核心问题
It is not rare in the 90s that people in their fifties are going to university for further education. (上海高考,99-6)
[原译]人们到了50岁还要进大学进一步接受教育,这是很常见的。(《英语高考题型解析》,华东理工大学出版社,p.273)
请问 in their fifties 是“到了 50 岁”的意思吗？
词典解答
表示具体的岁数时,可用 at + 基数词或者 at the age of + 基数词:
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She became a school teacher at twenty. (全国高考) 她 20 岁时当了教师。
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Shakespeare died at the age of fifty-two. 莎士比亚 52 岁逝世。
表示“几十多岁”时,要用 in one's + 基数词的复数形式:
He began to study English in his fifties. 他在50多岁时才开始学习英语。
由此可见，上面的 in their fifties 是指“50 多岁(50 ~ 60 岁之间)”。
[试译]在90年代,50多岁的人打算进大学以接受进一步的教育,并不是罕见的。