通勤學英語 15Mins Today

每日跟讀#596: Can You Learn Anything While You Sleep?

 

Is sleep learning possible? The answer is yes and no, depending on what we mean by "learning."

 

睡眠學習法可行嗎？答案可以是肯定的，也可以是否定的，取決於你怎麼定義「學習」。

 

Absorbing complex information or picking up a new skill from scratch by, say, listening to an audio recording during sleep is almost certainly impossible. But research shows that the sleeping brain is far from idle and that some forms of learning can happen.

 

睡覺時透過聽錄音來吸收複雜的資訊或從頭開展一項新技能，幾乎確定不可能成功。但研究顯示，睡眠期間的大腦並未空轉，可以產生某些形式的學習。

 

The first study to demonstrate a memory and learning benefit from sleep was published in 1914 by German psychologist Rosa Heine. She found that learning new material in the evening before sleep results in better recall compared to learning during the day.

 

德國心理學家羅莎．海涅在1914年發表第一項證明睡眠有益記憶和學習的研究。她發現，相較於在白天學習，在晚上睡前學新東西能記得更好。

 

In recent years, multiple studies have found that a basic form of learning, called conditioning, can happen during sleep. In a 2012 study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, Israeli researchers found that people can learn to associate sounds with odors during sleep.

 

近幾年，已有多項研究發現，睡眠期間能發生被稱為「制約作用」的基本學習形式。以色列研究團隊2012年發表在《自然神經科學雜誌》期刊的研究發現，人們可以在睡覺時學會將聲音與氣味相連結。

 

Although the memory was implicit, it could affect the people’s behavior, researchers found in a 2014 study published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

 

研究人員2014年發表於《神經科學期刊》的研究指出，雖然這類記憶是隱性的，但也能影響人們的行為。

 

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每日跟讀#595: Gaming’s New Lifestyle:Less Pizza, More Yoga

 

The squats and leg lifts were harder than they looked, and after a few sets, Alfonso Aguirre Rodriguez placed his hands on his knees and attempted to compose himself.

 

深蹲和抬腿動作比看起來要困難，做了幾組後，阿方索．艾吉瑞．羅德里蓋茲把手放在膝蓋上，試著讓自己放鬆。

 

In November, Aguirre, a 24-year-old professional video game player from Spain, joined the five-man roster of Origen, a League of Legends team that competes in the game’s top European league. The players — all signed in late fall — were told at the time that the team might be run a bit differently from what they were accustomed to.

 

24歲的艾吉瑞是西班牙的電子競技（電競）職業選手，去年11月加入五人組成的奧里根戰隊，這是一支在電玩「英雄聯盟」歐洲頂尖聯盟中競賽的隊伍。該隊選手－全於去年秋季末尾簽約加入－當時即被告知，這支隊伍的運作方式也許會和他們習慣的有些不同。

 

Now here they were, five young men who make their living sitting almost completely still in front of desktop computers, sweating through an hourlong workout in a cramped gym.

 

現在，眼前就是這麼五個靠著坐在桌上電腦前幾乎全不移動來維生的年輕男子，他們正在一間狹窄的健身房裡汗流浹背地鍛鍊一小時。

 

“I think I’m going to puke my oatmeal,” said Aguirre, who is known in the gaming community as Mithy. “I’m dying.”

 

「我覺得我快把燕麥片吐出來了。」艾吉瑞說，他在電玩社群中被喚作米西。「我快死了。」

 

Some years ago, traditional sports leagues were revolutionized by young analysts wielding computers. The way things had always been done, it turned out, was not always the best way to do things. Now echoes of that transformation have arrived in the growing world of professional e-sports, where gamers are being shepherded toward a new frontier, oddly, by the old, corporeal wisdom of traditional sports.

 

數年前，傳統運動聯盟被使用電腦的年輕分析家給顛覆了。事實證明，人們一向用來做事情的方法，並非永遠是最好的方法。現在這項轉變的迴響已觸及成長中的職競世界，說也奇怪，選手們竟被傳統運動的古老、肉體智慧引向新的領域。

 

The debate about whether competitive gamers can be considered athletes may never end. In the meantime, though, gamers are increasingly acting like them.

