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The secret to longevity
基因决定你是否长寿
Accountant Sydney Brookman loves two things, working, which he’s been doing since 1937."I don’t wanna retire, I wanna keep working as long as I can live."
会计师Sydney Brookman喜爱两件事，工作——自从1937年以来一直不曾停止。“我不想退休，我想活多久工作多久。”
And telling jokes. "I can rattle off 100 jokes, 50 I can tell, just by memory."
另外一件就是说笑话。“我能熟练地说100个笑话，其中50个仅凭记忆就信手拈来。”
He is 97 years old."And I feel fine. Physically I feel great. My sexual demands may be a little less, but I can't help that."
他现在已经97岁了。“我觉得很好。身体感觉也很好。性需求或许减少了，但是这一点没有办法。”
He is a youngster compared to Rhea Tauber, a former school teacher. She writes a weekly column for her local paper and is working on her autobiography. She recently turned 100.
与Rhea Tauber相比，他已经算是年轻人了。她以前是一位学校老师，现在为当地一家报纸写每周专栏，并在写自传。最近她刚刚100岁。
"They held a big party for me on my 100 birthday and everybody in the whole county came down. Because they've never heard of anybody who is 100 years old still working."
“100岁生日的时候他们给我举办了一个大型派对，整个县的人都来了。因为他们从来没有听说过100岁仍然工作的人。”
For the last 35 years, she’s been living on her own and said she's happy that way. It keeps her on her toes.
过去35岁，她一直独自生活，而且非常快乐。这让她一直保持身体健康。
"When I was 100 years old, they said, 'You shouldn’t be living alone. You get all steps to climb up.' But that’s good for me. It's my excercise: up and down the steps."
“当我100岁的时候，他们说，‘你不应该再一个人独自生活了。你还要爬那么多台阶。’但是对我来说很好。这就是我的运动：上下台阶。”
At a time when the American life expectancy is 78 years, there is no obvious reason why Rhea and Sydney should still be alive, much less thriving. Sydney's eating habits would make a nutritionist weep.
在美国人的平均寿命为78岁的时代，Rhea和Sydney如此长寿并没有明显的原因。Sydney的饮食习惯或许会让营养师欲哭无泪。
"I love fried chicken. I love fried fish. I hate vetegatables. I violate every dietary law." And Rhea is referred to by her own doctors as "the miracle lady". "They can’t figure out why. I love the way I do, enjoy life the way I do, go about, travel."
“我喜欢吃炸鸡，炸鱼。我不喜欢蔬菜。我违反了所有的营养定律。”Rhea的医生说她是“奇迹老人”。“他们不知道原因何在。我喜欢我做事的方式，喜欢我的生活方式，享受生活，外出旅游。”
So why are they living as long and as well as they do? The answer, according to one doctor, is all in their genes.
那么为什么他们能如此长寿？一位医生表示，这是基因决定的。
"This is, for example, a box, where we store the blood and the DNA of our subjects."
“就好像一个箱子，我们存储血液和DNA等所有东西的地方。”
For the last nine years, Doctor Nir Barzilai, Albert Einstein Medical College, has been decoding the DNA of 1500 very old people and their children, trying to find the secret to longevity. Both Rhea and Sydney are enrolled in the study.
过去九年，来自阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦学院的Nir Barzilai医生一直致力于解密1500名非常长寿的老人和他们的子孙后代的DNA，试图寻找长寿的秘诀。Rhea和Sydney都参加了这项研究。
"Only one of 10 thousand is going to be 100 and we notice that the people who get to be 100, they either delay or they don’t get age-related diseases."
“10000人中只有1人能活到100岁，我们注意到，随着他们达到100岁高龄，他们延迟或者根本不会患与高龄有关的疾病。”
So far, Barzilai has identified three genes that seem to play a big role.
目前为止，Barzilai识别出三个对长寿发挥重大作用的基因。
"All the three genes that we've found so far are protecting from a disease that leads to diabetes and heart disease." ("What’s new?","See this one."...)
“我们目前发现的三个基因都能预防导致糖尿病和心脏病的疾病。”
The genes appear to promote long life by protecting against the illnesses of old age, including heart disease, stroke and Alzheimer’s. "For centenarians, their aging has been delayed by about 30 years."
这些基因似乎可以通过预防与年龄有关的疾病来促进长寿。其中包括心脏病，中风和老年痴呆症。“对百岁老人来说，他们的老化被推迟了大约30年。”
That it all comes down to the genes is no surprise to Sydney. He has an older brother, who just turned 100. And his grandmother lived until 113.
对Sydney来说，这一切归结为基因问题并不出奇。他有一位兄长，刚刚100岁。他的祖母活到113岁。
"It’s an active God. That's, it's genes from my grandma with regard to what age."
“这都是上帝的意思。我祖母的基因让我们长寿。”
As for the rest of us, Barzilai hopes that, one day, his research will lead to a drug, (Oh, that’s it. That's a centenarian. Wow!) giving everyone a shot at living like this.
对其他人来说，Barzilai希望有一天他的研究能够开发出一种药物，让每个人注射疫苗后能够长寿。
"When my granddaughter married, I was doing the Cha Cha. I was leading the Cha Cha line and the kids were screaming 'That's grandma dancing.'"
“我的孙女结婚的时候，我跳了恰恰舞。我带领许多人跳恰恰舞，孩子们尖叫：那是祖母在跳舞。”
