The ups and downs of life may seem to have no predictable plan. But scientists now know there are very definite patterns that almost all people share. Even if you've passed some of your "prime", you still have other prime years to experience in the future. Certain important primes seem to peak later in life.

　　人生的起伏似乎没有可预知的模式，但是科学家现在发现有一些模式相当明确，绝大多数人都有不例外。即使你度过了一些最佳时期，你仍然会在将来经历另外几个最佳时期。某些最佳期时期似乎在生命的后半段才会到来。

　　When are you smartest? From 18-25,according to I.Q.scores;but you're wiser and more experienced with increasing age.

　　什么时候你最聪明？根据智商得分，你从15岁至25岁最聪明。然而，随着年龄增长，你更加具有智慧和经验。

　　You're sharpest in your 20's; around 30, memory begins to decline,particularly your ability to perform mathematical computations. But your I.Q.for other tasks climbs. Your vocabulary at age 45, for example is three times as great as when you graduated from college. At 60, your brain possesses almost four times as much information as it did at age 21. This trade-off between sharpness and wisdom has led psychologists to suggest that "maturity quotients"(M.Q.) be adopted for adults.

　　20多岁的时候你的思维最敏捷；30岁左右，记忆力开始衰退，尤其是你的数学计算能力。然而，你做其他事情的智商提高了。例如45岁时你的词汇量是你刚从大学毕业时的3倍。60岁时你大脑中储存的信息几乎是你21岁时的4倍。敏锐和智慧之间的协调，心理学家们就此提出了在成年人在采用“成熟商”这一概念。

　　When are you happiest? You have the best physical sense of yourself from 15to 24; the best professional sense from 40 to 49.

　　什么时候你的感觉最好？15岁至24岁之间你的身体感觉最好；40岁至49岁之间你对自己的职业感觉最佳。

Before age 24, we believe that our happiest years are yet to come; over30,we believe that they're behind us.A National Health Survey agrees:After age 30, we "become more realistic and do not view happiness as a goal in itself.If we maintain our health,achieve professional and emotional goals,then happiness,we feel,will follow".

　　24岁之前，我们相信自己最快乐的日子尚未到来；过了30岁，我们就认为最快乐的时光已逝去。一项全国性的健康调查也提示了同样的结果：30岁过后，我们变得更加实际，不把幸福当成生命本身的一种目标。我们认为，只要我们保持健康，事业上、情感上称心如意，那么我们就觉得幸福便会随之而来。

　　When are you most creative? Generally between 30and 39, but the peak varies with different professions.

　　什么时候你最富创造力？一般在30岁至39岁之间。但是不同的职业，高峰期也不相同。

　　Mozart wrote a symphony and four sonatas by age eight,and Mendelssohn composed his best known work A Midsummer Night's Dream, at 17, but most of the great music was written by men between 33and 39. Though the peak in most fields comes early--most Nobel prize winners did their top research in their late 20's and 30's--creative people continue to produce quality work throughout their lives. For the "well-conditioned mind", there is no upper limit.

　　莫扎特8岁时就创作了一部交响曲、4首奏鸣曲；门德尔松17岁时就完成了他的最著名的作品《仲夏夜之梦》，但是大部分伟大的音乐作品都是人们在33岁至39岁之间创作出来的。虽然大多数领域的最佳状态来得比较早-----大多数诺贝尔奖获得者都是25岁以后、30多岁时完成他们最出色的研究的——但是创造型的人会在生命中不断地完成高质量的工作。对于“状态良好的大脑”，不存在极限。