重生的领悟 A New Look from Borrowed Time

拉尔夫·里士满/Ralph Richmond

Just ten years ago I sat across the desk from a doctor with a stethoscope.“Yes，”he said，“there is a lesion in the left upper lobe. You have a moderately advanced case……”I listened, stunned, as he continued：“You'll have to give up work at once and go to bed. Later on, we'll see……”He gave me no assurance.

Feeling like a man who, in mid-career, has suddenly been placed under sentence of death with an indefnite reprieve, I left the doctor's offce, walked over to the park and sat down on a bench—perhaps, as I then told myself, for the last time. I needed to think.

In the next three days I cleared up my affairs. Then I went home, got into bed and set my watch to tick off not the minutes but the months.

Two and a half years, and many dashed hopes later, I left my bed and began the long climb back. It was another year before I made it.

I speak of this experience because these years that passes soslowly taught me what to value and what to believe. They said to me：Take time before time takes you.

I realize now that this world I'm living in is not my oyster to be opened, but my opportunity to be grasped. Each day to me is a precious entity. The sun comes up and presents me with twenty-four brand new, wonderful hours—not to pass but to fill. I've learned to appreciate those little all-important things I never thought I had the time to notice before—the play of light on running water, the music of the wind in my favorite pine tree.

I seem now to see and hear and feel with some of the recovered freshness of childhood. How well, for instance, I recall the touch of the springy earth under my feet the day I first stepped upon it after the years in bed. It was almost more than I could bear. It was like regaining one's citizenship in a world one had nearly lost.

Frequently I sit back and say to myself：Let me make note of this moment I'm living right now. Because in it I'm well, happy, hard at work doing what I like best to do. It won't always be like this；so while it is, I'll make the most of it. And afterwards, I'll remember and be grateful.

All this I owe to that long time spent“on the sidelines”of life. Wiser people come to this awareness without having to acquire it the hard way. But I wasn't wise enough. I'm wiser now—a little—and happier.

“Look thy last on all things lovely—every hour！”With these words Walter de la Mare sums up for me my philosophy and my belief. God made this world—in spite of what man now and then tries to do to unmake it—a dwelling place of beauty and wonder, and He flled it with more goodness than most of us suspect. And so I say to myself：Should I not pretty often take time to absorb the beauty andthe wonder, to contribute at least a little to the goodness?And should I not then, in my heart, give thanks?Truly I do. This I believe.

就在十年前，我与拿着听诊器的医生相对而坐。他说：“你的左肺叶上部有一处坏损，病情正在恶化……”听到这些，我顿时愣住了。他接着说道：“你必须放下工作，卧床休息。稍后，我们会对你进行进一步的观察……”对于我的病情，医生也不是很有把握。

事业正值中天的我突然感觉像被判了刑，而刑期却尚未确定。我走出医生的办公室，坐在公园的长椅上，我告诉自己，这也许是最后一次了，我需要好好想一想。

接下来的三天里，我处理完手上所有的事务，然后回到家，躺在床上，将手表的显示从分钟改为月份。

之后两年半的时间里，我经历了无数次失望的打击，最终离开病榻，开始缓慢地恢复原来的生活状态。第二年，我成功了。

提及这段经历，是因为过去这段漫长的岁月让我懂得了什么值得珍惜，什么值得信仰。它们告诉我：好好把握时间，而不要让时间支配你。

如今我意识到，我所生存的这个世界并不是等待我去打开的贝壳，而是需要我去把握的机遇。对我而言，每一天都是稀世珍宝。太阳每次升起，都会带给我崭新而精彩的24小时——我绝不能虚度。我学会了去欣赏生活细节的美好，比如水面的粼粼波光，松间风儿的轻吟——这些重要的生活细节我从前竟无暇理会。

如今，我的所见、所闻、所感总会带给我一种清新的感觉，让我仿佛回到了童年。当我离开病榻，双脚再次踏上大地时，那松软的土壤带给我的美好感觉令我激动不已。那种感觉就像重新获得了差点失之交臂的世界。

我常常会惬意地坐着，告诉自己：要珍惜现在的每一分每一秒。因为此刻的我健康、快乐，并在为自己最喜爱的工作而努力奋斗。然而这些美好终会消逝，因此，我要加倍珍惜这存在的每一刻。等它消逝后，我会记住这些美好，并心存感激。

在生命边缘徘徊的那些漫长岁月，让我明白了这一切。而智者不必经历这样的艰难也能意识到这些——但从前的我实在是愚钝。如今，我多了几分聪慧，也多了几分快乐。

“时刻铭记，最后再看一眼那些可爱的事物！”英国诗人沃尔特·德拉·梅尔的这句话正好阐述了我人生的哲学与信仰。尽管人类现在总试图毁灭这个世界，但上帝创造了它，创造了这个美丽而奇妙的家园，并赋予了它超乎我们想象的美好。因此，我告诉自己：这些美丽与精彩难道不值得我去细细体味，我不应为世间的美好奉献出自己微薄的力量吗？难道我不应心存感激？的确，我相信，我应该这么做。

心灵小语

与其诅咒黑暗，不如燃起蜡烛。

——斯特郎

W词汇笔记

assurance[ə'ʃuərəns]n.保证；确信；保险

例 I plant products low prices, quality assurance, timely delivery.

我厂产品价格低廉，质量保证，发货及时。

reprieve][ri'pri：v]n.暂缓；缓刑

例 The prisoner condemned to death was reprieved for three years.

判死刑的罪犯被缓刑三年执行。

opportunity['ɔpə'tju：niti]n.机会；时机

例 She still have opportunity to love other?

她真的还有机会爱上别人吗？

frequently['fri：kwəntli]adv.经常地；频繁地

例 The area is flooded, as frequently happens during the typhoon.

这个地区被水淹了，这是台风时经常发生的。

S小试身手

事业正值中天的我突然感觉像被判了刑，而刑期却尚未确定。

译____________________________

提及这段经历，是因为过去这段漫长的岁月让我懂得了什么值得珍惜，什么值得信仰。

译____________________________

它们告诉我：好好把握时间，而不要让时间支配你。

译____________________________

P短语家族

You'll have to give up work at once and go to bed.

give up：放弃

造____________________________

In the next three days I cleared up my affairs.

clear up：打扫；清理

造____________________________