America is growing older. Fifty years ago, only 4 out of every 100 people in the United States were 65 or older. Today, 10 out of every 100 Americans are over 65. The aging of the population will affect American society in many ways education, medicine, and business. Quietly, the graying of America has made us a very different society—one in which people have a quite different idea of what kind of behavior is suitable at various ages.
美国正在变老。50年前，美国每100人中65岁及以上人口只有4人。如今，每100个美国人中有10人超过65岁。人口老龄化将在教育、医学和商业等许多方面影响美国社会。美国的老龄化慢慢让我们变成了一个完全不同的社会，在这个社会里，不同年龄段的人们对各种行为有着完全不同的看法。
A person’s age no longer tells you anything about his / her social position, marriage or health. There’s no longer a particular year in which one goes to school or goes to work or gets married or starts a family. The social clock that kept us on time and told us when to go to school, get a job, or stop working isn’t as strong as it used to be. It doesn’t surprise us to hear of a 29-year-old university president or a 35—year—old grandmother, or a 70-year-old man who has become a father for the first time. Public ideas are changing.
一个人的年龄不再是他/她的社会地位、婚姻或健康状况。上学、工作、结婚或组建家庭也不再有特定的年龄。让我们准时上学、找工作或退休的社会时钟已经不像过去那么可靠了。听到29岁的大学校长，35岁的祖母，或者70岁的老人第一次成为父亲，我们不会感到惊讶。公众观念正在改变。
Many people say, I am much younger than my mother—or my father—was at my age. No one says “Act your age anymore”. We’ve stopped looking with surprise at older people who act in youthful ways.
许多人说，我比我的母亲或父亲在我这个年龄时要年轻得多。没有人会说“行为要符合你的年龄”，我们也不再惊讶地看着那些举止年轻的老年人。
