Three Days to live

假如我有三天的時光

All of us have read thrilling stories

大家都讀過一些扣人心弦的故事，

in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live.

里面的主人公只有一點(diǎn)有限的時間可以活了，

Sometimes it was as long as a year; sometimes as short as twenty-four hours

有時長達(dá)一年，有時短到只有24小時。

But always we were interested in discovering

然而，我們總是能感動地發(fā)現(xiàn)，

just how the doomed man chose to spend his last days or his last hours.

這些注定要死亡的人是如何想辦法度過他最后的幾天或最后的幾小時。

I speak,of course,of free men who have a choice,

當(dāng)然，我所說的是有選擇的自由人，

not condemned cri- minals whose sphere of activities is strictly delimited.

而不是活動范圍受到限制的被判刑的罪犯。

Such stories set us thinking,

這類故事使人們思索，

wondering what we should do under similar circumstances.

很想知道我們在同樣的境況下將會怎么辦。

What events,what experiences,what associations,

我們會充滿什么樣的遭遇，什么樣的感受，什么樣的聯(lián)想

should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings?

作為必死的生物，處在這幾小時內(nèi)。

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

我們回顧往事，會找到哪些幸福，哪些遺憾呢?

Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule

有時我認(rèn)為，最好的規(guī)則就是

to live each day as if we should die tomorrow.

我們像明天就會死去那樣生活。

Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life.

這樣一種態(tài)度可以尖銳地強(qiáng)調(diào)生命的價值。

We should live each day with a gentleness,

我們每天都應(yīng)該懷著友善，

a vigor and a keenness of appreciation

朝氣和渴望去生活，

which are often lost

這些品質(zhì)往往會喪失，

when time stretches before us

當(dāng)時間在我們面前不斷地延伸開去，

in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to come.

日復(fù)一日，月復(fù)一月，年復(fù)一年。

There are those,of course,

當(dāng)然，也有那些人

who would adopt the epicurean motto of'Eat,drink,and be merry,'

愿意把'吃吧，喝吧，及時行樂吧'作為座右銘的人，

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

然而大多數(shù)人卻為死神的來臨所折磨。

In stories,

在許多故事中，

the doomed hero is usually saved at the last minute by some stroke of fortune,

命運(yùn)已定的主人公通常在最后一分鐘，由于遭遇好運(yùn)而得到拯救，

but almost always his sense of values is changed.

然而他的價值觀念幾乎總是改變了。

He becomes more appreciative of the meaning of life

他更加領(lǐng)悟了生命

and its permanent spiritual values.

及其永恒的精神價值的意義。

It has often been noted that those who live,or have lived,

常常可以看到，那些活在或者曾經(jīng)活在

in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everything they do.

死亡陰影中的人們，對他們所做的每件事情都賦予了一種醇美香甜之感。