If your doctor couldgive you a drug that would let you live a healthy life for twice as long, wouldyou take it?

The good news isthat we may be drawing near to that date.Scientists have already extended thelives of flies,worms and mice in laboratories. Many now think that using

genetic treatmentswe will soon be able to extend human life to at least 140 years.This seems agreat idea. Think of how much more time we could spend chasing our

dreams,spending timewith our loved ones,watching our families grow and have families of their own.

"Longer lifewould give us a chance to recover from our mistakes and promote long termthinking,"says Dr Gregory Stock of the University of California School ofPublic

Health."Itwould also raise productivity by adding to the year we can work."

Longer lives don'tjust affect the people who live them. They also affect society as a whole."We have war,poverty,all sorts of issues around,and I don't think any ofthem

would be at allhelped by having people live longer,"says US bioethicist DanielCallahan,"The question is what we will get as a society?I suspect it won'tbe a better society."

It would certainlybe a very different society. People are already finding it more difficult tostay married. Divorce rates are rising. What would happen to marriage in asociety

where people livedfor 140 years? And what would happen to family life if 9 or 10 generations ofthe same family were all alive at the same time?

Research into ageingmay enable women to remain fertile for longer. And that raises the prospect ofhaving 100-year-old parents,or brothers and sisters born 50 years apart.

We think of an eldersibling as someone who can protect us and offer help and advice. That would behard to do if that sibling came from a completely different generation.

Working life wouldalso be affected,especially if the retirement age was lifted.More people wouldstay in work for longer. That would give us the benefits of age一

skill,wisdom andgood judgment.

On the otherhand,more people working for longer would create greater competition for jobs.It would make it more difficult for younger people to find a job. Top posts

would be dominatedby the same few individuals,making career progress more difficult. And howeasily would a 25-year-old employee be able to communicate with a 125-

year-old boss?

Young people wouldbe a smaller part of a society in which people lived to 140.It may be that sucha society would place less importance on guiding and educating young

people,and more onmaking life comfortable for the old.

And society wouldfeel very different if more of its members were older. There would be morewisdom,but less energy.Young people like to move about. Old people like to

sit still.Youngpeople tend to act without thinking.Old people tend to think withoutacting.Young people are curious and like to experience different things.Oldpeople are less

enthusiastic aboutchange.In fact,they are less enthusiastic about everything.

The effect ofanti-ageing technology is deeper than we might think.But as the scienceadvances,we need to think about these changes now."If this could everhappen,then we'd

better ask what kindof society we want to get,"says Daniel Callahan."We had better not goanywhere near it until we have figure those problems out."Which of the following is implied in the fifth paragraph?

A.Marriages in the US today are quite unstable.

B.More and more people in the US today want to get married.

C.Living longer would make it easier for people to maintain their marital ties.

D.If people live longer,they would stay in marriage longer.