HOW TO GROW OLD
如何平静老去？
By Bertrand Ruell
波特兰·罗素
Translated by Zhang Xuan (jihuafeijiabcd@163.com)
1.In spite of the title, this article will really be on how not to grow old, which, at my time of life, is a much more important subject.My first advice would be to choose your ancestors carefully.Although both my parents died young, I have
done well in this respect as regards my other ancestors.My maternal grandfather, it is true, was cut off in the flower of his youth at the age of sixty-seven, but my
other three grandparents all lived to be over eighty.Of remoter ancestors I can only discover one who did not live to a great age, and he died of a disease which is now rare, namely, having his head cut off。
2.A great grandmother of mine, who was a friend of Gibbon, lived to the age of ninety-two, and to her last day remained a terror to all her descendants.My
maternal grandmother, after having nine children who survived, one who died in infancy, and many miscarriages, as soon as she became a widow, devoted herself to woman’s higher education.She was one of the founders of Girton College, and worked hard at opening the medical profeion to women.She used to relate how she met in Italy an elderly gentleman who was looking very sad.She inquired the cause of his melancholy and he said that he had just parted from his two
grandchildren.“Good gracious”, she exclaimed, “I have seventy-two grandchildren, and if I were sad each time I parted from one of them, I should have a dismal
existence!” “Madres naturale,” he replied.But speaking as one of the seventy-two, I prefer her recipe.After the age of eighty she found she had some difficulty in getting to sleep, so she habitually spent the hours from midnight to 3 a.m.in
reading popular science.I do not believe that she ever had time to notice that she was growing old.This, I think, is proper recipe for remaining young.If you have wide and keen interests and activities in which you can still be effective, you will have no reason to think about the merely statistical fact of the number of years you have already lived, still le of the probable brevity of you future.
3.As regards health I have nothing useful to say since I have little experience of illne.I eat and drink whatever I like, and sleep when I cannot keep awake.I never do anything whatever on the ground that it is good for health, though in
actual fact the things I like doing are mostly wholesome.
4.Psychologically there are two dangers to be guarded against in old age.One of these is undue absorption in the past.It does not do to live in memories, in regrets for the good old days, or in sadne about friends who are dead.One’s thoughts must be directed to the future and to things about which there is something to be done.This is not always easy: one’s own past is gradually increasing weight.It is easy to think to oneself that one’s emotions used to be more vivid than they are, and one’s mind keener.If this is true it should be forgotten, and if it is forgotten it will probably not be true.
5.The other thing to be avoided is clinging to youth in the hope of sucking vigor from its vitality.When your children are grown up they want to live their own lives, and if you continue to be as interested in them as you were when they were young, you are likely to become a burden to them, unle they are unusually callous.I do not mean that one should be without interest in them, but one’s interest should be contemplative and, if poible, philanthropic, but not unduly emotional.Animals become indifferent to their young as soon as their young can look after themselves, but human beings, owing to the length of infancy, find this difficult.
6.I think that a succeful old age is easiest for those who have strong impersonal interests involving appropriate activities.It is in this sphere that long experience is really fruitful, and it is in this sphere that the wisdom born of experience can be exercised without being oppreive.It is no use telling grown-up children not to make mistakes, both because they will not believe you, and because mistakes are an eential part of education.But if you are one of those who are incapable of
impersonal interests, you may find that your life will be empty unle you concern yourself with you children and grandchildren.In that case you must realize that while you can still render them material services, such as making them an
allowance or knitting them jumpers, you must not expect that they will enjoy your company.
7.Some old people are oppreed by the fear of death.In the young there is a
justification for this feeling.Young men who have reason to fear that they will be killed in battle may justifiably feel bitter in the thought that they have been cheated of the best things that life has to offer.But in an old man who has known human joys and sorrows, and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do, the fear of death is somewhat abject and ignoble.The best way to overcome it – so at least it
seems to me – is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life.An individual human existence should be like a river – small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing paionately past rocks and over waterfalls.Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlely lose their individual being.The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue.And if, with the decay of vitality, wearine increases, the thought of rest will not be unwelcome.I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do and content in the thought that what was poible has been done.
