Three Days to See

 

假如给我三天光明

All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live.

我们大家都读过一些令人激动的故事，这些故事里的主人公仅仅活在有限并且特定的时间内，

Sometimes it was as long as a year;

有时长达一年，

sometimes as short as twenty-four hours.

有时却短至一日。

But always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed man chose to spend his last days or his last hours.

但我们总是想要知道，注定要离世人的会选择如何度过自己最后的时光。

I speak, of course, of free men who have a choice,not condemned criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly delimited.

当然，我说的是那些有选择权利的自由人，而不是那些活动范围受到严格限定的死囚。

Such stories set us thinking,wondering what we should do under similar circumstances.

这样的故事让我们思考，在类似的处境下，我们该做些什么？

What events, what experiences, what associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings?

作为终有一死的人，在临终前的几个小时内我们应该做什么事，经历些什么或做哪些联想？

What happiness should we find in reviewing the past,what regrets?

回忆往昔，什么使我们开心快乐？什么又使我们悔恨不已？

Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow.

有时我想，把每天都当作生命中的最后一天来边，也不失为一个极好的生活法则。

Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life.

这种态度会使人格外重视生命的价值。

We should live each day with a gentleness, a 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.

我们每天都应该以优雅的姿态，充沛的精力，抱着感恩之心来生活。但当时间以无休止的日，月和年在我们面前流逝时，我们却常常没有了这种子感觉。

There are those, of course,who would adopt the Epicurean motto of "Eat, drink, and be merry,"

当然，也有人奉行“吃，喝，享受”的享乐主义信条，

but most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death.

但绝大多数人还是会受到即将到来的死亡的惩罚。

Most of us, however, take life for granted.

然而，我们中的大多数人都把生命看成是理所当然的。

We know that one day we must die,but usually we picture that day as far in the future.

我们知道有一天我们必将面对死亡，但总认为那一天还在遥远的将来。

When we are in buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable.

当我们身强体健之时，死亡简直不可想象，

We seldom think of it.

我们很少考虑到它。

The days stretch out in an endless vista.

日子多得好像没有尽头。

So we go about our petty tasks,hardly aware of our listless attitude toward life.

因此我们一味忙于琐事，几乎意识不到我们对待生活的冷漠态度。

The same lethargy, I am afraid,characterizes the use of all our faculties and senses.

我担心同样的冷漠也存在于我们对自己官能和意识的运用上。

Only the deaf appreciate hearing,only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight.

只有聋子才理解听力的重要，只有盲人才明白视觉的可贵，

Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and hearing in adult life.

这尤其适用于那些成年后才失去视力或听力之苦的人很少充分利用这些宝贵的能力。

But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldom make the fullest use of these blessed faculties.

他们的眼睛和耳朵模糊地感受着周围的景物与声音，心不在焉，也无所感激。

Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sounds hazily,without concentration and with little appreciation.

他们对所见所闻不关注，不欣赏。

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.

这与常说的不失去不懂得珍贵，不生病不知道健康可贵的道理是一样的。