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MARIE ASHDOWN, 90, has lived in New York City for nearly 60 years, in an apartment on the east side of Manhattan.
90岁的玛丽·阿什当在纽约市住了近60年，她的公寓在曼哈顿东区。
New York has beaten down younger people than her,
纽约击垮了年轻人，但没有击垮她，
but Ashdown, executive director of the Musicians Emergency Fund, loves city life.
但作为音乐家紧急基金会的常务董事，阿什当非常喜欢城市生活。
"I have a fire in my belly," she says.
“我内心充满了激情，”她说。
"There’s not one minute of the day that I don’t learn."
“一天之中我没有一刻不在学习。”
As a classical-music connoisseur, Ashdown organizes two concerts a year at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
作为古典音乐鉴赏家，阿什当每年都会在林肯艺术中心举办两场音乐会。
When she’s not working, she takes weekend trips outside of the city, and spends her free time binding old books.
不工作的时候，她就会出城周末旅行，或者在空闲的时候用于装订旧书。
Like many New Yorkers several decades her junior, she often orders takeout rather than bother with cooking.
像许多比她小几十岁的纽约年轻人一样，她也经常订外卖而不是自己下厨。
"We have the best and worst here," says Ashdown.
“纽约这里有最美好的事物，也有最糟糕的，”阿什当说。
"We learn to cope, live on the defensive and conquer fear."
“我们必须学会面对，学会处处防御，战胜恐惧。”
She’s hardly the only senior who loves city living.
然而，她不是唯一一个热爱城市生活的老年人。
In the U.S., 80% of people ages 65 and older are now living in metropolitan areas,
在美国，65岁及以上老年人有80％都住在大都市地区，
and according to the World Health Organization,
而且，根据世界卫生组织的统计，
by 2030, an estimated 60% of all people will live in cities—many of them over age 60.
到2030年，预计所有人口中城市人口的比例将达到60%——而其中很多人都是60岁以上的老人。
You may lose a little sidewalk speed and have to work harder to get up and down subway stairs,
走人行道时你可能就得放慢速度，上下地铁的楼梯也会变得更费劲，
but cities increasingly rank high on both doctors’ and seniors’ lists of the best places to age gracefully.
然而，在医生和老人列出的最适宜养老的地方清单中，城市的排名日益靠前。
Every year, the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging (CFA)
每年，米尔肯未来衰老研究中心（CFA）
ranks the best metropolitan places for successful aging, and most years, major cities sweep the top 10 spots.
都会对最适宜养老的大都市进行排名，大多数年份，核心大城市都包揽了前十。
No wonder: cities tend to have strong health systems,
也难怪，城市通常有强大的卫生系统，
opportunities for continued learning, widespread public transportation and an abundance of arts and culture.
持续学习的机会，发达的公共交通以及丰富的艺术和文化生活。
That’s not to say that people can’t feel isolated or lonely in cities, but you can get lonely in a country cottage too.
这并不是说在城市里人们就不会觉得孤单或孤独，但住在乡村小屋你就就不会孤独了吗？
In cities, the cure can be just outside your door.
但在城市里，感到孤单的时候出门你就可以得到治疗。
"We all long to bump into each other," says Paul Irving, the chairman of the Milken Institute CFA.
“我们都渴望遇见，”米尔肯研究院CFA主席保罗欧文说。
"The ranges of places where this can happen in cities tend to create more options and opportunities.
“在城市中发生这种情况的地方很多，往往能够创造更多的选择和机会。”
It’s that aspect—the other-people aspect—that may be the particularly challenging for some,
对某些人来说，格外棘手的地方可能恰恰就在这里 - 就在这个“别人”身上，
especially as we age and families disperse.
特别是在我们逐渐老去，家人逐渐分散的时候。
But there are answers: a 2017 study in the journal Personal Relationships found that it can be friends, not family, who matter most.
但对此我们已经有答案了：《个人关系》杂志2017年的一项研究发现，最重要的可能是朋友而不是家人。
The study looked at 270,000 people in nearly 100 countries
该研究调查了来自近100个国家的27万人，
and found that while both family and friends are associated with happiness and better health as people aged,
发现随着年龄的增长，虽然家人和朋友都与幸福和健康有关，
the health link remained only for people with strong friendships.
但似乎只有那些有着深厚友谊的人之间才会维持健康的关联。
