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.
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?
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 lice each day with gentleness, vigor, and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost when time streches before us in the constant panorama(全景） of more days and months and years to come. There are those,of course, who would adopt the Epicurean（享乐主义的）motto of " Eat, drink, and be merry." But most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death.
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 sweethess to everything they do.
Most of us, however, 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 buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it .The days stretch out petty tasks, hardly aware of our listless attitude toward life.
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 (多方面的) blessings that lie in sight. Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and hearing in life. But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldom make the fullest use of these bleessed 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.
