How old do you think this woman is?

她叫歐嘉·柯黛格,

This is Olga Kotelko, pride of West Vancouver, Canada

加拿大西溫哥華的驕傲，

flying over the long jump pit at UCLA.

正躍過加州大學洛杉磯分校的跳遠沙池。

So, Olga is 91 here.

當時歐嘉 91歲。

Audience: ohhh

（哇）

And you may be thinking,

各位可能要問，

what's in the water up there in West Vancouver?

西溫哥華的水都含有什麽東東啊？

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Or maybe what's in the genes of Olga Kotelko?

也可能會問 歐佳 的基因有什麽特別嗎？

Olga, I should tell you, took up track and field

我想給大家說的是，

at the age 77, so here she's just rounding into form.

歐嘉開始田徑運動時77歲，

She competed in 11 events including high-jump

所以這裏看到的是她運動生涯成熟的時刻。

and 100 meter-dash and she was well on her way at this point

她參加過11項賽事，包括跳高、

to becoming the most decorated masters athlete ever

100米短跑

with more than 50 world records in her age categories.

並且正處於成爲史上 最爲多成就的大師級運動員的道路上，

And she and I were well into a pretty intensive investigation

在她的年齡組別，締造50多項世界紀錄

of what makes Olga run.

那時她和我一起做了一項 頗爲深入的研究：

And by run, I mean tick. Run like a watch

歐嘉能如此運轉的原因是什麽。

that's running more slowly than other watches.

這裏說的“運轉”，我是指象鐘表那樣的運轉，

Now, Olga visited a lot of labs for this project

爲何比別的鐘走得要慢。

and she had a lot of testing done on herself.

爲了這項目，歐嘉可到過很多所實驗室，

And by every measure, she came out

讓自己給做了很多測試。

at least 30 years younger than her chronological age.

結果無論哪一種測量法，

This is a person who at 90 reported

她都比自己的實際年齡年輕30歲。

that she felt like a 50 year old

就是說儘管年逾90，

and she moved like a 40 year old.

她說自己感覺像是50歲，

So what was going on?

可以像40歲人士那樣行動。

If you ask scientists, 'What slows aging?'

其中有何奧妙？

You'll get answers like eating better and eating less,

如果你問科學家:

managing chronic stress, getting enough sleep,

“怎樣可以減緩衰老？”

not sitting too much, exercise.

你會聽到說 吃得好、吃得少、

Olga ticked all those boxes,

處理好長期壓力、睡眠要充足，

but then so do a lot of people and they're not Olga.

勿久坐，多運動等等。

So, what was her X factor?

歐嘉 樣樣都做到了。

Longevity genes?

問題是這種人多著呢，

Her family history says no.

也不見有誰成爲歐嘉。

Well, as Olga and I traveled together

所以，她的秘密元素是什麽呢？

and I got to know her better and better,

長壽基因？

a sort of strange theory started to push to the front of my mind.

她的家史顯示沒有。

What if Olga is not becoming a wizened little old lady

隨著歐嘉和我一起在路上的時間越多，

at the expected rate, because she had decided not to?

我對她越來越瞭解，

We've been paying very closed attention to her from the neck down,

我的腦海裏浮現出 這樣一個奇特的理論。

but what if the real story or an appreciable part of the story

要是歐嘉之所以沒 如期變成乾癟小老太太

was happening from the neck up?

是因爲她下定決心不服老呢？

I call Olga, a "warrior mensch",

我們對她的研究一直集中在 脖子以下的部分，

because she was almost two people in one.

要是真正的原因， 或者不可忽視的一大部分原因

Off the track, she was your grandmother.

是來自她的腦袋呢？

"Thrilled to see you. Can you stay for a visit?

我把歐嘉稱爲 “勇士加淑士”，

Your timing is excellent, because I just made way too much pie."

因爲她集兩人為一身。

(Laughter)

不在運動場上的時候，她是你的歐嘉奶奶。

You know, sweet traits

“啊，你來啦，真開心。 能多坐會嗎？

and they won her a lot of friends,

來的正巧，我剛做了太多餡餅了。”

which actually turns out to be a great thing healthwise.

（笑聲）

On the track, she flipped a switch.

那種甜姐兒性格，

(Laughter)

使她贏來很多的朋友，

She kind of got the red mist going.

這恰恰又是對健康非常有益的事情。

Nothing existed for her except the results she was visualizing,

而一到田徑場上呢，她就馬上換擋了。

a new world record.