 

關於電競選手能否被視為運動員的爭論，恐怕永遠不會停止。而於此同時，玩家的作為卻越來越像運動員了。

 

Origen is one of two teams owned by Rfrsh Entertainment, an e-sports company based in Copenhagen. Two years ago, the organization hired Kasper Hvidt, a former captain of Denmark’s national handball team, to be its sporting director. Hvidt, 43, had no previous exposure to gaming. But that was the point.

 

奧里根是以哥本哈根為據點的電競公司「更新娛樂」旗下兩支隊伍之一，兩年前，這家公司雇用丹麥手球國家隊前隊長卡斯伯．赫維特為運動總監。43歲的赫維特以前不曾接觸過電玩，但這正是重點。

 

E-sports in recent years have crept into the mainstream, attracting new fans, new sponsors and new investment. The top professionals now make six-figure salaries and earn even more with endorsements and prize money. And yet, Hvidt observed, their approach to performance remained amateurish.

 

近年電競已打入主流，吸引新粉絲、新贊助商和新投資。頂尖職業選手現在可賺進六位數薪水，而且靠代言和競賽獎金還能賺更多。不過赫維特說，選手優化表現的方法仍然很不專業。

 

Eating right, sleeping right, exercising, cleaning up for sponsors — these ideas have undergirded traditional sports for generations. In e-sports, they are regarded as almost radical.

 

吃得對、睡得好、做運動、為贊助商打理好門面－這些想法數個世代以來支撐著傳統運動。但在電競界，卻被視為近乎激進。

 

“They don’t look at themselves as physical human beings,” said Hvidt, who won the European handball championship with Denmark in 2008.

 

「他們並未視自己為活生生的人類。」2008年帶領丹麥隊贏得歐洲手球錦標賽冠軍的赫維特說。

 

“It’s common sense, in a way. But with them, it was not.”

 

「這多少可算是常識了，對他們來說卻並非如此。」

 

更多跟讀練習單元，就在http://www.15mins.today/daily-shadowing

 

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每日跟讀#595: Gaming’s New Lifestyle:Less Pizza, More Yoga

 

The squats and leg lifts were harder than they looked, and after a few sets, Alfonso Aguirre Rodriguez placed his hands on his knees and attempted to compose himself.

 

深蹲和抬腿動作比看起來要困難，做了幾組後，阿方索．艾吉瑞．羅德里蓋茲把手放在膝蓋上，試著讓自己放鬆。

 

In November, Aguirre, a 24-year-old professional video game player from Spain, joined the five-man roster of Origen, a League of Legends team that competes in the game’s top European league. The players — all signed in late fall — were told at the time that the team might be run a bit differently from what they were accustomed to.

 

24歲的艾吉瑞是西班牙的電子競技（電競）職業選手，去年11月加入五人組成的奧里根戰隊，這是一支在電玩「英雄聯盟」歐洲頂尖聯盟中競賽的隊伍。該隊選手－全於去年秋季末尾簽約加入－當時即被告知，這支隊伍的運作方式也許會和他們習慣的有些不同。

 

Now here they were, five young men who make their living sitting almost completely still in front of desktop computers, sweating through an hourlong workout in a cramped gym.

 

現在，眼前就是這麼五個靠著坐在桌上電腦前幾乎全不移動來維生的年輕男子，他們正在一間狹窄的健身房裡汗流浹背地鍛鍊一小時。

 

“I think I’m going to puke my oatmeal,” said Aguirre, who is known in the gaming community as Mithy. “I’m dying.”

 

「我覺得我快把燕麥片吐出來了。」艾吉瑞說，他在電玩社群中被喚作米西。「我快死了。」

 

Some years ago, traditional sports leagues were revolutionized by young analysts wielding computers. The way things had always been done, it turned out, was not always the best way to do things. Now echoes of that transformation have arrived in the growing world of professional e-sports, where gamers are being shepherded toward a new frontier, oddly, by the old, corporeal wisdom of traditional sports.

 

數年前，傳統運動聯盟被使用電腦的年輕分析家給顛覆了。事實證明，人們一向用來做事情的方法，並非永遠是最好的方法。現在這項轉變的迴響已觸及成長中的職競世界，說也奇怪，選手們竟被傳統運動的古老、肉體智慧引向新的領域。

 

The debate about whether competitive gamers can be considered athletes may never end. In the meantime, though, gamers are increasingly acting like them.

