Narrator Listen to part of a conversation between a student and a profe

Student   How are you, Professor Smith!
Professor How are you, Gillian! Anything I can do for you?
Student   Well, I know you’ve been studying old age and just presented a very interesting and original report on it. And people are now talking a lot about old age. I’m a volunteer reporter with the students’ journal Sailor, so I decide to write something in the journal about it. So, would you please spare me a few minutes?
Professor Sure! I’m very happy that my report has attracted a reporter’s attention.
Student   Many thanks! Professor Smith, can you tell me what you think your report on old people will achieve?
Professor We hope that it will help to change people’s feelings about old age. The problem is that far too many of us believe that most old people are poor, sick, lonely and unhappy. And this is very dangerous for our society.
Student   But surely we can’t escape the fact that many old people are lonely and many are sick.
Professor No, we can’t. But we must also remember that the proportion of such people is no greater among the 60 to 70 age group than among the 50 to 60 age group.
Student   In other words, you mean, there is no more mental illness, for example, among the 60 to 70-year olds than the 50 to 60-year olds.
Professor Right. And why should there be? Why should we expect people to change suddenly when they reach their 60th or 65th birthday any more than they did when they reached their 21st? Now that the computer age has arrived in industry, the normal age for retirement may be lowered to 60 or even 55. Shall we then say that old age begins at 55?
Student   But one would expect there to be more physical illnesses among old people, surely?
Professor Why should one expect this? After all, those people who reach the age of 65 or 70 are the strong among us. The weak die mainly in childhood, then in their 40’s and 50’s. Furthermore, by the time people reach 60 or 65, they have learned how to look after themselves; they keep warm, sleep regular hours, and eat sensibly.
Student   This sounds reasonable. But there are still a lot of people who suffer from physical illness.
Professor Of course, some old people do suffer from physical illness, but these do not suddenly develop on their 65th birthday. People who are healthy in middle age tend to be healthy in old age, just as one would expect.
Student   Are people’s mental abilities affected by old age?
Professor Certain changes do take place as we grow order, but this happens throughout life. These changes are very gradual, and happen at different times with different people. But, in general, if you know a person well in his middle age and have seen how he deals with events and problems, you will easily recognize him in old age.
Student   So someone who enjoys new experiences—travel, education, and so on—in his middle years will usually continue to do so into old age.
Professor Exactly. And we have carried out some very interesting experiments about old people’s mental abilities.
Student   Really? Would you please say something about the experiments?
Professor Sure. In the experiments, we have two groups of people. One group are aged 60 to 70 and the other aged 30 to 40. They were required to learn the same things. The first thing we discovered was that the old group took longer to learn; eventually they performed as well as the young group. And when we tested the two groups several weeks later, there was again no difference between the two groups.
Student   That’s very interesting indeed. All right, Professor Smith. I wish that I could hear more about your studies but I have another appointment with Professor Jackson at five o’clock. Thank you so much for having accepted my interview.
Professor You are welcome.
Student   Good-bye, Professor Smith.
Professor Bye-bye.