【导读】　《假如给我三天光明》是美国当代著名作家海伦·凯勒的散文代表作。该书的前半部分主要写了海伦变成盲聋人后的生活，后半部分则介绍了海伦的求学生涯。同时也介绍她体会不同的丰富多彩的生活以及她的慈善活动等。她以一个身残志坚的柔弱女子的视角，告诫身体健全的人们应珍惜生命，珍惜造物主赐予的一切。

　　Three Days to See (excerpt)

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