Three Days to See(Excerpts) 假如给我三天光明(节选)

作者：海伦.凯勒

All of us have read thrillingstories 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 alwayswe were interested in discovering just how the doomed hero chose to spend hislast 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 delimited.

我们都读过震撼人心的故事，故事中的主人公只能再活一段很有限的时光，有时长达一年，有时却短至一日。但我们总是想要知道，注定要离世的人会选择如何度过自己最后的时光。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. What events, whatexperiences, what associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortalbeings, What happiness should we find in reviewing the past? What regrets?

这样的故事让我们思考，在类似的处境下，我们该做些什么?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?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 wouldbe an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such anattitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each daywith gentleness, vigor and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost whentime stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months andyears to come. There are those, of course, who would adopt the Epicurean mottoof “Eat, drink, and be merry”. But most people would be chastened by thecertainty of impending death.

有时我想，把每天都当作生命中的最后一天来过，也不失为一个极好的生活法则。这种态度会使人格外重视生命的价值。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感觉。当然，也有人奉行“吃、喝、享受”的享乐主义信条，但绝大多数人还是会受到即将到来的死亡的惩罚。

In stories the doomed hero isusually saved at the last minute by some stroke of fortune, but almost alwayshis sense of values is changed. He becomes more appreciative of the meaning oflife and its permanent spiritual values. It has often been noted that those wholive, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness toeverything they do.

在故事中，将死的主人公通常都在最后一刻因突降的幸运而获救，但他的价值观通常都会改变，他变得更加理解生命的意义及其永恒的精神价值。我们常常注意到，那些生活在或曾经生活在死亡阴影下的人无论做什么都会感到幸福。

Most of us, however, take life forgranted. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day asfar in the future. When we are in buoyant health, death is all butunimaginable. 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 towardlife.

然而，我们中的大多数人都把生命看成是理所当然的。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。当我们身强体健之时，死亡简直不可想象，我们很少考虑到它。日子多得好像没有尽头。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. Only the deaf appreciatehearing, only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight.Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight andhearing in adult life. But those who have never suffered impairment of sight orhearing seldom make the fullest use of these blessed faculties. Their eyes andears take in all sights and sounds hazily, without concentration and withlittle appreciation. It is the same old story of not being grateful for what wehave until we lose it, of not being conscious of health until we are ill.

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。只有聋子才理解听力的重要，只有盲人才明白视觉的可贵，这尤其适用于那些成年后才失去视力或听力之苦的人，他们过去很少充分利用这些宝贵的能力，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。这正如我们只有在失去后才懂得珍惜一样，我们只有在生病后才意识到健康的可贵。

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

我经常想，如果每个人在年轻的时候都有几天失明失聪，也不失为一件幸事。黑暗将使他更加感激光明，寂静将告诉他声音的美妙。

海伦·凯勒（Helen Keller，1880年6月27日－1968年6月1日），美国著名的女作家、教育家、慈善家、社会活动家。在十九个月时因患急性胃充血、脑充血而被夺去视力和听力。1887年与莎莉文老师相遇。1899年6月考入哈佛大学拉德克利夫女子学院。1968年6月1日逝世，享年87岁，却有86年生活在无光、无声的世界里。在此时间里，她先后完成了14本著作。其中最著名的有：《假如给我三天光明》《我的人生故事》《石墙故事》。她致力于为残疾人造福，建立了许多慈善机构，1964年荣获“总统自由勋章”，次年入选美国《时代周刊》评选的“二十世纪美国十大偶像”之一。