“If you live each day as if it were your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It was the quote that 36 me deeply when I was 17, and since then, for the past 34 years, I have looked 37 the mirror every morning and asked myself: “ If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “ 38 ” for too many days in a 39 , I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I’ll be 40 soon is the most important thing I’ve ever known to help me to make a 41 in life because almost everything falls away in the face of death, 42 only what is truly important.
About a year ago the doctor 43 my illness as cancer and he even advised me to go home and get my affairs in 44 . I lived with that diagnosis all day. 45 , at last an 46 test showed that it was a very rare cancer which was 47 with surgery. After the surgery I feel and look fine now.
Death is the destination we all 48 . no one has ever escaped it, though. And that is __49__ it should be because death is very like the single best invention of life. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will __50__ become the old and be 51 away.
Your time is 52 , so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don't be 53 by dogma(教条), otherwise that means 54 with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner 55 . And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart.
36. A. impressed B. worried C. discouraged D. disappointed
37. A. out B. into C. after D. over
38. A. Yes B. No C. Right D. Wrong
39. A. hurry B. moment C. line D. row
40. A. successful B. right C. missing D. dead
41. A. will B. fortune C. promise D. choice
42. A. proving B. leaving C. gaining D. abandoning
43. A. diagnosed B. confirmed C. doubted D. suspected
44. A. charge B. ruins C. order D. control
45. A. However B. But C. So D. Therefore
46. A. elementary B. advanced C. experienced D. experimental
47. A. incurable B. curable C. fatal D. changeable
48. A. want B. avoid C. share D. hate
49. A. whoever B. who C. as D. so
50. A. practically B. actually C. gradually D. eventually
51. A. cleared B. put C. died D. washed
52. A. limited B. limiting C. lacking D. rare
53. A. followed B. cheated C. excited D. trapped
54. A. fighting B. living C. dealing D. playing
55. A. voice B. sound C. love D. direction