Sports Medicine

   

   AGEING

   

   Reading comprehension

    1. In the passage there are a number of sentences missing. Read it through and decide where
       the sentences below should go.

   

   a)      But it is important to make a distinction between calmly relaxed and passively lazy.

   b)      Puritanical arguments about smoking and drinking have little to support them.

   c)      People who want a long life with an alert old age should never retire.

   d)      But, in gaining success, individuals should not overstress themselves.

   e)      A sense of humour, a feeling that life is fun, are strong weapons against ageing.

   f)       Such activities as walking and gardening prolong life enormously because they are
   ´non-intensive´ forms of all-over bodily movement.

   g)      That does not imply a military-style masochism but the ordering of life and the
   imposition of a pattern on the events of the day.

   

   

   For adults who remain vivaciously childlike in old age, there has to be a sustained enthusiasm
   for some aspect of life. (1)…………………. If they are forcibly retired they should immerse
   themselves in some new, absorbing activity.

               Some people are naturally physically more active than others, and are at a
   considerable advantage providing their activities are not result of stress. (2)………………

   The more earnest ageing exercisers display a conscious or unconscious anxiety about their
   health. If they take exercise too seriously it will work against them. Older individuals who
   take up intensive athletic activity are usually people who fear declining health. Yet it is
   crucial that physical exercise - as we grow old – should be extensive rather than intensive
   and, above all, fun.

               A calm temperament favours longevity. Those who are sharply aggressive,
   emotionally explosive or anxious are at a grave disadvantage. (3)…………………………

   Relaxation does not contradict the idea of passionate interest. Indeed, zest for living,
   eagerness to pursue chosen subjects are vital in long life.

               Thinking about ´the good old days´, complaining about how the world is
   deteriorating, criticising the younger generations, are sure signs of an early funeral.

               Being successful is a great life-stretcher, and can even override such
   life-shorteners as obesity and fondness for drink. (4)……………………… And success must always be
   measured in personal terms. A hill-shepherd may feel just as successful in their own way as a
   Nobel Laureate.

               In personal habits, the long-lived are generally moderate. Extremes of diet are
   not common. A mixed diet seems to favour longevity. (5)……………………..Many long-lived individuals
   enjoy nicotine and alcohol – in moderation.

               Most long-lived people have a sense of self-discipline. (6)……………… The person who
   lives long because they walk a mile a day does so because they do it everyday, as part of an
   organised exercise.

               Over and over, during my researches, it emerged that long life goes with a
   “twinkle in the eye”. (7)…………………………… The sour-faced puritan and the solemn bore soon begin to
   lose ground, leaving their more amused contemporaries to enjoy the last laugh.

               Finally, nothing is to be gained by a head-in-the-sand avoidance of the facts of
   life and death. The healthiest solution is to accept that one´s span on Earth is limited and
   then to live every day, in the present, and to the full.

   (Adapted from Desmond Morris: The Book of Ages).

   

   Dealing with unfamiliar words

   The writer uses a number of images to describe particular characteristics or attitudes:

   a)      “an early funeral”

   b)      “a great life stretcher”

   c)      “a twinkle in the eye”

   d)      “the sour-faced puritan”

   e)      “a head-in-the-sand avoidance”

   

   Choose their probable meanings from the list below.

   (i)                  enthusiasm and youthful spirits

   (ii)                a shortened life

   (iii)               a refusal to face reality

   (iv)              a love of alcohol and food

   (v)                someone who is morally very strict

   (vi)              a good way of living longer

   (vii)             ignorance and narrow-mindedness

   (viii)           fondness for practical jokes

   (ix)              shyness and nervousness

   

   

   

   Writing summaries

   

    1. Make a list of things which the writer recommends as important for a long life.

               Example: You should: have enthusiasm for some aspect of life

   

    2. Now think of examples of the kinds of things which the writer might recommend you to do or
       not to do. Join the notes you made in 1 into connected sentences using phrases to signal
       examples, such as for example, an example of this is, such as…

   

   Further work

   

   Do you think that your present life style will allow you to live a long life? In groups of
   three or four discuss what you should change in your life styles in order to live longer.