1、Three Days to See 假設給我三天光明All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live. 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 d

2、ays 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.我們大家都讀過一些令人激動的故事，這些故事里的主人公僅僅活在有限并且特定的時間內，有時長達一年，有時短到小時。但我們總是有興趣發現，那命中注定要死的是那些有選擇自在的人，而不是那些活動范圍被嚴厲限定了的判了刑的犯人。 Such stories set us thinking, wondering what

3、 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? 這樣的故事讓我們思索，在類似的情況下，我們該怎樣辦，作為終有一死的人，在那最終的幾個小時內安排什么事件，什么閱歷，什么交往？在回想往事時，我們該找到什么高興？什么后悔？

4、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

5、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. 有時我想到，過好每一天是個非常好的習慣，似乎我們明天就會死去。這種態度鮮明地強調了生命的價值。我們應該以優雅、精神充沛、善知樂趣的方式過好每

6、一天。而當歲月推移，在經常瞻觀未來之時日、未來之年月中，這些又經常失去。當然，也有人愿按伊壁鳩魯*的信條“吃、喝和歡樂去生活，但絕大多數人還是被即將面臨死亡的必然性所折磨。 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 spi

7、ritual values. It ahs often been noted that those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everything they do. 在故事里，注定要死的主人公往往在最后一刻由某種命運的突變而得救，但幾乎總是他的價值觀被改動了。他們對生活的意義和它永久的精神價值變得更具欣賞力了。經?？吹侥切┥罨蛞焉钤谒劳龅年幱爸械娜藗兌假x予他們所做的每件事以芳醇甜美。 Most of us, however, take life for grant

8、ed. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day as far in the future. When we are in buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable. 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 toward life

9、. 但是，我們大多數人把生活以為是理所當然的。我們知道，某一天我們一定會死，但通常我們把那天想象在遙遠的未來。當我們心寬體健時，死亡幾乎是不可想象的，我們很少想到它。時日在無窮的展望中延展著，于是我們干著瑣碎的事情，幾乎認識不到我們對生活的倦怠態度。 The same lethargy, I am afraid, characterizes the use of all our faculties and senses. Only the deaf appreciate hearing, only the blind realize the manifold blessings that li

10、e in sight. Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and hearing in adult life. But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldom make the fullest use of these blessed faculties. Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sounds hazily, without conc

11、entration 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. 恐怕，同樣的懶散也成為利用我們一切的天性和覺得的特點。只需聾子才珍惜聽力，唯有瞎子才領會到能看見事物的種種幸福，這種結論特別適宜于那些在成年階段失去視力和聽力的人們，而那些從沒有蒙受視覺或聽覺損傷之苦的人卻很少充分利用這些天賜的官能。他們模模糊糊地眼觀八

12、方，耳聽各音，毫無重點，不會鑒賞，還是那一樣的老話，對我們一切的官能不知珍惜，直至失去它，對我們的安康認識不到，直至生病時。 I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight; silence would teach him the joys of

13、 sound. 我經常想，假設每個人在他成年的早期有一段時間致瞎致聾，那會是一種幸事，黑暗會使他更珍惜視力，沉寂會教導他享用聲音。 Now and then I have tested my seeing friends to discover what they see. Recently I was visited by a very good friends who had just returned from a long walk in the woods, and I asked her what she had observed. Nothing in particular, s

14、he replied. I might have been incredulous had I not been accustomed to such reposes, for long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little. 我不時地訊問過我的能看見東西的朋友們，以了解他們看到什么。最近，我的一個很好的朋友來看我，她剛從一片森林里散步許久回來，我問她看到了什么，她答道：“沒什么特別的。假設我不是習慣了聽到這種回答，我都能夠不置信，由于很久以來我已確信這個情況：能看得見的人卻看不到什么。 How was it possible, I

15、 asked myself, to walk for an hour through the woods and see nothing worthy of note? I who cannot see find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch. I feel the delicate symmetry of a leaf. I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or the rough, shaggy bark of a pi

