Triumphs of Experience
GEORGE E. VAILLANT
"The beauty of the Grant Study is that ...
it has followed its subjects for nine decades. The big finding is that
you can teach an old dog new tricks. The men kept changing ... even in
their 80s and 90s.”
—David Brooks,
New York Times online
New York Times online
At a time when many people around the world are living into
their tenth decade, the longest longitudinal study of human development ever
undertaken offers some welcome news for the new old age: our lives continue to
evolve in our later years, and often become more fulfilling than before.
在世界各地的許多人開始他們的百歲生活的時候，一項有史以來最長的人類發展的縱向研究，告訴我們一些新老年的可喜消息：我們的生活，在年紀大了還會繼續發展，而且往往比以前更為充實。
Begun in 1938, the Grant Study of Adult Development charted the physical and emotional health of over 200 men, starting with their undergraduate days. The now-classic Adaptation to Life reported on the men’s lives up to age 55 and helped us understand adult maturation. Now George Vaillant follows the men into their nineties, documenting for the first time what it is like to flourish far beyond conventional retirement.
1938開始年，格蘭特的成人發展研究計畫開始描繪200多位男人，從他們的大學時代開始時的身體和精神健康。現在生活之適應已成為經典，它報導了人到55歲的生活情形，並幫助我們理解成人的成熟過程。現在，喬治·威能追蹤這些男人到90多歲，第一次紀錄了遠遠超過了傳統的退休年齡的生活，告訴我們那些會蓬勃發展。
Reporting on all aspects of male life, including relationships, politics and religion, coping strategies, and alcohol use (its abuse being by far the greatest disruptor of health and happiness for the study’s subjects), Triumphs of Experience shares a number of surprising findings. For example, the people who do well in old age did not necessarily do so well in midlife, and vice versa. While the study confirms that recovery from a lousy childhood is possible, memories of a happy childhood are a lifelong source of strength. Marriages bring much more contentment after age 70, and physical aging after 80 is determined less by heredity than by habits formed prior to age 50. The credit for growing old with grace and vitality, it seems, goes more to ourselves than to our stellar genetic makeup.
在世界各地的許多人開始他們的百歲生活的時候，一項有史以來最長的人類發展的縱向研究，告訴我們一些新老年的可喜消息：我們的生活，在年紀大了還會繼續發展，而且往往比以前更為充實。
Begun in 1938, the Grant Study of Adult Development charted the physical and emotional health of over 200 men, starting with their undergraduate days. The now-classic Adaptation to Life reported on the men’s lives up to age 55 and helped us understand adult maturation. Now George Vaillant follows the men into their nineties, documenting for the first time what it is like to flourish far beyond conventional retirement.
1938開始年，格蘭特的成人發展研究計畫開始描繪200多位男人，從他們的大學時代開始時的身體和精神健康。現在生活之適應已成為經典，它報導了人到55歲的生活情形，並幫助我們理解成人的成熟過程。現在，喬治·威能追蹤這些男人到90多歲，第一次紀錄了遠遠超過了傳統的退休年齡的生活，告訴我們那些會蓬勃發展。
Reporting on all aspects of male life, including relationships, politics and religion, coping strategies, and alcohol use (its abuse being by far the greatest disruptor of health and happiness for the study’s subjects), Triumphs of Experience shares a number of surprising findings. For example, the people who do well in old age did not necessarily do so well in midlife, and vice versa. While the study confirms that recovery from a lousy childhood is possible, memories of a happy childhood are a lifelong source of strength. Marriages bring much more contentment after age 70, and physical aging after 80 is determined less by heredity than by habits formed prior to age 50. The credit for growing old with grace and vitality, it seems, goes more to ourselves than to our stellar genetic makeup.
經驗的勝利報告男性生活的所有方面，包括其關係，政治和宗教，各種應對進退的策略，飲酒情形（迄今，這項研究的受試者的酗酒程度，乃是其健康和幸福的最大殺手），它與我們分享一些令人驚訝的發現。例如，老年時狀況好的，中年時不一定那麼好，反之亦然。雖然該研究證實，從慘兮兮的童年復元是可能的，而快樂童年的回憶，乃是終生的力量源泉。70歲以後，婚姻更讓人心滿意足，而 80歲後的身體狀況，由遺傳決定的少，而多半由50歲之前所形成的習慣造成的。這樣看來，慢慢優雅而富活力地變老，多歸功於自力，而非原有的基因構成。
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