longevity is one of humanity’s great accomplishments.在1800之前,世界上没有一个国家出生时的平均预期寿命超过40岁。今天,没有一个国家不这样做。自1900年以来人类寿命的增加超过了历史上的总和,最初由降低儿童死亡率,最近通过延伸生命长度。长寿是人类的伟大成就之一。

Yet it is seen as one of society’s great headaches. The problem lies in the increasing dependency of the old on the young. By 2100, the ratio of 65-plussers to “working-age” people will triple. As the world greys, growth, tax revenues and workforces will decline while spending on pensions and health care will increase. So, at least, goes the orthodoxy.然而,寿命增长同样是一个让人头痛的问题。问题在于老年人对年轻人的依赖性越来越强。在2100年大于65岁的人数将是在工作年龄内的人的三倍。随着世界上普遍的老龄化,税收和劳动力将会减少但是养老金和医疗保险花费将会增长。


Doom-mongers tend to miss a bigger point, however. Those extra years of life are predominantly healthy ones. Five of the additional six years that a British boy born in 2015 can expect to live, compared with one born in 1990, will be healthy, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, at the University of Washington. Too many governments and firms fail to recognise this fact, instead lumping all the extra years in the damning category of 65 and over. This binary way of thinking, seeing retirement as a cliff edge over which workers and consumers suddenly tumble, bears little relation to the real world. It also encourages unimaginative policy, whereby the retirement age is occasionally moved as lifespans lengthen.然而,末日论者往往错过一个关键点。增长的寿命是健康有劳动力的。华盛顿大学健康评估与评估研究所的数据认为,与1990年出生的英国出生的男孩相比,在2015出生的英国男孩更多的6年寿命中,将会有5年是健康的。太多的政府和企业并没有认识到这一事实,相反的,把所有的增长的寿命都归于65岁以上的类别中。这种二元思维方式,把退休看作是工人和消费者突然转变的悬崖边缘,还是一种与现实世界没有多大关系的转变。它还催生缺乏想象力的政策出现,退休年龄会随着寿命延长而变动。

A more radical approach would start by acknowledging that, in the rich world at least, many of the old are still young. As this week’s special report argues, they want to work, but more flexibly. They want to spend money, too. In western Europe the over-60s will account for 59% of consumption growth in cities between now and 2030, says McKinsey, a consultancy.至少在富裕国家,一种更激进的做法是承认许多老年人仍然年轻。正如本周的特别报告所言,他们想工作,但更灵活。他们也想花钱。麦肯锡的顾问说,在欧洲西部的60岁以上的老人将为现在到2030的城市消费增长贡献59%。

Declaring a new stage of life could help change perceptions. It has done so before. Today’s conception of childhood emerged in the 19th century, paving the way for child-protection laws and a golden age of children’s literature. Spotty, awkward 15-year-olds predated the 1940s, but only then did mystified adults coin the label “teenagers”, fuelling all sorts of products and services, from bobby socks to the music industry. In 1944 Life wrote that “American businessmen, many of whom have teen-age daughters, have only recently begun to realise that teen-agers make up a big and special market.” By the mid-1960s both Time and Newsweek had splashed “The Teen-Agers” on their covers.明确生命中的新阶段有助于改变观念。以前这样做过。今天的儿童观出现在十九世纪,为儿童保护法和儿童文学的黄金时代铺平了道路。在20世纪40年代,15岁的孩子比较尴尬,但是当困惑的成年人创造青年人这一个标签之后,引爆了整个相关产品和服务,从袜子到音乐市场,。在1944年的《生活》中写道:“美国的商人,他们中的很多人都有十几岁的女儿,最近才开始意识到青少年是一个非常大而特殊的市场。”到20世纪60年代中期,《新闻周刊》和《时代周刊》封面上都出现了青少年。