论变老
罗素作 张瑄译
看题目，似乎我要讨论的是如何变老的问题，其实不然。我要谈的恰恰是如何避免变老。活到我现在的年龄，这个问题也显得日渐重要起来。我的第一条建议是慎重选择祖先。虽然我的父母寿命都不算很长，但只要参看一下我的其他长辈就会发现我在这一方面还是比较成功的。我的外祖父的确是英年早逝，去世时只有六十七岁，但其他三位祖辈人无一没有超越八十岁的年龄。向上追溯，再远的长辈中未有长寿的，我只发现一位，而致使那位老人去世的疾病在当今时代是少之又少，名叫“砍头”。我的一位曾祖母曾与历史学家吉本相识，她活到了九十二岁，而且直到生命的最后一天仍然在子孙中保留着家长的威严。我的外祖母一生育有九个子女，另有一个幼年夭折，流产也有多次。外祖父去世后她把全部精力都投入到了女子高等教育的进步上。她是剑桥大学格腾女子学院的创始人之一，而且一直致力于在医药事业中为女性开辟一片天地。她曾经向我们讲过一件在意大利遇到的事情。当时她看到一位神情忧伤的老先生，就上前询问原因。老先生说他刚刚送走了他的两个孙子。“哎呀，”她说，“我有七十二个孙子孙女，要是他们每次离开我都伤心，那我还怎么活啊！”“您真是一位不寻常的母亲！”老人用意大利语说。作为七十二人当中的一员，我十分欣赏她的做法。八十岁以后，她发现入睡十分困难，就养成了午夜到凌晨三点阅读科普读物的习惯。我相信她抽不出一丝闲暇来注意自己的衰老。这在我看来正是保持年轻的要诀。如果你还保留着广泛而浓厚的兴趣，参与着仍能有所作为的活动，那么你就没有理由仅仅拘泥于自己的年龄，因为它不过是个数字，更没有必要为未来短暂而感到惋惜。
在健康方面我没有什么可以借鉴的经验，因为我没有多少得病的经历。我凭喜好吃喝，困意浓了就睡觉。我从来没有刻意地做过任何有益健康的事情，不过事实上我喜欢做的事情大多都裨益身体。
思想上应当预防两种情况。其一就是无休止的沉浸在过去当中。一味的回忆，为过去的那些美好时光而惋惜，为逝去的友人而神伤，对于我们，这是不应该的。人的思想应该指向未来，指向那些仍然有待处理的事情。做到这一点并不总是易事。往昔的分量会逐渐增加。人们很容易认为他们过去的情感更加生动，头脑也更加敏锐。如果这是事实，那么最好将它忘记；现在忘记，将来回想，很可能它就不再是事实了。
危险之二是对年轻人过分亲近，奢望能从他们身上夺取一些青春的气息。子女成年后都希望有自己的生活，如果你对他们还保留着与他们成年之前一样的关爱，那么除非你的子女对此异常冷漠，否则你将会成为他们的一种负担。我并不是说不应当对他们保留关爱，但这种关爱应当保留在思想中，或者力所能及地给他们些物质帮助，但绝不可以无节制的投入感情。在动物世界中，只要幼崽能够自理，父母对它们的态度就会变得冷漠；但人类幼年时间过于漫长，这使得这种情感很难淡化。
如果我们能够对人以外的事物抱有浓厚的兴趣，而且能够因这种兴趣而进行适当活动的话，老年时光应当是十分顺利的。正是在这一方面，丰富的阅历可以找到用武之地；也正是通过这种方式，阅历所凝结出的智慧能够得到运用，同时不会让人感到自己盛气凌人。告诉成年的子女不要犯错是没有任何用处的，因为其一他们不会听从，其二错误本身就是教育的一个重要组成部分。但如果你是一个对其它事物提不起兴趣的人，你会发现一旦停止对子女，以及他们子女的关心，生活就会变得空虚。这样的话你需要使自己意识到即使你可以为他们提供一些物质帮助，例如给他们些钱或者替他们织件毛衣，你也不能奢求他们喜欢你的陪伴。
有些老年人由于恐惧死亡而心情抑郁。这种情绪对年轻人来说无可厚非。即将奔赴战场的年轻人，他们有理由害怕牺牲；生命的礼物还没有得到就被命运骗去，感到痛苦也情有可原。但是，对于一个老人，已经饱经人生喜乐而又完成了力所能及的事业，恐惧死亡就显得可悲甚至可鄙了。缓解这种情绪的最好方法——至少在我看来——就是尽量拓展自己的爱好，使其更广泛，更脱离个人，直到个体的壁垒逐渐淡化，最终你的生命融入到万物当中。人的存在应当像是河流——最初涓涓细流，限制在狭窄的两岸之间，欢快的穿过岩石，跨越瀑布。渐渐的，两岸后退，河道变宽，河水也安静下来。最终，没有任何停留的迹象，它们融入大海，没有任何痛苦地失去了个体的存在。能够这样看待生命的人年老时就不会为死亡而恐惧，因为他知道他关心的事物会继续存在。而且，如果随着生命力的消逝，疲惫的感觉增加，那么将死亡视为休息也未尝不可。我情愿在工作中逝去，心中确定我的工作后继有人，心情愉悦因为我已为其竭尽全力。