 

關於電競選手能否被視為運動員的爭論，恐怕永遠不會停止。而於此同時，玩家的作為卻越來越像運動員了。

 

Origen is one of two teams owned by Rfrsh Entertainment, an e-sports company based in Copenhagen. Two years ago, the organization hired Kasper Hvidt, a former captain of Denmark’s national handball team, to be its sporting director. Hvidt, 43, had no previous exposure to gaming. But that was the point.

 

奧里根是以哥本哈根為據點的電競公司「更新娛樂」旗下兩支隊伍之一，兩年前，這家公司雇用丹麥手球國家隊前隊長卡斯伯．赫維特為運動總監。43歲的赫維特以前不曾接觸過電玩，但這正是重點。

 

E-sports in recent years have crept into the mainstream, attracting new fans, new sponsors and new investment. The top professionals now make six-figure salaries and earn even more with endorsements and prize money. And yet, Hvidt observed, their approach to performance remained amateurish.

 

近年電競已打入主流，吸引新粉絲、新贊助商和新投資。頂尖職業選手現在可賺進六位數薪水，而且靠代言和競賽獎金還能賺更多。不過赫維特說，選手優化表現的方法仍然很不專業。

 

Eating right, sleeping right, exercising, cleaning up for sponsors — these ideas have undergirded traditional sports for generations. In e-sports, they are regarded as almost radical.

 

吃得對、睡得好、做運動、為贊助商打理好門面－這些想法數個世代以來支撐著傳統運動。但在電競界，卻被視為近乎激進。

 

“They don’t look at themselves as physical human beings,” said Hvidt, who won the European handball championship with Denmark in 2008.

 

「他們並未視自己為活生生的人類。」2008年帶領丹麥隊贏得歐洲手球錦標賽冠軍的赫維特說。

 

“It’s common sense, in a way. But with them, it was not.”

 

「這多少可算是常識了，對他們來說卻並非如此。」

 

更多跟讀練習單元，就在http://www.15mins.today/daily-shadowing

 

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每日跟讀#594: Can Japan end its love affair with plastic?

 

From bento boxes to individually wrapped bananas, plastic reigns supreme in Japan. According to the UN, Japan generates more plastic packaging waste per capita than any other country except the United States.

 

從便當盒到個別包裝的香蕉，塑膠包裝在日本非常盛行。據聯合國統計，日本是美國之外，人均塑膠包裝廢棄物最多的國家。

 

Therefore, in 2018, Japan’s government unveiled a proposal with the goal of reducing the country’s 9.4 million tonnes of plastic waste a year by 25 percent by 2030. A key part of the proposal is to require businesses to charge for plastic bags.

 

因此，日本政府在2018年公布一項提案，希望讓日本每年940萬噸的塑膠廢棄物，在2030年前減少25%，關鍵做法之一就是要求商家對塑膠袋收費。

 

However, the proposals so far still lack any specific measures on limiting other types of single-use plastic waste, such as straws or cups. With the national government moving slowly, local governments and businesses have in some cases taken up the mantle themselves.

 

然而，在限制吸管、杯子等其他一次性塑膠廢棄物方面，這項提案至今仍欠缺詳細措施。由於中央政府進展緩慢，地方政府和企業已率先在某些層面扮演領頭羊。

 

While public awareness about plastic pollution is growing in Japan, the country’s famed waste sorting and pristine streets had the effect of "hiding" the scale of the problem. The Japanese government needs more ambitious goals.

 

雖然日本對於塑膠污染的公眾意識正在提升，但這個國家知名的垃圾分類系統及乾淨的街道，有效「掩飾」了這個問題的規模。日本政府必須設立更宏大的目標。

 

Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1289047

 

更多跟讀練習單元，就在http://www.15mins.today/daily-shadowing

 

用email訂閱就可以收到所有15mins.Today最新節目通知。

每日跟讀#594: Can Japan end its love affair with plastic?

 

From bento boxes to individually wrapped bananas, plastic reigns supreme in Japan. According to the UN, Japan generates more plastic packaging waste per capita than any other country except the United States.

