雖已暮年，壯心不已

After the fireworks come the resolutions. The New Year is that time in our lives when we think about fresh horizons and greener pastures. But those who might be tempted to state that change is a young persons game need to think again. With our maturing but increasingly healthy population， age could no longer be the thing that stops us trying out something new.

Take Srikumar Sen， a former boxing 3）correspondent who， at the age of 81， has published his first work of fiction， a novel that has already won a literary award. Buoyed by the success of his 4）debut， he has now at work on his second book.

Dame Joan Bakewell， the previous governments voice for elder people and a critic of societys lack of imagination when it comes to the countrys ageing population， says retirement is no longer about finding a hobby to keep you 5）occupied. It is an opportunity to grab a 6）new lease of life.“Its enormously 7）reinvigorating to find a new interest or activity as you grow older，” she says. “It stops you slowing down and 8）getting stuck in a routine. It keeps people young and it opens up new friendships， gives people skills they perhaps didnt know they had.” She adds： “Things are much more 9）flexible and theyve got to get more so. Our country has got to 10）harness the skills of older people. Employers have got to get more flexible， use the skills that are there and keep old people young.”

History is 11）smattered with figures who made a significant career change， or had a breakthrough moment in their life， at an age when society traditionally expected them to be 12）winding down.

13）Peter Mark Roget could have 14）rested on the 15）laurels of a respectable scientific career when he was somewhat 16）reluctantly forced to retire from the Royal Society. Instead he 17）plunged into a project that he had spent his life thinking about but never had time to complete—the result of which was the first edition of the 18）thesaurus bearing his name.

放完煙火之后，就到了下定決心的時刻。新年是我們?nèi)松兴伎纪卣剐乱曇昂烷_拓更廣闊天地的時刻。但是那些傾向于認(rèn)為改變是年輕人游戲的人，需要重新再想一想。隨著社會成熟發(fā)展，人口健康日益提升，年齡不應(yīng)再是阻止我們嘗試新事物的因素。

以斯里庫馬·森——一名前拳擊通訊記者為例， 81歲的他出版了自己的第一部小說著作，并且已經(jīng)贏得一項文學(xué)獎項。以他處女作的成功為支撐，他正在致力于創(chuàng)作他的第二部作品。

瓊·貝克維爾夫人是前任政府的老人福利主管，她經(jīng)常指責(zé)社會在處理人口老齡化問題上缺乏想象力，她說，退休不再只是為了找到一個愛好，從而讓自己保持忙碌狀態(tài)，而是獲得一次新生的機(jī)會。“隨著年齡的增長，找到新的愛好或是活動是件非常振奮人心的事情，”她說道。“這么做會避免你停滯不前或是陷入平淡無奇的日子，使人們保持年輕的心態(tài)，為我們締造結(jié)交新朋友的機(jī)會，賦予大家或許自身都未曾察覺的技能。”她補(bǔ)充說道：“情況已經(jīng)比以前更靈活了，也必須要更加靈活多變。我們國家必須充分利用老年人的技能。雇主們必須要學(xué)會變通，充分利用現(xiàn)有技術(shù)，使老年人保持年輕狀態(tài)。”

歷史上并不乏人物例子，他們在社會傳統(tǒng)認(rèn)為該安享晚年之際才來做出重大職業(yè)變換或為生命創(chuàng)造突破。

彼得·馬可·羅熱帶著幾分不情愿從英國皇家學(xué)院退休后，本來可以在受人尊敬的科學(xué)事業(yè)桂冠下榮享晚年。……