Centenarians Proliferate and Live Longer
百歲人瑞大增 更長壽、活躍
By Sabrina Tavernise

Move over, millennials. The centenarians are coming.
請讓開路，千禧世代。百歲人瑞進城了。

The number of Americans age 100 and older – those born during Woodrow Wilson’s administration or earlier – is up by 44 percent since 2000, federal health officials reported last month.
聯邦衛生官員上月發表報告指出，年紀上百的美國人，亦即在伍德羅．威爾遜政府年代或更早就出生的人，2000年以來增加了44％之多。

There were 72,197 of them in 2014, up from 50,281 in 2000, according to the report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 1980, they numbered about 15,000.
根據美國聯邦疾病防制中心的報告，2014年，美國百歲人瑞共7萬2197人，比2000年的5萬281人要多。 1980年，他們約是1萬5000人。

Even demographers seemed impressed.
就連人口學家也感訝異。

“There is certainly a wow factor here, that there are this many people in the United States over 100 years old,” said William H. Frey, the senior demographer at the Brookings Institution. “Not so long ago in our society, this was somewhat rare.”
布魯金斯研究所資深人口統計學家威廉．佛瑞說：「這其中當然有令人驚嘆之處，美國竟有這麼多百歲人瑞。不久前，這在我們社會裡都還算罕見。」

Not only are there more centenarians, but they are living even longer. Death rates declined for all demographic groups of centenarians – white, black, Hispanic, female, male – in the six years ending in 2014, the report said.
百歲老人不僅人數增多 ，壽命也更長。報告指出，至2014年為止的6年裡，所有百歲人瑞的人口群體，無論白人、黑人、拉美裔、女性，或男性，死亡率均告下降。

Women, who typically live longer than men, accounted for more than 80 percent of centenarians in 2014.
通常比男性來得長壽的女性，2014年占百歲人瑞八成以上。

Centenarians are an elite group. Most people born in 1900 did not live past 50. But chances of survival to such ripe ages have improved with the rise of vaccines and antibiotics, and improvements in hygiene, medical treatments and technology. There are exceptions: The explosion of opioid overdose deaths in recent years has erased progress for some groups, particularly young and middle-age whites.
百歲人瑞是菁英團體。1900年出生的人，多數活不過50歲。但隨著疫苗、抗生素出現， 衛生、醫療和技術的提升，活到這種熟齡的機率跟著上升。其中也有例外：吸食類鴉片過量致死近幾年爆炸性成長，削去了一些群體的進展，特別是年輕和中年的白人。

Malvina Hunt, a resident of central New York, who turned 100 in October, said her secret was vigorous exercise. Every morning, she does leg lifts and rapid arm raises to get the blood flowing.
馬維娜．韓特說她的秘訣是劇烈運動，她是紐約市中心居民，去年10月過百歲生日。每天早上，她做抬腿和快速舉臂動作，讓血液流動。

And she still works – as a greeter in a winery. She also helps build cartons used to ship wine.
而且她仍在工作，在一家酒廠當迎賓員。她還幫忙做運送葡萄酒用的紙箱。

Whites are driving the aging of America. In the last full census in 2010, the median age for whites was 42, far older than the Hispanic population, whose median age was 27.
白人正驅使美國人口老化。美國上次全面人口普查是2010年，白人平均年齡42歲，遠高於拉美裔人口的平均年齡27歲。

Baby boomers, a large bulge in the population, have started to enter retirement and will soon be bumping up the numbers of the elderly to record levels. Experts are warning that the United States is unprepared to handle such large numbers of seniors, especially as the life expectancy of older people continues to rise.
在人口中占頗大比例的嬰兒潮世代，已開始邁入退休年齡，且不久後就會將老人人數推上歷史新高。專家警告說，美國尚未為處理數量如此龐大的老人做好準備，特別是老人壽命還持續向上攀升。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/21/health/centenarians-proliferate-and-live-longer.html

Video：Here’s the secret to a long life, from those who’ve lived them.
http://www.nytimes.com/video/nyregion/100000004112367/the-secret-to-a-long-life.html

2016-02-21．聯合報．D2．紐約時報賞析．王麗娟譯

說文解字看新聞 王麗娟

文中第一段的millennial（又稱millennial generation， 千禧世代），泛指1980至2000，或1980至1997年出生的人，他們是二戰後嬰兒潮（post-World War II baby boom）的第二代， 目前大致是從10多歲到30多歲。

