Humans could live to 150, according to 'breakthrough' study
一项“突破性”研究显示，人类或许可以活到150岁
Humans may be capable of living to 150, research suggests. The average Briton dies aged 81, with women generally surviving four years longer than their male counterparts.
一项研究表明，人类或许可以活到150岁。
英国人的平均寿命为81岁，女性的平均寿命要比男性长4年。
While the thought of living another seven decades may sound far-fetched, scientists from the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in New York believe humans could still be going strong at 120 to 150 years old.
虽然说再活70年的想法听起来有些不可思议，但纽约罗斯威尔公园综合癌症中心的科学家们认为，人类可以健康地活到120至150岁。
Writing in the journal Nature Communications, the scientists explain how people become less resilient with age, taking longer to recover from so-called internal stress.科学家们在《自然通讯》杂志上撰文，解释了为什么随着年龄的增长，人们的适应力会有所降低，即需要更长的时间从所谓的内在压力中恢复过来。
A complete loss of resilience, an inability to recover, may not occur until a person is well into their centenarian years. This "breakthrough" study could "guide the development of drugs" that slow the ageing process and "extend healthspan".
一个人或许只有在百岁之后才会完全丧失恢复能力（即无法复原）。
这项“突破性”研究可以“指导药物的开发”，减缓衰老过程以及“延长健康寿命”。
"This work, in my opinion, is a conceptual breakthrough because it determines and separates the roles of fundamental factors in human longevity: the ageing – defined as progressive loss of resilience, and age-related – as 'executors of death' following the loss of resilience," said study author Professor Andrei Gudkov.
该研究报告的作者安德烈·古德科夫教授说：“在我看来，这项工作是一个概念上的突破，因为它决定并分离了影响人类长寿的基本因素的作用：衰老（可定义为逐渐失去弹性，与年龄相关）是失去弹性之后的‘死亡遗嘱’。
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It explains why even most effective prevention and treatment of age-related diseases could only improve the average, but not the maximal lifespan, unless true anti-ageing therapies have been developed.
它解释了为什么即使是最有效的与年龄有关的疾病的预防和治疗也只能提高平均寿命，而不能提高最长寿命，除非有人开发出真正的抗衰老疗法。
Professor David Sinclair, from Harvard, agreed, adding: "The investigation shows recovery rate is an important signature of ageing that can guide the development of drugs to slow the process and extend healthspan."
哈佛大学的大卫·辛克莱教授对此表示赞同，他补充道：“调查显示，恢复速度是衰老的一个重要标志，可以用于指导开发延缓衰老过程、延长健康寿命的药物。
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Ageing is a complex process that begins at birth. Unhealthy habits – like smoking, drinking excessively and eating poorly – are known to cut years off a person's life, however, the effect of our so-called biological clock was less clear.
衰老是一个从出生就开始的复杂过程。
众所周知，不良的生活习惯（比如吸烟、酗酒和不良饮食）会缩短一个人的寿命，然而，被我们称作生物钟的影响却不那么明显。
Working alongside the Singapore-based biotech firm Gero, the Roswell scientists analysed the blood tests and physical activity level of a group of volunteers over time.罗斯威尔的科学家们与新加坡生物科技公司Gero合作，对一组志愿者随着时间推移的血液测试和身体活动水平进行了分析。
Results suggest healthy individuals are very resilient against the processes that can cause disease. A drop in this resilience is then linked to the onset of ill health and death.
结果表明，健康的人对可能导致疾病的过程有着很强的抵抗力。
这种复原力的下降与疾病和死亡的发生有关。
This resilience was found to naturally decline with age, with a 40-year-old taking around two weeks to recover from internal stress, stretching to six weeks among 80-year-olds.
研究发现，这种复原力会随着年龄的增长而自然下降，40岁的人从内在压力中恢复过来可能需要大约两周的时间，而80岁的人则需要6周的时间。
Based on mathematical models, humans are thought to lose the ability to recover at 120 to 150 years old, even if the individual does not have a disease. A person's life expectancy may therefore not be improved by treating medical conditions alone, but by targeting the root cause of this declining resilience.
基于数学模型，人类或许会在120至150岁时彻底失去恢复能力，即使他没有任何疾病。
因此，一个人的预期寿命或许不能仅仅通过改善医疗状况来提高，还要通过针对这种复原力下降的根本原因来提高。
(全文共413个词)
重难点词汇：
counterpart [ˈkaʊntərpɑːrt] n. 副本；配对物；对应的人或物
resilience [rɪˈzɪliəns] n. 恢复力；弹力
centenarian [ˌsentɪˈneriən] n. 百岁或百岁以上的人。