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There is a lot that is annoying, and even terrible, about aging. The creakiness of the body; the drifting of the memory; the reprising of personal history ad nauseam, with only yourself to listen. 变老有太多恼人和糟糕的事情：身体变差，记忆力下降，没完没了地重复个人的过去，并且只有你一个听众。 But there is also something profoundly liberating about aging: an attitude, one that comes hard won. Only when you hit 60 can you begin to say, with great aplomb: “I’m too old for this.” 不过变老还包含一种深刻的解放：获得一种得来不易的态度。只有到了60岁的时候，你才会开始泰然自若地说：“我太老了，这个不适合我。” This line is about to become my personal mantra. I have been rehearsing it vigorously, amazed at how amply I now shrug off annoyances that once would have knocked me off my perch. 这句话将会成为我的个人箴言。我拼命地练习着这句话，然后惊讶地发现，对于那些曾经打击过自己虚荣心的恼人之事，现在的我竟然已经不屑一顾了。 A younger woman advised me that “old” may be the wrong word, that I should consider I’m too wise for this, or too smart. But old is the word I want. I’ve earned it. 一位比我小的女性建议我说，“老”这个字可能用得不对，应该换成我太“明智”或者太“聪明”了，这个不适合我。但是“老”是我想要的，是我争取到的。 | 
