The male mid-life crisis is not what it used to be. In the bad old, sad old, please-can-we-have-them-back-old days, a chap could greet the arrival of thinning hair, sagging jowls and a tightening waistband by following a well-trudged path, replacing pinstripes, executive saloon, marital fidelity and a quiet pint of Old Leg Over on the way home from the office, with leather jacket, sports car, bibulous nervous breakdown, then slow and shamed return, possibly with the help of understanding wife to something approaching sanity, sobriety and solvency. (“No, dear, you can’t keep the Maserati. And take out that bloody earring.”)
现在男人的中年危机与过去不同了。在过往艰难困苦与物质匮乏的时代，年轻小伙由于一路坎坷，可能会提前迎来渐趋稀疏的头发、日见松弛的脸颊以及逐渐变小的肚腩，细条纹西装、公务车、对爱人的忠贞不渝以及下班路上悄然喝一杯Old Leg Over的情形不复存在。现在与此相对应的是，穿皮夹克、开跑车、宿醉精神失态而后晃晃悠悠无地自容回家则成了常态，有时还得在善解人意的妻子的提醒下变得理智、持重以及有担当。（“不，老公！你不能再开玛莎拉蒂车(Maserati)了，把你那血色戒指也褪下来。”）