 

從便當盒到個別包裝的香蕉，塑膠包裝在日本非常盛行。據聯合國統計，日本是美國之外，人均塑膠包裝廢棄物最多的國家。

 

Therefore, in 2018, Japan’s government unveiled a proposal with the goal of reducing the country’s 9.4 million tonnes of plastic waste a year by 25 percent by 2030. A key part of the proposal is to require businesses to charge for plastic bags.

 

因此，日本政府在2018年公布一項提案，希望讓日本每年940萬噸的塑膠廢棄物，在2030年前減少25%，關鍵做法之一就是要求商家對塑膠袋收費。

 

However, the proposals so far still lack any specific measures on limiting other types of single-use plastic waste, such as straws or cups. With the national government moving slowly, local governments and businesses have in some cases taken up the mantle themselves.

 

然而，在限制吸管、杯子等其他一次性塑膠廢棄物方面，這項提案至今仍欠缺詳細措施。由於中央政府進展緩慢，地方政府和企業已率先在某些層面扮演領頭羊。

 

While public awareness about plastic pollution is growing in Japan, the country’s famed waste sorting and pristine streets had the effect of "hiding" the scale of the problem. The Japanese government needs more ambitious goals.

 

雖然日本對於塑膠污染的公眾意識正在提升，但這個國家知名的垃圾分類系統及乾淨的街道，有效「掩飾」了這個問題的規模。日本政府必須設立更宏大的目標。

 

Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1289047

 

更多跟讀練習單元，就在http://www.15mins.today/daily-shadowing

 

用email訂閱就可以收到所有15mins.Today最新節目通知。

每日跟讀#593: To Purge Some of Social Media’s Ugliness, an Unlikely Lesson From Wall Street

 

Exactly a year ago, Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, testified before Congress and apologized for his company’s role in enabling “fake news, foreign interference in elections and hate speech.”

 

整整一年前，臉書執行長祖克柏去美國國會作證，並為臉書使「假新聞、外國介入選舉和仇恨言論」有機會出現而道歉。

 

It was a memorable moment amid a broader reckoning that continues to inspire debate over how closely Facebook and other technology giants should be regulated.

 

這是範圍更廣的反省潮流中一個值得紀念的時刻，這股潮流持續引發人們討論，對臉書等科技巨頭的規範究竟該多嚴格。

 

As Silicon Valley grapples with its version of becoming too big to fail, Zuckerberg and his industry peers might take lessons from Wall Street, whose leaders have some experience with government scrutiny. (On Wednesday, bank chief executives were being grilled by Congress.)

 

此際矽谷正努力應付自己版本的「大到不能倒」問題，祖克柏與同業不妨學學華爾街，那兒的領袖對政府監督有些經驗。（幾位銀行執行長4月10日被美國國會找去盤問。）

 

Although it won’t address all of Big Tech’s problems, a simple rule that bolsters the banking system could do a lot to clean up some of the uglier aspects of social media that Zuckerberg felt compelled to apologize for.

 

有一條促進銀行體系發展的簡單規則，雖不能解決科技巨擘所有問題，卻能清除社群媒體較醜陋、祖克柏覺得必須為之道歉的一些面向。

 

The concept is “know your customer” — or KYC, as it’s called on Wall Street — and it’s straightforward: Given concerns about privacy, security and fraud when it comes to money, no bank is allowed to take on a new customer without verifying its existence and vetting its background.

 

這概念就是「認識你的客戶」，也就是華爾街所謂的KYC，含意簡單明瞭：由於擔心發生金錢方面的隱私、安全和詐騙問題，沒有一家銀行獲准在不查證真偽和審查背景的情況下接納新客戶。

 

The idea of applying such a rule to social media has been floated before, but it has so far failed to take hold. Now may be the right time.

 

有人提過把這項規則應用在社群媒體，但到目前都沒實現。也許時候到了。

 

Consider this: Facebook has said it shut down more than 1.5 billion fake accounts from April through September last year (yes, that’s a “B” in billion). That was up from the 1.3 billion such accounts it eliminated in the six previous months. To put those numbers in context, Facebook has a reported user base of 2.3 billion.

