How old is “old” ?

How old is “old” ?   【小题1】Two hundred years ago, you were old at 35. That was the average life then. At the turn of this century, as medical knowledge advanced, the average life span(长度) increased to 45. In 1950, 70-year-olds were really old. Today, a healthy 70-year-old is looking forward to many more active years.

So, how old is old? The answer is one you’ve heard many times, from all sorts of people. “You are as old (or young) as you feel!” The calendar(日历) simply tells you how many years you have lived.   【小题2】

Once an unknown author wrote , “ 【小题3】Nobody grows old by living a number of years; people grow old by giving up their goals.”

【小题4】Alice Brophy, when she was with the New York City commission for the Aging, said, “It upsets me when people say, ‘Gee, you look young for your age!’ What does that mean? Is there some model that you’re supposed to look a certain way at 65 and 75 and 85? You know you can die old at 30 and live young at 80.”

There are many wrong ideas about aging.   【小题5】Here are some of the more common ones. For example, most older people are in poor health, or older people are unable to change.

From VOA learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

Next time you make yourself a hot cup of tea or coffee, you might want to let it cool down a bit before drinking. Researchers say letting your hot drinks cool off could help you avoid some kinds of cancer.

In fact, the United Nations' cancer research agency decided to list hot drinks with lead, gasoline and exhaust fumes as   “possibly carcinogenic.” In other words, each one could cause cancer.

Researchers at IARC(The International Agency for Research on Cancer) found evidence that drinks at temperatures above 65 degrees Celsius, when swallowed, can cause cancer of the esophagus(食管).

In developed countries, health experts have linked esophageal cancer to smoking and alcoholic drinks. However, researchers said “this form of cancer is more common in areas where people drink beverages at very high temperatures.”

In Europe and the United States, many people drink coffee and tea at temperatures around 60 degrees Celsius. And they often add milk which lowers the temperature considerably.

The findings, however, are good news for coffee drinkers.

In 1991, the World Health Organization listed coffee as “possibly carcinogenic.” WHO officials have since changed their position on that listing. They now suggest that the temperature of your hot drink is a greater risk factor than the actual drink itself.

Christopher Wild is the director of the IARC. When he spoke with the AFP news agency, he said the results “suggest that drinking very hot beverages is one probable cause of esophageal cancer and that it is the temperature, rather than the drinks themselves, that appears to be responsible.”

But how common is esophageal cancer? Worldwide, it is the eighth most common cancer. Cancer of the esophagus killed about 400,000 people in 2012.

I’m Anna Matteo.

The race skywards began in America. In the late1800s, industrialization had driven urban populations and land prices up, making tall buildings increasingly cost-effective, according to Carol Willis, director of the Skyscraper Museum in New York, “The very first tall buildings were office buildings that concentrated a work force, piled one on top of the other in order to make business very efficient, ”she says.

Like all major changes in architecture, the trend was underpinned by engineering. The development of steel framework, which could be used instead of load-bearing stones, made it easier and cheaper to build tall. The coming of the elevator, meanwhile, made living on higher floors far more convenient.

Though similar in shape, today's skyscrapers (摩天大楼) look little like those built in the first half of the 20^th century. This is mostly thanks to architecture's next major technological shift：the curtain wall.

Postwar developments in manufacturing meant that huge panes of glass could be produced quickly and uniformly, and glass windows soon became the front of choice for high-rises. As well as allowing for greater floor space and more natural light, glass exteriors (外部) help. buildings resist greater wind loads.

There are now 191 completed skyscrapers that are at least 300 meters tall. But that doesn't mean our cities will grow taller indefinitely. While each additional story adds sellable floor space, construction costs also rise. All buildings reach a point where adding an extra floor will cost more money than it brings.

“Every city wants to have this landmark that gives that sense of distinct culture, ”but it also needs places for people to live and work in urban settings“without the city sprawling (无序扩张), ”explains Hong Kong architect Simon Chan.

The next big challenge facing architects goes beyond height：At a time when buildings and their construction account for more than a third of the world's energy consumption and contribute about 40% of greenhouse gas emissions(排放), there are new costs to consider.

Whether it's employing more energy-efficient materials, encouraging natural air or using buildings themselves to generate solar or wind energy, reducing carbon emissions is the new frontier for many skyscraper architects.