2015年 河海大学研究生英语一 Unit 18 Three Days to See.doc

Unit 18 Three Days to See All of us have read thrilling stories 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 twenty-four hours. But always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed man chose to spend his last 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. 我们大家都读过激动的故事，故事里的主人公活在有限并且特定的时间内，有时长达一年，有时短到24小时。那命中注定死的是那些有选择自由人，而不是那些活动范围严格的判了刑的犯人。 Such stories set us thinking, wondering what we should do under similar circumstances. What events, what experiences, what associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings? What happiness should we find in reviewing the past, what regrets? 这样的故事，在相似的情况下，我们该怎么终有一死，在终的几个小时内安排什么，什么经历，什么？回顾往事，我们找到什么快乐？悔恨？ 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 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 Epicurean motto of Eat, drink, and be merry, but most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death. 有时我在想，过好每一天是个非常好的习惯，我们明天会死去。这种态度鲜明地强调了生命的价值。伊壁鸠鲁 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 appreciative of the meaning of life and its permanent spiritual values. It has often been noted that those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everything they do. 故事死的主人公往往在最后一刻某种命运的突变而得救，但几乎他的价值观改变了。和它永恒的精神价值了。看到那些生活或已生活在死亡的阴影之中的人们都赋予他们所做的每件事以芳醇甜美。 Most of us, however, take life for granted. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day