 

想想看：臉書說，從去年4月到9月，臉書共刪除15億個假帳號（沒錯，是億，不是百萬），比臉書前六個月刪除的13億個要多。把這些數字放到大背景下看，臉書號稱有23億用戶。

 

What if social media companies had to verify their users the same way banks do? You'd probably feel more confident that you were interacting with real people and were not just a target for malicious bots.

 

要是社群媒體公司必須像銀行一樣查證用戶真偽，那會如何？你可能會更相信你在跟真人互動，而不只是惡意機器人的攻擊目標。

 

First, let’s acknowledge the practical considerations. Vetting the vast universe of those on social media would be a gargantuan task.

 

首先，讓我們坦誠面對實務上的考量。審查多如恆河沙數的社群媒體用戶，會是極其繁重的工作。

 

When I broached the idea of applying a “know your customer” principle to their business, several senior executives at social media companies recoiled at the prospect, questioning how they would pull off such a huge feat, especially in emerging markets where many people lack credit cards, and even fixed street addresses can be hard to come by.

 

當我向幾名社群媒體公司高層談到應用「認識你的客戶」原則時，他們不以為然，質疑如何能完成這個壯舉，尤其是在許多人沒有信用卡，甚至連固定住址都難以取得的新興市場。

 

Then there are the legitimate complaints about Facebook and its ilk already knowing too much about users. Who would want them to know even more? And what would the companies do to protect personal information better than they have in the past?

 

此外，各界本已合理抱怨臉書這類網站對用戶所知太多。誰還想要這些網站知道更多？這些公司又該怎麼做才能比先前更有效保護個資？

每日跟讀#593: To Purge Some of Social Media’s Ugliness, an Unlikely Lesson From Wall Street

 

Exactly a year ago, Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, testified before Congress and apologized for his company’s role in enabling “fake news, foreign interference in elections and hate speech.”

 

整整一年前，臉書執行長祖克柏去美國國會作證，並為臉書使「假新聞、外國介入選舉和仇恨言論」有機會出現而道歉。

 

It was a memorable moment amid a broader reckoning that continues to inspire debate over how closely Facebook and other technology giants should be regulated.

 

這是範圍更廣的反省潮流中一個值得紀念的時刻，這股潮流持續引發人們討論，對臉書等科技巨頭的規範究竟該多嚴格。

 

As Silicon Valley grapples with its version of becoming too big to fail, Zuckerberg and his industry peers might take lessons from Wall Street, whose leaders have some experience with government scrutiny. (On Wednesday, bank chief executives were being grilled by Congress.)

 

此際矽谷正努力應付自己版本的「大到不能倒」問題，祖克柏與同業不妨學學華爾街，那兒的領袖對政府監督有些經驗。（幾位銀行執行長4月10日被美國國會找去盤問。）

 

Although it won’t address all of Big Tech’s problems, a simple rule that bolsters the banking system could do a lot to clean up some of the uglier aspects of social media that Zuckerberg felt compelled to apologize for.

 

有一條促進銀行體系發展的簡單規則，雖不能解決科技巨擘所有問題，卻能清除社群媒體較醜陋、祖克柏覺得必須為之道歉的一些面向。

 

The concept is “know your customer” — or KYC, as it’s called on Wall Street — and it’s straightforward: Given concerns about privacy, security and fraud when it comes to money, no bank is allowed to take on a new customer without verifying its existence and vetting its background.

 

這概念就是「認識你的客戶」，也就是華爾街所謂的KYC，含意簡單明瞭：由於擔心發生金錢方面的隱私、安全和詐騙問題，沒有一家銀行獲准在不查證真偽和審查背景的情況下接納新客戶。

 

The idea of applying such a rule to social media has been floated before, but it has so far failed to take hold. Now may be the right time.

 

有人提過把這項規則應用在社群媒體，但到目前都沒實現。也許時候到了。

 

Consider this: Facebook has said it shut down more than 1.5 billion fake accounts from April through September last year (yes, that’s a “B” in billion). That was up from the 1.3 billion such accounts it eliminated in the six previous months. To put those numbers in context, Facebook has a reported user base of 2.3 billion.

