•第二篇: Three Days to See(Excerpts)假如给我三天光明(节选)
Three Days to See
All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a
limited and specified time to live. Sometimes it was as long as a year, sometimes as short as 24 hours. But always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed hero chose to spend his last days or his last hours. I speak, of course, of free men who have a choice, not condemned criminals whose
sphere of activities is
strictly de
limited.
Such stories set us thinking, wondering what we should do under similar circumstances. What events, what experiences, what associations should we crowd into those last hours as
mortal beings, what regrets?
Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such an attitude would
emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with
gentleness, vigor and a keenness of
appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to come. There are those, of course, who would adopt the Epicurean motto of "Eat, drink, and be merry". But most people would be chastened by the
certainty of
impending death.
In stories the doomed hero is usually saved at the last minute by some stroke of fortune, but almost always his sense of values is changed. He becomes more
appreciative of the meaning of life and its permanent spiritual values. It has often been noted that those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a
mellowsweetness to everything they do.
Most of us, however, take life for granted. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day as far in the future. When we are in
buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. The days stretch out in an endless vista. So we go about our petty tasks, hardly aware of our listless attitude toward life.
The same lethargy, I am afraid, characterizes the use of all our faculties and senses. Only the deaf appreciate
hearing, only the blind realize the
manifold blessings that lie in sight. Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and
hearing in adult life. But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or
hearing seldom make the fullest use of these
blessed faculties. Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sounds hazily, without concentration and with little
appreciation. It is the same old story of not being grateful for what we have until we lose it, of not being conscious of health until we are ill.
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