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　　Jeanne Calment took up skating at age 85, made her first movie appearance at age114．and held a concert in the neighborhood on her 121 st birthday．

　　When it comes to long life, Jeanne Calment is the world’s recordholder．She lived to the ripe old age of 122．So is 122 the upper limit(限制)to the human life span(壽命)?If scientists come up with some sort of pill or diet that would slow aging, could we possibly make it to 150－or beyond?

　　Researchers don't entirely agree on the answers．“Calment lived．to 122, SO it wouldn't sul33rise me if someone alive today reaches 130 or 135,”says Jerry Shay at the University of Texas．

　　Steve Austad at the University of Texas agrees．“People can live longer than we think．”he says．“Experts used to say that humans couldn’t live past 110．When Calment blew past that age, they raised the number to 1 20．So why can’t we go higher?”

　　The trouble with guessing how old people can live to be is that it’s all just guessing．“Anyone can make up a number．”says Rich Miller at the University, of guessing

　　　Michigan．“Usually the scientist who picks the highest number gets his name in Time magazine．”

　　Won’t new anti－aging techniques keep us alive for centuries?Any cure, says Miller, for aging would probably keep most of HS living until about 120．Researchers are working on treatments that make the life span of mice longer by 50 percent at most．

　　So, if the average(平均)human life span is about 80 years, says Miller,“adding another 50 percent would get you to 120．”

　　So what can we learn from this little disagreement among the researchers?That life span is flexible(有彈性的), but there is a limit, says George Martin of the University of Washington．“We can get flies to live 50 percent longer．”he says．“But a fly'snever going to live 150 years．”Of course, if you became a new species(物種), one that ages at a slower speed, that would be a different story, he adds．

　　Does Martin really believe that humans could evolve(進化)their way to longer life?“It’s pretty cool to think about．”He says with a smile．

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　　The Italian island of Sardinia recently lost its oldest person．Family members say Antonio Todde died in his sleep early this month．Mr Todde was 112 years old．He was less than three weeks away from his 113th birthday．Record-keeping experts say he was the world’s oldest man．

　　His long life and that of other very old Sardinians are the subjects of a scientific project(項目)called Akea．Luca Deiana of Sassari University is directing(指導)the study．He says the name Akea comes from a traditional greeting(問候)on Sardinia．It means “health and life for 100 years．” Professor Deiana and his team started to collect information for the study in 1997．They identified(確定))more than 220 Sardinians who were centenarians －－100 years old or older．His team needed three documents to make sure a person’s age．They were a government(政府)birth record, a church record and a statement(聲明)by a close family member．

　　The Akea study has produced two major findings．The first is Sardinia’s extremely high number of centenarians．The island has about 135 centenarians for every one million people．In other Western countries, the average(平均數)is about seventy-five centenarians for every one million people．The second major finding is an unusual rate(率)of female(女性)to male(男性)centenarians．Sardinia has two women centenarians for every male centenarian．In central Sardinia there are the same numbers of female and male centenarians．

　　Studies in other parts of the world have shown a much higher percentage(百分比)of female centenarians．The Akea study collected information about the health and food of about 140 of the centenarians．About ninety percent of those in the study also agreed to provide blood(血)for scientific testing．The study team hopes to identify genetic(基因)material in the blood that can be linked to successful aging．Study leaders say there is no single reason why people on Sardinia live so long．They believe the answer is a combination(組合)of genetic and environmental conditions(條件)．

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