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 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.

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 ahs often been noted that those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everything they do.

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24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由的人，而不是那些活動范圍被嚴格限定了的判了刑的犯人。

這樣的故事讓我們思考，在相似的情況下，我們該怎么辦，作為終有一死的人，在那最終的幾個小時內安排什么事件，什么經歷，什么交往?在回顧往事時，我們該找到什么快樂?什么悔恨?

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、的精力充沛、的善知樂趣的方式過好每一天。而當歲月推移，在經常瞻觀未來之時日、的未來之年月中，這些又常常失去。當然，也有人愿按伊壁鳩魯的信條“吃、的喝和歡樂”去生活。(譯注：伊壁鳩魯是古希臘哲學家，他認為生活的主題目的是享樂，而最高的享受唯通過合理的生活，如自我控制才能得到。因為生活享受的目的被過分強調，而達此目的之手段被忽視，所以伊壁鳩魯的信徒現今變為追求享樂的人。他們的信條是：“讓我們吃喝，因為明天我們就死亡”)，但絕大多數人還是被即將面臨死亡的必然性所折磨。

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變了。他們對生活的意義和它永恒的精神價值變得更具欣賞力了。常常看到那些生活或已生活在死亡的陰影之中的人們都賦予他們所做的每件事以芳醇甜美。