The secret of a long and healthy life could be as simple as your mother's age at the time of your birth.

长寿健康的秘诀可以简单到只是你母亲生你时的年龄。

Babies born to women under 25 are almost twice as likely to live to 100 as those born to older mothers, a study has shown.

一项研究显示，与高龄女性生的孩子相比，25岁以下女性生的孩子，活到100岁的几率是前者的两倍。

The finding could have implications for the tens of thousands of British babies born to older mothers each year.

这项研究可能会对英国每年由高龄女性生出的成千上万的婴儿产生影响。

The trend for delaying parenthood means that almost half of the 720,000 babies born each year are born to mothers aged 30-plus.

推迟生育的趋势意味着，在每年出生的72万名婴儿中，几乎有一半的母亲都是30岁以上。

Previous work by the University of Chicago husband and wife team Dr Leonid Gavrilov and Dr Natalia Gavrilov had shown that firstborn children live longer than their younger siblings¹.

芝加哥大学列奥尼德·加夫里洛夫博士和纳塔莉亚·加夫里洛夫博士夫妇二人之前的研究证实，家中的老大要比其兄弟姐妹长寿。

Now it appears the two are linked, with older children living longer because their mothers are younger when they have them. However, the father's age has little effect on longevity².

现在看起来，两者是有联系的，老大长寿也是因为他们出生时母亲还年轻。不过，父亲的年龄对寿命倒是影响不大。

The researchers say more work is needed to pin down why the mother's age is so important. But it could be down to simple biology, with egg quality being best in younger women.

研究人员称，需要做更多的工作来找出母亲的年龄为何如此重要。不过它也可以归结为简单的生物学：年轻女性的卵子质量最好。

The answer could also lie in younger women being healthier than their older counterparts³.

另外，答案也有可能是年轻女性比高龄女性更健康。

Dr Gavrilov said the finding "may have important social implications because many women postpone⁴ their childbearing to later ages because of career demands".

加夫里洛夫博士称，这一发现“可能具有重要的社会意义，因为许多女性都因为工作原因，将她们的生育年龄推迟了几年”。