--- title: Getting old: how long people and animals live — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Getting old: how long people and animals live», a lesson of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Every living body slowly wears out as the years go by: skin gets thinner and wrinkly, bones get weaker, cuts heal mo --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/) / Getting old: how long people and anima… # Getting old: how long people and animals live Lesson 52 of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school: 19 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/0/) — Every living body slowly wears out as the years go by: skin gets thinner and wrinkly, bones get weaker, cuts heal more slowly, and doctors can help people stay well for longer but nobody can stop growing old. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/1/) — Picture Charlie's great-grandmother at her 100th birthday, a card from the King on the mantelpiece: once she was nine, skipping in a garden with her friends, and that child is still part of her. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/2/) — Each kind of living thing has its own usual length of life: a hamster about two or three years, a dog about ten to fifteen, many people seventy, eighty or more, some tortoises over a hundred, and a bristlecone pine tree nearly five thousand. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/3/) — The Bible says there is «a time to be born and a time to die»; Christians see old age as part of the life God gives, not a punishment, and every faith teaches respect for the old. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/4/) — Some old people get an illness of the brain called dementia that makes them forget, even the names of people they love; it is the illness forgetting, not the love going away. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/5/) — As people grow old, skin gets thinner, bones get weaker and the body heals more slowly; nobody can stop ageing. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/6/) — In countries like Britain, many people now live into their 70s, 80s or more; reaching 100 is rare, and the King sends a card to people in the UK who turn 100. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/7/) — Hamsters usually live about two or three years; dogs about ten to fifteen; cats often a little longer; some tortoises over a hundred years. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/8/) — Small animals usually have shorter lives than big ones, though there are exceptions. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/9/) — A short life, like a hamster's, can still be a happy one when the animal is well cared for every day. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/10/) — Dogs age faster than people: an old dog sleeps more, moves slowly and often gets grey fur round its muzzle. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/11/) — Some bristlecone pine trees in America are nearly 5,000 years old, while an adult mayfly may live only a day. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/12/) — Dementia is an illness of the brain that makes people forget and get confused; it is not a sign that they love people less. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/13/) — Many very old people live in care homes, where staff help them wash, eat and move; some are lonely, and visits matter a lot. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/14/) — People live longer where there is clean water, enough food, good doctors and peace; poverty and war shorten lives. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/15/) — Nobody knows exactly when a person will die, and many people live well into their 80s and 90s. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/16/) — Jesus taught that visiting someone in need is like visiting him; Christians and people of many faiths visit the old and lonely. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/17/) — The words «a time to be born and a time to die» come from the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/18/) — Many cultures, including Chinese and Ukrainian families, give the oldest people great honour. - ← previous: [Life begins: being born and growing up](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/51-life-begins-being-born-and-growing-up/) - next →: [Why living things die, and the circle of life in nature](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/53-why-living-things-die-and-the-circle-of-life/) - ↑ back to [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/)