英文短篇故事（纽约）298 That "Old People" Smell

 　　Ross asked, "Do old people smell bad?" Sharon said, "They sure do. It's called 'decay¹.'" Ross laughed. He said, "No, it isn't. Decay happens to dead things. Old people aren't dead yet. They're still alive." Sharon said, "Okay, how about 'ripe²' instead of 'decay'? Whatever you call it, I don't like to be near it." Ross said, "Well, a new study just came out. It says that old people don't smell bad at all. Researchers had old people sleep in T-shirts. They had middle-aged³ people sleep in T-shirts. They had teenagers sleep in T-shirts. Each person slept in the same T-shirt for five nights straight. Then the researchers collected all the T-shirts. They didn't wash them. They asked volunteers to smell the T-shirts. The volunteers said that the old people's T-shirts smelled the best. They said that their T-shirts actually smelled pleasant." Sharon said, "Pleasant?! How old were the volunteers?"

1 decay   

vi.腐烂，衰落；n.腐烂，腐朽，衰败状态

参考例句：

• The vegetables have begun to decay.那些蔬菜已开始腐烂。
• Our powers decay in old age.我们的体力在老年时就衰退。

2 ripe   

adj.熟的，成熟的，时机成熟的；成年的，年高的

参考例句：

• This kind of fruit grow ripe in spring.这种水果在春季成熟。
• None of the apples are ripe.这些苹果都没熟。

3 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。