再活一次？ - 古德明
John Adams, who helped draft the Declaration of Independence and later became the second president of the United States, conducted a lively correspondence with Thomas Jefferson in his final years. When Jefferson said he was willing to live his life over again, Adams replied: "I have had a father and lost him. I have had a mother and lost her. I have had a wife and lost her. I have had children and lost them. I have had honourable and worthy friends and lost them - and instead of suffering these griefs again, I had rather go forward and meet my destiny."
In 1826, in reply to a visitor's question about his health, the 90-year-old man said, "I have lived in this old and frail tenement a great many years; it is very much dilapidated; and, from all that I can learn, my landlord doesn't intend to repair it."*
約翰．亞當斯曾協助草擬《美國獨立宣言》，後來還成為美國第二任總統。他晚年和湯瑪斯．傑佛遜通信甚頻。傑佛遜嘗言願意再活一次，亞當斯回答說：「我曾有父親，今已失去；曾有母親，今已失去；曾有妻子，今已失去；曾有孩子，今已失去；曾有可敬可親的朋友，今已失去。與其再次經歷這些傷心事，我寧願向前走，不避死亡。」
一八二六年，有訪客問九十歲的亞當斯健康怎樣，他說：「我在這破舊宅中住了多年，此宅已是頹敗不堪，據我所知，業主也無意修葺了。」*
*亞當斯、傑佛遜二人，都在一八二六年美國獨立五十周年紀念日去世。
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