 

想想看：臉書說，從去年4月到9月，臉書共刪除15億個假帳號（沒錯，是億，不是百萬），比臉書前六個月刪除的13億個要多。把這些數字放到大背景下看，臉書號稱有23億用戶。

 

What if social media companies had to verify their users the same way banks do? You'd probably feel more confident that you were interacting with real people and were not just a target for malicious bots.

 

要是社群媒體公司必須像銀行一樣查證用戶真偽，那會如何？你可能會更相信你在跟真人互動，而不只是惡意機器人的攻擊目標。

 

First, let’s acknowledge the practical considerations. Vetting the vast universe of those on social media would be a gargantuan task.

 

首先，讓我們坦誠面對實務上的考量。審查多如恆河沙數的社群媒體用戶，會是極其繁重的工作。

 

When I broached the idea of applying a “know your customer” principle to their business, several senior executives at social media companies recoiled at the prospect, questioning how they would pull off such a huge feat, especially in emerging markets where many people lack credit cards, and even fixed street addresses can be hard to come by.

 

當我向幾名社群媒體公司高層談到應用「認識你的客戶」原則時，他們不以為然，質疑如何能完成這個壯舉，尤其是在許多人沒有信用卡，甚至連固定住址都難以取得的新興市場。

 

Then there are the legitimate complaints about Facebook and its ilk already knowing too much about users. Who would want them to know even more? And what would the companies do to protect personal information better than they have in the past?

 

此外，各界本已合理抱怨臉書這類網站對用戶所知太多。誰還想要這些網站知道更多？這些公司又該怎麼做才能比先前更有效保護個資？

Summary:

This article discusses the interruption of patients in hospital, when they should be recovering and should be left to sleep and rest. It suggests that a better system should be put in place to make sure that patients are left alone to rest as much as possible to aid in their recovery.

 

Full article here: https://www.15mins.today/blog/551-revelers-across-europe-get-into-the-carnival-spirit

 

Vocabulary and sentences:

 

disruption n. : a form of the word “disrupt” which means to make something difficult to continue in a normal way

Is bad traffic a disruption in big cities?

Are car alarms a major disruption at night? 

 

acute adj. : very serious or severe

 Is there an acute shortage of bananas?

 Are the world's environmental problems acute? 

 

addiction n. : the condition of being addicted to something

Are you addicted to coffee John?

Is internet addiction a big problem? 

 

更多跟讀練習單元，就在http://www.15mins.today

 

 

用email訂閱就可以收到所有15mins.Today最新節目通知。

Summary:

This article discusses the interruption of patients in hospital, when they should be recovering and should be left to sleep and rest. It suggests that a better system should be put in place to make sure that patients are left alone to rest as much as possible to aid in their recovery.

 

Full article here: https://www.15mins.today/blog/551-revelers-across-europe-get-into-the-carnival-spirit

 

Vocabulary and sentences:

 

disruption n. : a form of the word “disrupt” which means to make something difficult to continue in a normal way

Is bad traffic a disruption in big cities?

Are car alarms a major disruption at night? 

 

acute adj. : very serious or severe

 Is there an acute shortage of bananas?

 Are the world's environmental problems acute? 

 

addiction n. : the condition of being addicted to something

Are you addicted to coffee John?

Is internet addiction a big problem? 

 

更多跟讀練習單元，就在http://www.15mins.today

 

 

用email訂閱就可以收到所有15mins.Today最新節目通知。

每日跟讀#592: How Long Can We Live?

 

Since 1900, average life expectancy around the globe has more than doubled, thanks to better public health, sanitation and food supplies. But new study of long-lived Italians indicates that we have yet to reach the upper bound of human longevity.

 

自1900年以來，由於公共衛生、環境衛生和食品供應獲得改善，全球人類的平均壽命增加了一倍有餘。不過，對長壽的義大利人所做的一項新研究指出，人類尚未達到壽命的上限。

 

“If there’s a fixed biological limit, we are not close to it,” said Elisabetta Barbi, a demographer at the University of Rome. Barbi and her colleagues published their research Thursday in the journal Science.