上一個millennium （千禧年、千年），亦即西元2000年時，因許多夫妻特別挑選這個特別的年份生寶寶，因而出現嬰兒潮（baby boom），這一年出生的嬰兒稱為千禧寶寶（millennium baby）。本文並未特別說明是指千禧年那一年出生的嬰兒，應泛指整個千禧世代。

baby boom（嬰兒潮） 泛指在特定時期與特定地區，生育出現高峰的現象，而在嬰兒潮出生的人，稱為baby boomer。

千禧寶寶嬰兒潮並無法與文章最後一段提及的baby boomer（嬰兒潮世代）所出生的嬰兒數量同日而語。本文的baby boomer（又稱baby boomer generation） ，在美國，專指二戰結束，1945至1965年出生的人，當時全球各地都出現生育高峰現象。這些人目前大概是50出頭至70歲。有時，文章會清楚寫明是post-World War II baby boomer，postwar baby-boom generation。

Crumbling, Destitute Schools Threaten Detroit’s Recovery
學校破敗又窮困 底特律難復甦
By Julie Bosman

In Kathy Aaron’s decrepit public school, the heat fills the air with a moldy, rancid odor. Cockroaches, some 3 inches long, scuttle about until they are squashed by a student who volunteers for the task. Water drips from a leaky roof onto the gymnasium floor.
在凱西．亞倫破舊的公立學校裡，空氣悶熱，有發黴、腐臭的味道。蟑螂，有些足足有三吋長，到處亂竄，直到一名自告奮勇的學生把牠們壓扁。屋頂的漏水滴到體育館的地板上。

“We have rodents out in the middle of the day,” said Aaron, a teacher of 18 years. “Like they’re coming to class.”
教了18年書的老師亞倫說：「我們這兒大白天也會有老鼠跑出來，好像牠們也來上課。」

Detroit’s public schools are a daily shock to the senses, run down after years of neglect and mismanagement, while failing academically and teetering on the edge of financial collapse. Recently teachers again protested the conditions, calling in sick en masse and forcing a shutdown of most of the city’s almost 100 schools.
底特律的公立學校每天都帶來感官的震撼，因長年忽略和管理不當而破敗不堪，教學成效甚差，財務也快垮了。最近學校老師再度抗議這些狀況，集體請病假，迫使這個城市的近百所學校大部分停課。

Things have become so bad, district officials say, that the Detroit public school system could be insolvent by April.
學區官員說，情況糟透了，底特律公立學校系統可能在四月之前破產。

“They’re in need of a transformational change,” Michigan’s governor, Rick Snyder, a Republican, acknowledged in his State of the State speech. “Too many schools are failing at their central task. Not all Detroit students are getting the education they deserve.”
共和黨籍的密西根州州長李克．史奈德在年度州情報告中承認，「學校需要根本的改革，太多學校的核心任務都不及格。並非所有底特律學生都得到了他們應受的教育。」

Many worry that the state of the schools will hamper Detroit’s recovery from bankruptcy, a recovery evident in the new loft-style townhouses and the bustling Whole Foods that Aaron passes near her school, where she teaches fifth grade.
許多人擔心這些學校的狀況將阻礙底特律從破產中復甦，復甦的跡象已顯現在開放空間風格的新連棟住宅，以及亞倫路過的她學校附近「全食超市」的熱鬧景象。她在學校教五年級。

Residents wonder how the city can ever recoup its lost population and attract young families if the public schools are in abysmal shape.
當地居民想知道，如果公立學校的狀況有如地獄深淵，這個城市如何補回流失的人口，以及吸引年輕家庭。

“As we begin to rebuild this city and we’re seeing money and development moving in, people are understanding that there is no way we can improve Detroit without a strong educational system,” said Mary Sheffield, a native of Detroit and a City Council member. “We have businesses and restaurants and arenas, but our schools are falling apart and our children are uneducated. There is no Detroit without good schools.”
底特律土生土長的市議員瑪麗．薛菲爾德說：「在我們開始重建這個城市之際，我們看到錢和發展湧入，人們逐漸了解，沒有健全的教育體系，我們絕不可能改善底特律。我們有商家、餐廳和大型場館，但我們的學校在崩壞之中，我們的孩子沒有受到教育。沒有好的學校，就沒有底特律。」

The problems predate the municipal bankruptcy. One of the biggest is enrollment, which has been in free fall. In 2000, Detroit Public Schools had close to 150,000 students; this year, there are fewer than 45,000.
這些問題在市政府破產之前即已出現。最大問題之一是註冊人數直線下滑。西元2000年，底特律公立學校有接近15萬名學生；今年不到4萬5千名。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/21/us/crumbling-destitute-schools-threaten-detroits-recovery.html

2016-02-21．聯合報．D2．紐約時報賞析．田思怡譯