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 gentleness, 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.
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.
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 in an endless vista. So we go about our petty tasks, hardly aware of our listless attitude toward life.
有时我想，把每天都当作生命中的最后一天，也不失为一个极好的法则。这种态度会让人十分重视生命的价值。每一天我们都应该以温柔的姿态、充沛的精力和怀抱一颗感恩之心面对生活。当时间一天天，一月月，一年年在我们面前流逝时，我们却没有了这种感觉。当然也会有人遵循享乐派“吃好，喝好，过得愉快”的人生格言。但大多数人都会受到即将来临的死亡的惩罚。
故事中，看起来难逃一死的英雄总是在最后一刻获得幸运之神的眷顾，但他的价值观通常会被改变。他变得更加明白生命的意义和永恒的精神价值。我们常常注意到，那些生活或者曾经生活在死亡阴影下的人，他们无论做什么都会感到幸福。
但是，我们中的大多数，都把生命看作是理所当然的。我们知道有一天我们终将死去，但通常我们会觉得那一天十分遥远。当我们拥有健康的体格时，死亡是无法想象的事情。我们很少会去想到它。日子仿佛没有尽头。所以我们处理那些琐事，几乎意识不到我们对生命的倦怠态度。
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