Do you want to live forever?

M: What are you reading?

W: It’s a novel about a person who learns the secret to living forever, but questions whether she wants to.

M: Why would she question that? Who wouldn’t want to live forever?

W: Well, the topic has been discussed by philosophers throughout history. So it can’t be that obvious.

M: That’s what philosophers do, overthink things. It’s a simple yes for me because I’d have plenty of time to do whatever I want.

W：I don’t know. At some point, you’d run out of new things to do and life would become dull.

M: How’s that worse than being dead?

W: To me, it’s good to know there’s an end. The limit of time gives me the motivation to make every day count.

M: Well, I’m not motivated by time, but by success.

W: Okay, but with eternal life, you would outlive everyone you ever knew and loved, which would cause you unbearable pain.

M: I guess I hadn’t thought about that. So you wouldn’t want to live forever?

W: Actually, I’m not sure. I just wanted to point out that there are a lot of good arguments against it.

M: You always do this.

W: Do what?

M: Start arguments with me! Can’t you just agree with me for once?

W: Me? You started it.

M: Well, I have better things to do with my time than argue with you. It’s not like I’ll live forever.

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Vocabulary:

count

Do you think appearances count in job interviews?

They called off the project and all my hard work counted for nothing.

Do my feelings for you count for anything?

What you do counts more than what you say.

If the manager rejects my proposal, all my time and effort will count for nothing.

eternal

Balancing work and family life seems to be an eternal struggle.

To outlive

The actress passed away at the age of ninety-three, outliving both her son and husband.

The board decided to do away with several policies that have long outlived their usefulness.

Outlive one’s usefulness 表示某人或某物已不再有价值

That building has long outlived its usefulness.

Do you know that parrots can easily outlive their owners?

Unbearable

We kept ourselves busy to make our times apart less unbeara