（笑聲）

Olga didn't doubt for a minute

她變如砲彈在膛，

that she could compete at an elite level

好像什麽都不存在了，衹看到眼中的目標，

well into her 90s and beyond.

又一項新的世界紀錄。

"Why not?", she'd say,

歐嘉從沒懷疑過

and then you tried to explain,

自己可以參加精英級賽事，

"Well, because Olga, after a certain point

直至90多歲甚至更久以後。

shrinking muscle mass and thinning bones

“幹嘛不啊？”，她說，

human limits, yadda, yadda, yadda."

然後你會試圖解釋，

She didn't care about any of that stuff.

“因爲，歐嘉， 到了一定年齡之後，

She thought limits were illusory.

就是肌肉質量萎縮，骨質酥鬆

When that's the lens that you're looking at the world through,

人的極限，等等等等。”

something happens.

她根本不去理會那類説法。

It turns out the stories we tell ourselves

她覺得極限是虛幻的。

about ourselves matter a whole lot.

如果你是用她那樣的鏡頭去看世界的話，

And even the way we think about aging itself matters.

情況就變了。

Becca Livy here, a psychologist at Yale,

結果是什麽呢，就是我們對自己所說的

analyzed data from hundreds of American seniors,

關於自己的故事是一個非常重要的因素。

collected over 25 years.

甚至自己對衰老的想法 也是一個非常重要的因素。

And what she found was that

貝卡拉維 耶魯大學的心理學家，

the ones who'd kindo of drunk the cultural Kool-aid,

分析了美國幾百位老人的數據，

who believed the messages coming out on their TV sets

用收集了25年的數據。

that youth reigns supreme and beyond 75 or so,

她發現

we all fade into dottering irrelevance,

那些深信文化“常理”，

those people tended to become weak and frail

那些凡是從電視機上說的都照單全收的，

at a faster than average rate.

相信衹有青春才是王道，而過了75歲

Whereas those who had a more positive view of aging,

就凋落破敗一無是處了，

who thought that growing old is nothing to fear

持此念者通常變無力、脆弱的速度

and actually had a lot of upside,

比平均速度要快。

those people lived 7.5 years longer on average

相反，那些對衰老持有比較正面的觀點的人，

than the ones who kind of rued their lost youth.

那些認爲衰老沒什麽可怕的、

Now, over at Harvard, psychologist Ellen Langer

根本有很多積極一面的，

spent almost four decades studying

持此念者的壽命平均長了7.5年 ----

something called youth primes.

----- 相對於那些憂怨青春不再的人來説。

A youth prime is anything that makes you feel young.

我們又看看哈佛大學心理學家 艾倫·蘭格說的，

And what Ellen found is that people exposed to youth primes

她花了40年的時間研究

-- and hang with me on this because it's mind-blowing --

一種叫青春提示的現象。

people exposed to youth primes scored better

青春提示就是一種 會讓你感覺年輕的東西。

on a whole host of physiological measures.

艾倫發現，那些多青春提示的人

Their vision improved, their hearing improved.

---- 請各位聽好，這概念甚是出人意料 -----

Things like grip strength and working memory improved.

和各色青春提示接觸多的人，

The upshot is, if you really believe,

測試分數會較高於其他人

if you can find a way to believe

--- 在各大類心理測試均如此。

that you're stronger, faster, sharper and nimbler than

這些人的視力改善了，聽力改善了，

your birth certificate said you should be,

握掌力量和運作記憶力等也改善了。

if you really find a way to buy into that,

最終能説的就是，如果你真的相信，

your body recalibrates.

如果你能設法相信，

Ellen's work always makes me think of Olga,

你强過、快過、精靈過、機智過

because what Olga did so ingeniously was,

你的出生證的實際年齡，

she put herself in the middle of a whole lot of youth primes

如果你真能設法去把持這個信念的話，

every time she stepped on the track.

你的身體會重新校準。

I found out first hand how this works 3 and a half years ago.

艾倫的理論總讓我想起歐嘉,

That's when Ellen... Olga inspired me

因爲歐嘉的妙手回春的秘密是，

to put down my pen and go deeper into the reporting.

她把自己放到各色各樣的青春提示當中，

So I googled up the entry form for one of her meets,

每次她踏上田徑場時都不例外。

the Word Masters Championships in Sacramento.

3年半之前我親自體驗了這個"秘密"。

I found my category, males 45 to 49.

那次是艾倫....歐嘉激勵我，

I found an event, 10,000 meters, why not? (Laughter)

叫我把筆放一邊，做更深入實際的調查。

I took a deep breath, pushed 'Send' on my application.

