Growing Old

●資料來源：空中英語教室電子報 /  摘錄自 Growing Old 文章（http://epaper.pchome.com.tw/archive/oldpost.htm?s_code=0081）

Growing Old (Part 1＆2 of 9)
Happy birthday! Do birthdays really make people happy? Of course they do. Birthdays
celebrate the day we were born. Moreover, that extra candle on the cake represents another year of growth and maturity—or so we hope. We all like to imagine that we're getting wiser and not just older.

生日快樂！生日真能使人快樂嗎？這是當然的啊，慶生是慶祝我們來到世
上的日子，除此之外，蛋糕上多加一支蠟燭也代表了另一年的成長與成熟——
或者說至少我們希望能如此。
 
Most of us enjoy observing the miracle of growth in others, as well. For instance, seeing our children develop and learn new things makes us feel proud. For Americans, like people in most cultures, growing up is a wonderful process. But growing old? That's a different story.

我們都喜歡想像著自己能夠越來越有智慧，而不只是變老，我們大部份人也同時較喜歡
觀察別人成長的奇蹟。例如：看到我們的孩子長大並學習新的事物使我們感到
驕傲。而對美國人而言，就像大部份其他文化中的人們一樣，長大是一個美好
的歷程，但是變老呢？那可就是另外一回事了。