导读:似乎寿命永远都是说不完道不尽的话题。人类到底能活多久呢？来看看科学家们给出的分析。
The natural limit to human life is no more than 125 years, a study has found.
一项研究发现，人类寿命的自然极限不会超过125岁。
Despite ever more humans living for longer each year – the final cut-off point has remained stubbornly the same.
虽然每一年更多的人寿命提高了，但是最终的截点是难以改变的。
No human has lived longer than 122 – the age reached by a Frenchwoman, Jeanne Calment, in 1997.
目前还没有人活过122岁——一位名为雅娜·卡尔芒的法国妇女于1997年活到的岁数。
Researchers believe that this is because there is an age limit beyond which humans just cannot pass naturally.
研究人员们相信，这是因为年龄是有极限的，人类天生就不可能逾越。
Researchers led by Jan Vijg of the Albert Einstein College of medicine in the Bronx, New York investigated whether the rise in human lifespans meant the 122 lifespan was a maximum.
纽约布朗克斯阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦医学院简·维吉领导的研究人员们展开调查，是否人类寿命的增加意味着122岁是极限。
The most ’convincing argument’ that the maximum human lifespan is not fixed is the ongoing increase in life expectancy in most countries over the last century, the researchers said.
研究人员们表示，人类寿命的最大值不是一成不变最“有力的论据”是，在过去一个世纪里大多数国家的国民寿命在不断增加。
However, a large part of the increase in life expectancy comes from a huge reduction of deaths in childbirth and infancy.
然而，寿命增加的大部分原因是分娩和婴儿死亡率的降低。
If there was no limit, we would see an onward march of ever older people.
若没有极限，我们就能够看到年龄更大的人的不断出现。
To test the theory, they studied the International Database on Longevity, which records the age of death from people in 41 countries between 1968 and 2006.
为了测试这一理论，他们研究了国际寿命数据库，这里记录了1968年至2006年间41个国家的国民死亡年龄。
They found that people do keep living longer – but only up to a point.
他们发现，人类确实活得更久了，但是是有一个截点的。
