王强英语美文 02-Three Days to See

（单词翻译）

Helen Keller/海伦.凯勒

All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified¹ time to live. Sometimes it was as long as a year; sometimes as short as twenty-four hours, but always we

were interested in discovering just how the doomed² man chose to spend his last days or his last hours. I speak, of course, of free men who have a choice, not condemned³ criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly⁴ delimited.

Such stories set up thinking, wondering what we should do under similar circumstances.What events, what experiences,what What associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings? What happiness should we find in reviewing the past, 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 a gentleness, a vigor⁵, and a keenness of appreciation⁶ which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant panorama⁷ 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,” most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending⁸ 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 appreciative⁹ of the meaning of life and its permanent spiritual values. It has often been noted¹⁰ that those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a mellow¹¹ sweetness to everything they do.

Most of us 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 vista¹². So we go about our petty task, hardly aware of our listless attitude towards life.

The same lethargy, I am afraid, characterizes the use of our faculties¹³ and senses. Only the deaf appreciate hearing, only the blind realize the manifold blessings¹⁵ 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 sound hazily¹⁶, without concentration, and with little appreciation. It is the same old story of not being grateful for what we have until we lose it, as not being conscious of health until we are ill.

I have often thought it would be a blessing¹⁴ if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight; silence would teach him the joys of sound.