 

羅馬大學人口統計學家伊莉莎貝塔．巴比說：「如果說有固定生物限制的話，我們還未靠近這個上限。」巴比和她的同事周四（七月十二日）於「科學」雜誌發表了他們的研究結果。

 

The current record for the longest human life span was set 21 years ago, when Jeanne Calment, a Frenchwoman, died at the age of 122. No one has grown older since — as far as scientists know.

 

現今人類壽命的最高紀錄出現於21年前，這位法國女性珍妮．卡爾蒙122歲時去世。其後，就科學家所知，沒有人比她更長壽。

 

In 2016, a team of scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx made the bold claim that Calment was even more of an outlier than she seemed. They argued that humans have reached a fixed life span limit, which they estimated to be about 115 years.

 

2016年，紐約市布朗克斯區「阿爾伯特．愛因斯坦醫學院」的一支科學家團隊，大膽宣稱卡爾蒙是個十分異常的特例。他們說，人類已到達固定壽命的上限，估計這個上限約是115歲。

 

A number of critics lambasted that research. “The data set was very poor, and the statistics were profoundly flawed,” said Siegfried Hekimi, a biologist at McGill University.

 

一些批評者對那項研究發出抨擊。 麥吉爾大學的生物學家齊格佛里德．希基米說：「數據集很差，統計數字存在嚴重缺陷。」

 

Anyone who studies the limits of longevity faces two major statistical challenges.

 

任何研究壽命極限的人均面對兩大統計上的挑戰。

 

There aren’t very many people who live to advanced ages, and people that old often lose track of how long they’ve actually lived. “At these ages, the problem is to make sure the age is real,” Barbi said.

 

不是很多人能活到高齡，而那麼長壽的人通常已記不清楚他們真正的歲數。巴比說：「到了這等年歲，最大問題在於確保年齡的真實性。」

 

Barbi and her colleagues combed through Italy’s records to find every citizen who had reached the age of 105 between 2009 and 2015. To validate their ages, the researchers tracked down their birth certificates.

 

巴比和同事爬梳了義大利的紀錄，找出那些在2009到2015年間，年滿105歲的所有公民。為了驗證他們的年齡，研究人員還追查了他們的出生證明。

 

The team ended up with a database of 3,836 elderly Italians. The researchers tracked down death certificates for those who died in the study period and determined the rate at which various age groups were dying.

 

該團隊最終建立了一個由3,836名義大利老人組成的數據庫。這些研究人員追蹤了研究期間去世者的死亡證明，並計算出不同年齡組的死亡速度。

 

It’s long been known that the death rate starts out somewhat high in infancy and falls during the early years of life. It climbs again among people in their 30s, finally skyrocketing among those in their 70s and 80s.

 

人類早已知道，人類的死亡率一開始在嬰兒期是稍高，到了幼年時會下降。30幾歲時死亡率會再攀升，最後在70幾、80幾時暴升。

 

If the death rate kept exponentially climbing in extreme old age, then human life span really would have the sort of limit proposed by the Einstein team in 2016.

 

倘若死亡率在極端高齡者中呈倍數上升，那麼人類壽命可能如愛因斯坦醫學院團隊在2016年所提，真的已來到那種上限。

 

But that’s not what Barbi and her colleagues found. Among extremely old Italians, they discovered, the death rate stops rising — the curve abruptly flattens into a plateau.

 

不過，巴比和她的同事發現情況並非如此。他們發現，在義大利的極端高齡者中，死亡率停止上升，也就是曲線突然變平，變成了高原。

 

The researchers also found that people who were born in later years have a slightly lower mortality rate when they reach 105.

 

研究人員還發現，較晚出生的人，在他們達到105歲後，死亡率略低。

 

“The plateau is sinking over time,” said Kenneth W. Wachter, a demographer at the University of California, Berkeley, who co-authored the new study. “Improvements in mortality extend even to these extreme ages.”

 

柏克萊加州大學的人口統計學家、這項新研究的共同作者肯尼斯．W．華契特說：「高原隨著時間而下降。死亡率的改善甚至延伸到這些極端高齡者。」

 

“We’re not approaching any maximum life span for humans yet,” he added.

 

他補充說：「我們還沒接近人類的任何最高壽命。」

 

Source: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/329795/web/

 

更多跟讀練習單元，就在http://www.15mins.today/daily-shadowing

 

 

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