Marking out youthful old age as a distinct phase of life might have a similar effect, prodding employers and policymakers to think differently about how to keep the young old active. As life becomes longer, the word “retirement”, which literally means withdrawal to a place of seclusion, has become misleading. At 65 you are not clapped out, but pre-tired. So, as they embark on the next stage, here’s to all those pre-tirees.把较年轻的老年作为生命的一个明显的阶段,可能会产生类似的效果,促使雇主和政策制定者对如何保持较年轻的老年人的活力有不同的想法。随着生命变得越来越长,“退休”这个词的字面意思是“撤退到一个隐蔽的地方”,已成为一种误导。65岁时,你并没有被踢出,而是有点累了。所以,当开始下一阶段生命的时候,做好心理准备。

swirl [swɜːl]
n. 漩涡;打旋;涡状形;vi. 盘绕;打旋;眩晕;大口喝酒;vt. 使成漩涡
longevity [lɒn'dʒevɪtɪ]
n. 长寿,长命;寿命
expectancy [ɪk'spekt(ə)nsɪ; ek-]
n. 期望,期待
mortality [mɔː'tælɪtɪ]
n. 死亡数,死亡率;必死性,必死的命运
lifespan ['laɪfspæn]
n. 寿命;预期生命期限;预期使用期限
accomplishment [ə'kʌmplɪʃm(ə)nt; ə'kɒm-]
n. 成就;完成;技艺,技能
dependency [dɪ'pend(ə)nsɪ]
n. 属国;从属;从属物
decline [dɪ'klaɪn]
n. 下降;衰退;斜面;vt. 谢绝;婉拒;vi. 下降;衰落;谢绝
orthodoxy ['ɔːθədɒksɪ]
n. 正统;正教;正统说法
predominant [prɪ'dɒmɪnənt]
adj. 主要的;卓越的;支配的;有力的;有影响的
lump [lʌmp]
n. 块,块状;肿块;瘤;很多;笨人;adj. 成团的;总共的;vt. 混在一起;使成块状;忍耐;笨重地移动;vi. 结块;adv. 很;非常
retirement [rɪ'taɪəm(ə)nt]
n. 退休,退役
tumble ['tʌmb(ə)l]
n. 跌倒;翻筋斗;跌跤;vt. 使摔倒;使滚翻;弄乱;vi. 摔倒;倒塌;滚动;打滚;仓惶地行动;[ 过去式tumbled 过去分词tumbled 现在分词tumbling ]
unimaginative [ʌnɪ'mædʒɪnətɪv]
adj. 缺乏想象力的;无趣的
whereby [weə'baɪ]
adv. 凭借;通过…;借以;与…一致
occasional [ə'keɪʒ(ə)n(ə)l]
adj. 偶然的;临时的;特殊场合的
lengthen ['leŋθ(ə)n; -ŋkθ-]
vt. 使延长;加长;vi. 延长;变长
radical ['rædɪk(ə)l]
n. 基础;激进分子;[物化] 原子团;[数] 根数;adj. 激进的;根本的;彻底的
acknowledge [ək'nɒlɪdʒ]
vt. 承认;答谢;报偿;告知已收到
consultancy [kən'sʌlt(ə)nsɪ]
n. 咨询公司;顾问工作
perception [pə'sepʃ(ə)n]
n. 知觉;[生理] 感觉;看法;洞察力;获取
conception [kən'sepʃ(ə)n]
n. 怀孕;概念;设想;开始
emerge [ɪ'mɜːdʒ]
vi. 浮现;摆脱;暴露
pave [peɪv]
vt. 铺设;安排;作铺设之用;n. (Pave)人名;(西、塞)帕韦
spotty ['spɒtɪ]
adj. 发疹的;多斑点的;质量不一的
awkward ['ɔːkwəd]
adj. 尴尬的;笨拙的;棘手的;不合适的
predate [priː'deɪt]
vt. 在日期上早于(先于)
mystify ['mɪstɪfaɪ]
vt. 使神秘化;使迷惑,使困惑
fuelling ['fjuəliŋ]
n. 油;燃料;v. 加油(fuel的ing形式);加燃料;n. (Fuelling)人名;(英、德)菲林
youthful ['juːθfʊl; -f(ə)l]
adj. 年轻的;早期的
distinct [dɪ'stɪŋ(k)t]
adj. 明显的;独特的;清楚的;有区别的
policymaker ['pɒlɪsɪ,meɪkə]
n. 政策制定者;决策人
literal ['lɪt(ə)r(ə)l]
adj. 文字的;逐字的;无夸张的
withdrawal [wɪð'drɔː(ə)l]
n. 撤退,收回;提款;取消;退股
seclusion [sɪ'kluːʒ(ə)n]
n. 隔离;隐退;隐蔽的地方
embark [ɪm'bɑːk; em-]
vi. 从事,着手;上船或飞机;vt. 使从事;使上船


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