英文原文

珍惜每一天
　　人生是宝贵的。人的生命只有一次。
　　将童年比作曙光，将青少年比作朝阳，中年比作如日中天，晚年比作“无限好”的夕照。
　　因为宝贵，人们用最华丽的辞藻来赞美人生，用最美妙的画笔来描绘人生，用最悦耳的歌喉来唱颂人生，以上下求索的精神来探索人生。

I believe in what I learned at the grocery store.

Eight weeks ago I was released from the hospital after suffering a pulmonary embolism.

I had just finished a tour and a week after returning home, severe chest pain and terrible
breathlessness landed me in the ER. A scan revealed blood clots in my lungs.

Everyone told me how lucky I was. A pulmonary embolism can take your life in an instant. I was familiar enough with the medical term, but not familiar with the pain, the fear and the depression that followed.

Everything I had been looking forward to came to a
screeching halt. I had to cancel my upcoming tour. I had to let my musicians and crewmembers go. The record company, the booking agency: I felt that I had let everyone down.

But there was nothing to do but get out of the hospital, go home and get well.

I tried hard to see my unexpected time off as a gift, but I would open a novel and couldn’t concentrate. I would turn on the radio, then shut if off. Familiar clouds gathered above my head, and I couldn’t make them go away with a pill or a movie or a walk. This unexpected time was becoming a curse, filling me with anxiety, fear and self-loathing. All of the ingredients of the darkness that is depression.

Sometimes, it’s the smile of a stranger that helps. Sometimes it’s a phone call from a long absent friend, checking on you. I found my lifeline at the grocery store.

One morning, the young man who rang up my groceries and asked me if I wanted paper or plastic also told me to enjoy the rest of my day. I looked at him and I knew he meant it. It stopped me in my tracks. I went out and I sat in my car and cried.

What I want, more than ever, is to appreciate that I have this day, and tomorrow and hopefully days beyond that. I am experiencing the learning curve of gratitude.

I don’t want to say “have a nice day” like a robot. I don’t want to get mad at the elderly driver in front of me. I don’t want to go crazy when my Internet access is messed up. I don’t want to be jealous of someone else’s success. You could say that this litany of sins indicates that I don’t want to be human. The learning curve of gratitude, however, is showing me exactly how human I am.

I don’t know if my doctors will ever be able to give me the precise reason why I had a life-threatening illness. I do know that the young man in the grocery store reminded me that every day is all there is, and that is my belief.

Tonight I will cook dinner, tell my husband how much I love him, curl up with the dogs, watch the sun go down over the mountains and climb into bed. I will think about how uncomplicated it all is. I will wonder at how it took me my entire life to appreciate just one day.

重点词汇

1.pulmonary embolism 肺栓塞
2.breathlessness n. 呼吸急促，气喘吁吁

He still had the breathlessness of out of doors.
他还有从户外带来的那种急促的呼吸。

3.screeching v. 发出尖利刺耳的声音（screech的ing形式）

For deep ocean fish, there is less of this screeching on the surface, because it is further away from the rock.
对于深海鱼类而言，水表面上较少有这种刺耳之声，因为水表面远离了岩石。

4.litany n. 冗长而枯燥的陈述；连祷

The experience provided a litany of mankind's evils, and gave her lasting nightmares, said Rowling.
这段经历带给她的是人类灵魂邪恶的枯燥叙述和无休止的噩梦，她说。

5.curl up 卷起

The pages of the dictionary had curled up from constant use.
字典的书页由于经常使用都卷起来了。