TED演讲:20岁光阴不再来(3)

This is not my opinion. These are the facts.

这不是我的观点。这是事实。

We know that 80 percent of life's most defining moments take place by age 35.

我们知道一个人的一生中的80%的最重要的时刻发生在35岁。

That means that eight out of 10 of the decisions and experiences and "Aha!" moments that make your life what it is will have happened by your mid-30s.

这就意味着每10个决定你的生命会是什么样的的经历与“原来如此！”时刻中，有8个发生在三十岁中旬。

People who are over 40, don't panic. This crowd is going to be fine, I think.

超过40岁的人，别慌。我估计这个观众没问题。

We know that the first 10 years of a career has an exponential impact on how much money you're going to earn.

我们知道一份职业中的前10年对于你将会挣多少钱有非常大的影响。

We know that more than half of Americans are married or are living with or dating their future partner by 30.

我们知道超过一半的美国人30岁之前就和终生伴侣结婚，同居，或者在约会。

We know that the brain caps off its second and last growth spurt¹ in your 20s as it rewires itself for adulthood²,

我们知道大脑在你二十几岁时为了适应成人期达到第二次也是最后一次成长期的高峰，

which means that whatever it is you want to change about yourself, now is the time to change it.

这说明无论你想改变你自己的什么，现在就是改变它的时间。

We know that personality changes more during your 20s than at any other time in life,

我们知道相比人生其他阶段二十岁时的个性变化最大，

and we know that female fertility peaks at age 28, and things get tricky³ after age 35.

而且我们也知道女性的繁殖能力在28岁时达到峰顶，到35岁之后事情就有点难办了。

So your 20s are the time to educate yourself about your body and your options.

因此你的二十几岁这个时间段就是告诉自己自己的身体状况以及未来的选择的时候。

So when we think about child development,

因此当我们说到儿童发展，

we all know that the first five years are a critical period for language and attachment⁴ in the brain.

我们都知道前5年是大脑发展语言和爱慕的关键时期。

It's a time when your ordinary, day-to-day life has an inordinate⁵ impact on who you will become.

这是一个你的每日生活都会对你的未来产生巨大影响的时间段。

But what we hear less about is that there's such a thing as adult development,

但是我们听到的比较少的就是有一个东西叫成人发展，

and our 20s are that critical period of adult development.

而我们的二十岁这个阶段就是成人发展的关键时期。

But this isn't what twentysomethings are hearing.

但这并不是二十几岁的人所听到的。

Newspapers talk about the changing timetable of adulthood.

报纸在描述成人的时间表的变更。

Researchers call the 20s an extended adolescence⁶.

研究人员把二十几岁叫做延长的青春期。

Journalists coin silly nicknames for twentysomethings like "twixters" and "kidults." It's true!

新闻记者在给二十几岁的人附加愚蠢的外号，比如“中间者”和“成年儿童”。这是真的。

1 spurt   

v.喷出；突然进发；突然兴隆

参考例句：

• He put in a spurt at the beginning of the eighth lap.他进入第八圈时便开始冲刺。
• After a silence, Molly let her anger spurt out.沉默了一会儿，莫莉的怒气便迸发了出来。

2 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

3 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

4 attachment   

n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附

参考例句：

• She has a great attachment to her sister.她十分依恋她的姐姐。
• She's on attachment to the Ministry of Defense.她现在隶属于国防部。

5 inordinate   

adj.无节制的；过度的

参考例句：

• The idea of this gave me inordinate pleasure.我想到这一点感到非常高兴。
• James hints that his heroine's demands on life are inordinate.詹姆斯暗示他的女主人公对于人生过于苛求。

6 adolescence   

n.青春期，青少年

参考例句：

• Adolescence is the process of going from childhood to maturity.青春期是从少年到成年的过渡期。
• The film is about the trials and tribulations of adolescence.这部电影讲述了青春期的麻烦和苦恼。