make the best of儘量過好

Dear Ndugu. I hope you're sitting down... ...because I'm afraid I've got some bad news. Since I last wrote to you, my wife, Helen, your foster mother... ...passed away very suddenly from a blood clot in her brain. The services were lovely and very well attended. Jeannie came in from Denver with her friend... ...and folks drove up from as far away as Des Moines and Wichita. It was a very moving tribute any way you look at it. I wish you could've been there. But now that all the excitement is over and the smoke has cleared... ...it's just me and my thoughts knocking around in this big old house. I believe I mentioned in my previous letter that I was an actuary... ...at Woodmen of the World Insurance Company. If I'm given a man's age, race, profession... ...place of residence, marital status, and medical history... ...I can calculate with great probability how long that man will live. In my own case, now that my wife has died... ...there is a 73 percent chance that I will die within nine years... ...provided that I do not remarry. Here's an opportunity, one on three. A backhand shot, and score! All I know is... ...I've got to make the best of whatever time I have left. Life is short, Ndugu. And I can't afford to waste another minute.

親愛的恩杜古。 希望你正坐著看這封信…… ……因為恐怕我要告訴你一個壞訊息。 自從我上次給你寫信以後，我的妻子海倫，也就是你的養母…… ……因為腦部血栓，突然就走了。 葬禮辦得很體面，來的人也很多。 珍妮帶著她的朋友從丹佛趕來了…… ……還有人從得梅因、威奇托那麼遠的地方開車過來。 不管怎麼說，那都是一場很感人的悼念。 真希望你當時也在。 可現在熱鬧勁過去了，事情也塵埃落定了…… ……就剩我一個人，腦子裡翻來覆去，在這座又大又舊的房子裡打轉。 我想我在上一封信裡提過，我在做精算師…… ……在世界伐木者保險公司。 只要告訴我一個人的年齡、種族、職業…… ……居住地、婚姻狀況和病史…… ……我就能相當準確地算出他能活多久。 就拿我自己來說，我妻子一走…… ……我在九年內去世的可能性是百分之七十三…… ……前提是我不再婚。 機會來了，一打三。一個反手，得分！ 我只知道…… ……剩下的時間不管多少，我都得好好過。 人生苦短，恩杜古。 我不能再浪費哪怕一分鐘了。