感谢大耳朵网友"兜兜兜兜"提供的听力原文

kettle : 水壶

wearing-out: 穿破

Better to wear out than to rust out.

与其锈掉，不如用坏；与其闲死，不如忙死。

thermodynamics : 热力学

moot point : 有争议的 moot :means 'rally'.

moot：在词义上延伸为“有待商榷的问题”。

moot court: 模拟法庭

run-down : 破旧的（机械的）

decrepit : 衰老

dilapidated ：破旧的

shabby ： 破旧的（房子）

Notes on the text 课文讲解***

The Process of Ageing

课文开始 ：At the age of twelve years, the human body is at its most vigorous. ...

vigorous 后省略 stage

同义词: lively robust dynamic

接下来课文...It has yet to reach its full size and strength,and its owner has(to reach ) his or her full intelligence;...

yet=however

yet 可在句中,不用标点

however 要用逗号隔开

stealthy slide out of room 溜出房间

play truant : 逃学

接下来课文...but at this age the likelihood of death is least. Earlier we were infants and young children, and consequently more vulnerable;...

injection: 注射

cry one’s eyes out： 嚎啕大哭

接下来课文...later, we shall undergo a progressive loss of our vigour and resistance which, though imperceptible at first, will finally become so steep that we can live no longer, ...

undergo： 经历

ups and downs/ lows and highs ：沉浮

progressive : 逐渐的

doomsday：末日

接下来课文...however well we look after ourselves, and however well society, and our doctors, look after us. This decline in vigour with the passing of time is called ageing. It is one of the most unpleasant discoveries which we all make that we must

decline in this way, ...

however = no matter how

the passing of time ：时光流逝