86 The Best Years of One’s Life

名称：86 The Best Years of One’s Life
内容简介：
晨读英语美文 文化百科
[00:13.36]The ups and downs of life may seem to
[00:16.75]have no predictable plan.
[00:18.66]But scientists now know
[00:21.15]there are very definite patterns that almost all people share.
[00:24.79]Even if you've passed some of your
[00:27.76]“prime”, you still have other prime years to experience in the future.
[00:32.54]Certain important primes seem to peak later in life.
[00:37.87]When are　you smartest?
[00:40.36]From 18 to 25,
[00:42.61]according to IQ scores,
[00:44.30]but
[00:45.35]you're wiser and more experienced with increasing age.
[00:47.94]You're sharpest in your 20's; around 30,
[00:51.46]memory begins to decline,
[00:54.38]particularly your ability to perform mathematical computations.
[01:00.13]But your IQ for other tasks climbs.
[01:03.78]Your vocabulary at age 45,
[01:07.02]for example is three times as great as
[01:09.73]when you graduated from college.
[01:11.81]At 60, your brain possesses almost four times
[01:15.60]as much information as it did at age 21.
[01:18.59]This trade-off between sharpness and wisdom
[01:23.44]has led psychologists to suggest
[01:26.71]that “maturity quotients” （MQ）be adopted for adults.
[01:28.89]When are you happiest?
[01:31.96]You have the best physical sense of yourself from 15 to　24;
[01:38.06]the best　professional sense from 40 to 49.
[01:42.68]Before age 24,
[01:45.89]we believe that our happiest years are yet to come; over 30,
[01:49.77]we believe that they're behind us.
[01:51.98]A National Health Survey agrees; After age 30,
[01:54.47] we “become more realistic and do not view happiness as a goal in itself.
[02:00.26]If we maintain our health,
[02:02.97]achieve professional and emotional goals,
[02:05.25]then happiness,
[02:06.46]we feel,
[02:07.32]will follow”.
[02:08.49]When are you most creative?
[02:10.10]Generally between 30 and 39,
[02:13.25]but the peak varies with different professions.
[02:17.07]Mozart wrote a symphony and four sonatas by age eight,
[02:21.09]and Mendelssohn composed his best known work
[02:24.52]A Midsummer Night's Dream at 17,
[02:27.25]but most of the great music was written by men between 33 and 39.
[02:31.65]Though the peak in most fields comes early
[02:36.75]—most Nobel prizewinners did their top research
[02:39.71]in their late 20's and 30's
[02:43.01]—creative people continue to produce quality work
[02:45.42] throughout their lives.
[02:48.03]For the “well-conditioned mind”,
[02:50.56]there is no upper limit.