For an hour or two this week, I’ve been in the company of(与……在一起) people whose lives I’ve seen unfold(展开；展现), almost from the beginning, almost to the end. They are people whom, with one exception(除了一人之外), I’ve never met. And yet I’ve shared in their triumphs and disappointments(分享他们的成功与失落) for decades.
本周有一两个小时，我陪伴着一群人，他们的生命历程我几乎从头看到尾。除了一人之外，这些人我从未谋面。然而几十年来，我一直分享着他们的成功与失落。
They are the group who, in 1964, when they were seven years old, were the subjects(拍摄对象；实验对象) of what was initially a single, 40-minute ITV documentary, but which flowered into(发展成为；绽放为) a work that is quite magical. Returning to those same boys and girls every seven years, watching as they turned first into shy and awkward teenagers, then into husbands and wives, then into parents and grandparents, the 7 Up series has become a document of our times – but also something larger and far more revealing.(每七年回访同一批男孩和女孩，看着他们先变成害羞笨拙的少年，再变成丈夫和妻子，然后变成父母和祖父母，《人生七年》系列已成为我们时代的记录——但也是一部更宏大、更具揭示性的作品。) This week the broadcaster aired(播出) what it says will be the final chapter(最终章): the seven-year-olds are now 70.
他们是一群人，1964年他们七岁时，成为一部最初只有40分钟的ITV纪录片的拍摄对象，而这部纪录片后来绽放成一部相当神奇的作品。每七年回访同一批男孩和女孩，看着他们先变成害羞笨拙的少年，再变成丈夫和妻子，然后变成父母和祖父母，《人生七年》系列已成为我们时代的记录——但也是一部更宏大、更具揭示性的作品。本周，该广播公司播出了它所说的最终章：那些七岁的孩子如今已七十岁。
The original aim of the show, made under the World in Action(英国ITV的著名调查纪录片栏目) banner, was sociological(社会学的) and transparently(显而易见地) political. It wanted to expose the entrenched(根深蒂固的) nature of the British class system. And so it watched a trio of pre-prep school(英国为幼童设立的预备学校) boys singing verses in Latin, contrasting them with the cheeky(顽皮的；厚脸皮的) East End(伦敦东区，传统工人阶级聚居区) kids living just a few miles and a world away(天壤之别). While the posh(上流的；豪华的) trio could name, even then, the specific Oxbridge(牛津与剑桥的合称) colleges their parents had in mind(心中想着；打算) for them, Paul, raised in a children’s home(儿童福利院), asked: “What does university mean?”
这档节目最初在《行动世界》栏目下制作，其目标是社会学性的，且政治意图显而易见。它想揭露英国阶级制度的根深蒂固。于是它拍摄了三个学前预备学校的男孩用拉丁语唱歌，将他们与几英里之外、却仿佛隔了一个世界的东区顽童对比。当这三个富家子弟当时就能说出父母为他们心仪的牛津剑桥具体学院时，在儿童福利院长大的保罗却问：“大学是什么意思？”