区别辨析 age, years 与 old

(1) 问某人年龄多大,通常说“How old are you?”除了在正式英语中,“What is your age?”不是很常用。

 (2) 表示年龄,可以只说数字,或者数字+“years old”。

  • He's thirty-five (years old).
    他35岁了。
  • At the time she was but a girl of not more than ten/a girl ten years old/ a ten-year-old girl/a girl half your age.
    当时她不过是个不超过10岁的女孩/10岁的女孩/只有你一半大的女孩。

 (3) 此外,表示年龄还有一些说法。

  • He's a boy aged ten.
    他是一个10岁的男孩。
  • He's a gentleman of about sixty years.
    他是一个大约60岁的绅士。
  • He's twenty years of age .(of age 是书面语,口语用old)
    他20岁了。
  • Their ages are 4, 7 and 9.
    他们的年龄分别是4岁、7岁和9岁。
  • Fred died peacefully in his sleep at age 81.
    弗雷德在睡眠中安然去世,享年81岁。
  • At what age do children start school in your country?
    在你们国家孩子们几岁入学?
  • Children usually begin school at the age of seven/at seven years of age.
    孩子们通常7岁开始上学。
  • When I was (of) your age, I began earning money to help support the family.
    当我像你这么大时,就开始挣钱养家糊口了。
  • I have a son (of) your age/a son the same age as you.
    我有个与你同龄的儿子。
  • They two are (of) the same age ./They two are (of) an age.
    他们两个同岁。
  • She ought to be earning her own living at her age.
    在她这个年龄,她应该自食其力了。
  • He died in the sixty-seventh year of his age.
    他67岁时去世。

*此处,of one's age 是某人活到的年龄,前面有一个说明年龄的序数词。这是非常正式的用法(如在纪念碑、讣告中),平常只说“in his sixty-seventh year”。

  • He won't be called up for military service; he is over age /he's passed a certain age or age limit.
    他不会被征服兵役,他已超龄/他已超出一定年龄或年龄界限。
  • He found he couldn't enter for the scholarship, as he was over age.
    他发现自己不能报名参加奖学金考试,因为他已超龄。
  • He's very healthy for (a man of) his age/his years.
    对于他这个年龄来说,他算是很健康了。
  • I'm your junior in years, but very much your senior in service.
    我年龄比你小,可工龄却比你长得多。
  • I'm junior/senior to him (by two years).
    我比他年龄小/大 (两岁)。
  • I'm his junior/senior by two years ./I'm two years junior/senior to him ./I'm two years his junior/senior.
    我比他年龄小/大两岁。
  • I'm your senior in years, but academically, you are senior to me.
    论年龄我比你大,论学业你却高于我。
  • Three days before Christmas 1983, she moved into an apartment she could barely afford, where she and her sons, then three and four, could start over.
    就在1983年圣诞节前三天,她搬进了一所几乎住不起的公寓,在那里她和两个儿子,一个三岁,一个四岁,可以一切从头开始。
  • She leads the normal life of a child about to turn 10.
    她过着一个快到10岁的孩子所过的正常生活。

 (4) 此外,还有一些说法。

  • be of (full) age
    成年
  •  come of age
    成年
  • a person of (full) age
    成年人
  • attain full age
    到达成年
  • be over age
    超龄
  • under/over the age of ten
    不到/超过10岁
  • under age
    低于规定的最小年龄或未成年
  • a person who is getting on in years/who is advanced in years
    上年纪的人
  • be in the prime of life/be in one's prime/be at life's flowering
    风华正茂,年富力强
  • He won't be called up for military service this year, for he is under age.
    今年他不会被征召服兵役,因为他还不到年龄。