16、ne. In the spring I touch the branches of trees hopefully in search of a bud the first sign of awakening Nature after her winters sleep. I feel the delightful, velvety texture of a flower, and discover its remarkable convolutions; and something of the miracle of Nature is revealed to me. 我單獨一人，在林子里散

17、步一小時之久而沒有看到任何值得留意的東西，那怎樣能夠呢？我本人，一個不能看見東西的人，僅僅經過觸覺，都發現許許多多令我有興趣的東西。我感觸到一片樹葉的完美的對稱性。我用手喜歡地撫摸過一株白樺那光潮的樹皮，或一棵松樹的粗糙樹皮。春天，我摸著樹干的枝條滿懷希望地搜索著嫩芽，那是嚴冬的沉睡后，大自然清醒的第一個跡象。我撫摸過花朵那令人愉快的天鵝絨般的質地，覺得到它那奇妙的卷繞，一些大自然奇觀向我展現了。 Occasionally, if I am very fortunate, I place my hand gently on a small tree and feel the happy qui

18、ver of a bird in full song. I am delighted to have the cool waters of a brook rush thought my open finger. To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug. To me the page ant of seasons is a thrilling and unending drama, the action of which str

19、eams through my finger tips. 有時，假設我很僥幸，我把手悄然地放在一棵小樹上，還能感遭到一只高聲歌唱的小鳥的愉快顫抖，我非常高興地讓小溪澗的涼水穿過我張開的手指流淌過去。對我來說，一片茂密的地毯式的松針葉或松軟而富彈性的草地比最奢華的波斯地毯更受歡迎。對我來說四季的壯觀而華美的展現是一部令人激動的、無窮盡的戲劇。這部戲劇的扮演，經過我的手指尖端涌淌出來。 At times my heart cries out with longing to see all these things. If I can get so much pleasure from mere t

20、ouch, how much more beauty must be revealed by sight. Yet, those who have eyes apparently see little. the panorama of color and action which fills the world is taken for granted. It is human, perhaps, to appreciate little that which we have and to long for that which we have not, but it is a great p

21、ity that in the world of light the gift of sight is used only as a mere conveniences rather than as a means of adding fullness to life. 有時，由于盼望能看到這一切東西，我的內心在哭泣。假設說僅憑我的觸覺我就能感遭到這么多的愉快，那么憑視覺該有多少美麗的東西顯顯露來。然而，那些能看見的人明顯地看得很少，充溢世間的顏色和動作的景象被當成理所當然，或許，這是人性共有的特點；對我們具有的不怎樣欣賞，而對我們不具有的卻盼望得到。然而，這是一個極大的遺憾，在光明的世界里，

22、視力的天賦僅僅作為一種方便之用，而沒有作為增添生活美滿的手段。 If I were the president of a university I should establish a compulsory course in How to Use Your Eyes. The professor would try to show his pupils how they could add joy to their lives by really seeing what passes unnoticed before them. He would try to awake their dor

23、mant and sluggish faculties. 假設我是一所大學的校長，我就要開設一門強迫的必修課“如何運用他的眼睛。這門課的教授應該試圖給他的學生顯示怎樣能以看見那些在他們面前一現而過的東西來增添他們生活的樂趣，這位教授應該試圖喚醒他們沉睡和懶散的天賦。 Suppose you set your mind to work on the problem of how you would use your own eyes if you had only three more days to see. If with the on-coming darkness of the thir

24、d night you knew that the sun would never rise for you again, how would you spend those three precious intervening days? What would you most want to let your gaze rest upon? 想象他在思索這個問題,假設他只需三天多點的時間看東西，他該如何運用他本人的眼睛。假設面對即將到來的第三個夜晚的黑暗，他又知道，太陽對他來說，永不再升起了，那么他該怎樣度過這插進來的珍貴的三天呢？他最想要凝視的東西是什么呢？ I, naturally,

25、should want most to see the things which have become dear to me through my years of darkness. You, too, would want to let your eyes rest on the things that have become dear to you so that you could take the memory of them with you into the night that loomed before you. 當然，我會最想看到我多年的黑暗中對我變得珍貴的事情，他也會想

