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Unit 9 Why French Live Longer In 1965, a French lawyer, Andre Raffray, gambled on statistics and lost. He acquired the flat of a 90-year-old woman, Jeanne Calment, agreeing to pay her a lifetime pension of 2,500 francs a month in exchange. It seemed reasonable to think Calment would die before him. After all, he was only 47. As the decades flew past, Raffray went into a sad decline. On Christmas Day, 1995, aged 77, he died, having paid out three times the market value of the apartment. At her nursing home in Arles that day, Calment, aged 120, dined on chicken liver and roast duck. She would enjoy life for another two year before dying, the longest-lived human being whose age can be confirmed by reliable records. "I took pleasure when I could. I acted clearly and morally and without regret. I'm very lucky," she said. Was it mere luck? Perhaps something else was at work. True, Calment was exceptional. But with a glass of red wine in one hand and a health insurance card in the other, the French appear to dance their way toward being the longest-lived nation on earth. The French have steadily competed wit the Japanese in terms of average life expectancy. French researchers have declared that, if recent trends in death rates continue, average life expectancy in France would reach 85 by 2033. If their predictions ring true, the French life expectancy will be two years ahead of Japan, well ahead of Britain, and leaving the US in the dust. It was French cardiologist Serge Renaud, who coined the phrase "the French paradox". His research showed that, despite eating a diet high in saturated fat, the French tended to live longer and had one of the lowest rates of coronary disease in the industrialized countries. He put it down to wine. Two or three glasses a day, he said -- with some heavy scientific data to back it up -- combat not just heart disease, but cancer. It was a great boost to French pride, not to mention French wine exports. However, it is French women who are living longer. In 1998, they had a life expectancy of 82.4, compared to 79.7 for women in England and Wales. Marjorie Marais, who works in publishing in London, says that the difference in drinking culture between the two societies is very marked -- as much to do with rhythm as quantities. "The French drink a lot ore regularly, in smaller quantities" she said. But it is not just about lifestyle choice. The French health care system, funded by compulsory insurance from individuals and employers, is better. Improvements in the French health service are also a reason for greater average longevity -- such as better training and equipment to deal with cardiac emergencies.