我就上網找到她去的那個運動會的報名表了。

Six weeks later, stepped into the movie Cocoon.

加州沙加緬度舉行的"世界大師錦標賽”

There are thousand of competitors at these meets.

我找了自己的年齡組別：男子45到49歲。

It's like a world of quasi Olgas that I hadn't really known about.

找了一項賽事，1萬米長跑。 反正嘛。（笑聲）

And you know, from here down,

深呼吸，然後按了“發送”鍵， 申請就遞上去啦。

they're all a decade or more younger than they look.

六週之後， 我就好像走進電影《魔繭》裡似的了。

At one point, I was watching an Australian woman in the 800 meters,

這類運動會裏通常都有 數以千計的參賽者。

I found myself staring at her bum

猶如進了一個到處都是準歐嘉的世界， 一個我一無所知的世界。

and I later learned she was almost 70.

無需贅言，單單看身體的話，

(Laughter)

人人都比他們的樣貌 年輕起碼十年以上。

In this environment, all the cues scream:

有那麽一刻，當我在看著 一位澳洲女子在跑800米時，

"We're not old, none of us are old.

發現自己在盯著人家的臀部，

We can't be old, because look what we were doing,

之後才聽説人家已年近七旬了。

running, jumping, throwing things, school kids stuff.

（笑聲）

Chasing prizes again."

在這樣的環境中， 所有的提示都在向你喊著：

That's pretty intoxicating.

“我們不老。我們沒有一個人是老的。

When a whole community lifts each other up like that,

我們不可能老吧，瞧瞧我們 都能做什麽，

it's kind of awesomely rejuvenating even to watch.

跑、跳、擲、 全是小學生玩的活。

Faith, belief, purpose,

又在爲獎品衝鋒了。”

these are mighty forces.

你不着迷都不行。

They're hard to measure,

當一個社區裏面的每位成員 都如此互相激勵的話，

which I think maybe why they don't get the attention

確實會讓每一位目擊者都 頓時勃然奮勵、青春再續。

of the other heath metrics, but don't underestimate them.

信念、信心、目標，

Everybody likes to talk about lucky genes,

這些都是强有力的動能，

but in terms of its power to shape your life,

要測量這些都很難，

what's in your heart blows away what's in your genome.

故此關於它們的研究 遠比其他抗老因素要少，

And this was my big takeaway from all of this.

然而，不要低估它們。

When I think of my pal Olga Kotelko, I don't think of,

雖然人人都喜歡討論幸運基因什麽的，

-- I'm going to tell you about how I did in my race --

但説到能塑造你生活的 動能這一層的話，

I forgot to tell you.

心之所願能戰勝基因所致。

I came almost dead last in my race in Sacramento.

這是我從所有這些討論裡得到的 最大的心得。

(Laughter)

每當回憶我的朋友歐嘉·柯黛格時,

But I don't remember the humiliation.

我想到的不是，

And I don't remember the pain in that race,

--- 哦，剛才還想向各位 匯報我的賽事結果的 ---

but what I remembered is Olga reaching out,

忘了說了，

she's barely 5 feet tall and clamping a hand on my shoulder

我參加的在沙加緬度舉賽事 跑了差不多是最後一名。

and kind of pulling me and saying,

（笑聲）

"I am so proud of you."

但我不記得當時的難堪，

Olga died in June.

不記得跑時的痛苦，

Very suddenly, right at the top of her game.

我只記得 歐嘉迎著我來，

A blood vessel burst in her brain in the middle of the night.

她身高剛夠5英尺，伸手抓住我肩膀，

People said, "What a tragedy!

往她方向拉了拉，說，

She could have gone on and on."

"我真爲你驕傲。“

But Olga wasn't into the idea of super-longevity,

歐嘉，六月去世了。

she was into the idea of super-flourishing,

很突然，正值她的運動的巔峰之時。

just living the life we have.

在那天深夜，她大腦一條血管破裂了。

Olga was my youth prime.

人們說：“真可惜！

She James Dean-ed it out of here at 95,

她本可以繼續不停向前。”

leaving nothing undone and nothing undreamed.

但歐嘉 可不是一位想超長命的人，

And I want to say, we should all be so lucky.

她想的是活得超級豐盛，

But luck doesn't belong in this story.

衹想好好過自己人生。

Thank you.

歐嘉是我的青春提示。

(Applause)

她95歲便英年早逝，