By Helen Keller
I
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.
我们所有人都曾读过些动人心弦的故事，讲述主人翁们余时不多的有限生命，或是仅余一年，或是仅余一日。其中最能引我们入胜的，往往是如此一个疑问：这些已被录入死神裁决书的人们，是如何度过他们最后的时日的？当然，我并非在说那些被严酷地限制着人身自由的犯人，这里我所要谈到的，是自由如我们这样，有着充分选择权的人们。
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?
这样的故事让我们思考：如果有一天，相同的情境里代入了我们自己，我们在生命仅剩的片断中该做些什么，想些什么？当我们回首过往，看见的又会是如何的幸福，如何的遗憾？
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.
有时我会想，也许最好的生活方式便是将每一天当作自己的末日。用这样的态度去生活，生命的价值方可得以彰显。我们本应当纯良知恩、满怀激情地过好每一天，然而一日循着一日，一月接着一月，一年更似一年，这些品质往往被时间冲淡。当然也有人自得其乐于伊壁鸠鲁派 “人生得意须尽欢”的生活，但死亡的迫近往往能让大多数人惶惶恐恐不可终日。
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.
在故事中，主人翁通常会在命悬一刻时得到幸运女神的垂青，但他的价值观也总是因此而改变——生命的意义与其永生的精神价值将在他心中升华凝结。我们常注意到，那些过去曾经，或是如今正活在死亡阴影之下的人们，他们每做一件小事，都充盈着甜蜜的动力。
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.
然而，我们大多数人都将生命视作天经地义、理所应当。我们知道有一天我们必将溘然长逝，但我们觉得那一天是在遥远的未来！在我们年壮身强的日子里，死亡是不可想象的。我们也很少去思考它。时间无限地向前延展，我们做着这些那些琐琐碎碎的事，根本觉察不到我们对生活的冷漠。
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 lie 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 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.
恐怕当我们在利用自己的感官和能力之时，也是同样地懒惰。只有聋子才珍惜听觉，只有盲人才能够体会光明那无尽的美好。对于那些在成年之后才失去听觉或是视力的人们更是如此。那些从未在视觉和听觉方面感受过障碍的人们，往往很少充分利用自己这些天赐的珍贵能力。他们的眼睛和耳朵模糊地吸收着所见的事物和听到的声音，不集中注意力，也不心存感激。常言说，失去之后方知珍惜，久病卧床才知要强身健体，正是如此啊！
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 sound.
我常常会想，如果让一个刚刚成年的人盲上些日子，或是聋上些日子，这或许也是种恩赐。因为黑暗将使他更加珍惜光明，而一片死寂才更能让他体会到声音的可贵。
Now and then I have tested my seeing friends to discover what they see. Recently I was visited by a very good friend who had just returned from a long walk in the woods, and I asked her what she had observed. “Nothing in particular,” she replied. I might have been incredulous had I not been accustomed to such responses, for long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little.
时不时地，我会询问我那些有正常视力的朋友们，问他们看见了什么。最近，一位挚友从林中散步归来，前来探访我，我便问她看到了什么。“没什么特别的呀。”她答道。其实对这样的回答我早已习惯，因为长时间以来，我已慢慢知道，视力正常的人看不见什么东西。
How was it possible, I 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 pine. In the spring I touch the branches of trees hopefully in search of a bud, the first sign of awakening Nature after her winter’s 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. Occasionally, if I am very fortunate, I place my hand gently on a small tree and feel the happy quiver 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 pageant of seasons is a thrilling and unending drama, the action of which streams through my finger tips.
我问自己，以常人的视力享受了一个小时的林中漫步而没有发现任何值得看的事物，这怎么可能？我这个看不见东西的盲人，尚能通过触摸发觉到成百上千充满趣味的事物。我曾感受叶子精巧的对称，我也曾细抚白桦柔滑的皮肤和松树粗糙不平的表皮。春日里我渴望在树干上发现一簇嫩芽，因为那预示着久经寒冬的大自然正从长眠中醒来。我感受着花瓣们令人惊喜的天鹅绒般的触感，发觉它们特别的弧线，领略大自然的鬼斧神工。偶尔，当我将双手放在小树上的时候，还能幸运地感受到高歌的鸟儿身体那愉悦的颤抖。当清凉的小溪水从我指间流过，我更是满心欢喜。苍翠的松针或柔嫩的青草铺就的郁郁葱葱的地毯，比奢美华丽的波斯地毯还要让我倾心。对我而言，一年四季壮美的变幻就是一出动人心弦、永不会落幕的戏剧，情节如小溪流的水一般，顺着我指尖缓缓流过。
At times my heart cries out with longing to see all these things. If I can get so much pleasure from mere touch, 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 pity 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.
有时我是如此渴望目睹这一切。仅凭触摸便能得到如此多的欢乐，若是能够亲眼望见，又将是多么地美好。然而视力正常的人们却什么也看不见，世界的五光十色、光怪陆离对他们来说只是理所应当的存在。也许人类的悲哀便在于此，拥有的东西不去珍惜，对于得不到的却永远渴望。在触得到光明的世界里，上天赋予的视力并非为已经很完美的生活锦上添花的手段，而只是一个便利，这真是太遗憾了。
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 dormant and sluggish faculties.
如果我是大学校长，我一定会开设必修课“如何使用你的眼睛”。教授们应该教导学生如何唤醒自己因沉睡已久而变得迟钝的感官，来抓住那些曾经无声流逝却不被重视的美好，从而使自己的生活更加幸福。