評論
打印
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 value of life. 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. There are those, of course, who would adopt the motto of "Eat, drink, and be merry", but most people would be punished by the certainty of death.
有時我想，把每天都當做生命的最后一天來度過，會是一個很好的原則。這樣的態度將更能凸顯人生的價值。每一天我們都會懷著柔情、充滿活力、心存感激，而這些，在來日方長時卻常被我們所忽視。當然，也有一些人會奉行享樂主義——吃喝玩樂，但是絕大多數人在得知死期將至時都會更加珍惜生命。
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 good health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. The days stretch out endlessly. So we go about our petty tasks, hardly aware of our listless attitude towards life.
我們大多數人都不珍惜生命。我們知道有一天自己定會死去，但是總覺得這一天很遙遠。我們身體健康時，死亡是完全無法想象的，我們很少會加以考慮。日復一日，沒有盡頭。所以我們忙于瑣事，幾乎不曾意識到自己對生活的態度有多么冷漠。
The same listlessness, I am afraid, characterizes the use of all our faculties and senses. Only the deaf appreciate hearing, only the blind realize the 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 loss of sight or hearing damage 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.
在運用所有的感官時我們的態度恐怕同樣冷漠。只有聾人才珍惜聽力，只有盲者才知道能見光明的幸運。對于那些成年后才失明失聰的人來說尤其如此。但是那些聽力或視力從未遭受損失的人卻很少充分利用這些幸運的能力。他們眼睛看見的、耳朵聽到的，都是模糊的，不專心，也不帶感激。這個道理，就是常說的失去才懂得珍惜，生病才知健康可貴。