26、讓他們的目光停留在那些對他曾經變得珍貴的事情上。這樣，他就能隨著他進入那逼近在他面前的長夜而永遠記住它們。 I should want to see the people whose kindness and gentleness and companionship have made my life worth living. First I should like to gaze long upon the face of my dear teacher, Mrs. Anne Sullivan Macy, who came to me when I was a child and open

27、ed the outer world to me. I should want not merely to see the outline of her face, so that I could cherish it in my memory, but to study that face and find in it the living evidence of the sympathetic tenderness and patience with which she accomplished the difficult task of my education. I should li

28、ke to see in her eyes that strength of character which has enabled her to stand firm in the face of difficulties, and that compassion for all humanity which she has revealed to me so often. 我想看到這些人，他們的仁慈、溫順和友誼使我的生命值得活下去。首先我想仔細長久地觀看我那親愛的教師安妮薩利文梅西夫人的面容。當我還是一個孩子的時候，她來到我面前，并向我翻開了外部世界。我不僅要看她臉部的輪廓，以便我能把它收

29、藏在我的記憶中，而且我還要研討這張臉龐，在那里找到富有同情心、溫順和耐心的活證據，她就是以這種溫順和耐心完成了教育我的困難的義務。我要看她眼睛里包藏的那種性格力量，它使得她在困難面前那么堅決。我要看那對一切人的同情心，她如此經常地對我顯顯露來。 I do not know what it is to see into the heart of a friend through that Window of the soul, the eye. I can only see through my finger tips the outline of a face. I can detect la

30、ughter, sorrow, and many other obvious emotions. I know my friends from the feel of their faces. But I cannot really picture their personalities by touch. I know their personalities, of course, through other means, through the thoughts they express to me, through whatever of their actions are reveal

31、ed to me. But I am denied that deeper understanding of them which I am sure would come through sight of them, through watching their reactions to various expressed thoughts and circumstances, through noting the immediate and fleeting reactions of their eyes and countenance. 我不知道經過“心靈的窗口眼睛，看透一個朋友的內心是

32、怎樣一回事。我只能經過我的指尖“看到一張面孔的輪廓。我能覺察歡笑、悲傷和其它許多明顯的感情。我從他們面部的感觸知道我的朋友，但我不能正確地憑觸摸描畫出他們的品格。我當然經過其它方式知道他們的品格，經過他們對我表達的思想，經過他們對我流露的任何行為，但我不曾對他們有更深化的了解。那更深化的了解我置信經過看到他們，經過察看他們對各種表達出來的思想和情況的反響、經過留意他們眼睛和容顏的直接和短暫的反響可以到達。 Friends who are near to me I know well, because through the months and years they reveal themse

33、lves to me in all their phases; but of casual friends I have only an incomplete impression, an impression gained from a handclasp, from spoken words which I take from their lips with my finger tips, or which they tap into the palm of my hand. 在我身邊的朋友，我熟知他們，由于年年累月他們在各方面都對我流露了他們本人。而對那些偶爾的朋友我只需一個不完全的印象

34、，一種我從下面方式中得到的印象：一次握手，我的指尖從他們的雙唇上感觸到的他們所說的話，或者是他們在我兩手掌上悄然地拍撫。 How much easier, how much more satisfying it is for you who can see to grasp quickly the essential qualities of another person by watching the subtleties of expression, the quiver of a muscle, the flutter of a hand. But does it ever occur

35、to you to use your sight to see into the inner nature of a friends or acquaintance? Do not most of you seeing people grasp casually the outward features of a face and let it go at that? 對他來說，一個能看見的人，經過察看微妙的表情一條肌肉的顫抖、一只手的擺動，很快地了解另一個人的本質，是多么容易又多么令人滿足的事情。但是他曾經有過用他的視覺去看透一個朋友或相識的內在本質的時候嗎？他們能看見事物的大多數人不是偶爾地抓住一張面孔的外部特征并不再去想了嗎？ For instance can you describe accurately the faces of five good friends? some of you can, but many