The fact that I can't drive my car and am generally having to cut down my activitics isn't as   bad for me as they?think it is. I try to get this through to people, and it seems to release their anxiety a bit. My friends are beginning to accept what is happening and come along with me.

    It's been a time for thinking about relationships and' sorting out those which weren't very satisfactory. Also, to a large extent, the pressure is off and you're going to die, you don't really have to do much. It's rather a rclief if you're not feeling well. I've been very happy these last six months.

    I used to think that if you knew you were dying there would be a great black pall over everything, and nothing could be of any value. But it isn't like that. In some ways, even, you get increased appreciation of things. Colours are brighter and littlc pleasures mean more. You almost get another dimension.

    I feel that if. I hadn't understood what was happening, and come to terms with it , this would have been lost. So if you asked me whether I would rather have a coronary or what I've got . I would rather have this because I've had all this good time. And I feel sad because other people might have it , but miss it -because they aren't allowed to come to terms with what's going to happen, or don't feel able to, and this is such a waste.

                                       Text B

    Wang Jinghui is a lecturer in China Textile University in Shanghai. Now, at the age of fifty-three, he is about to leave this world.
    In July last year, he was diagnosed as to be suffering from cancer in the esophagus. The doctor told him that there might still be a slight chance for him if he got operated on at once, as the cancer was already in an advanced stage. The news greatly alarmed Wang and his daughter who had accompanied him to the hospital. Naturally they wanted to have an operation at once as there was not a moment to be lost.

    "But all our wards are full at the moment," the doctor told them.
    "How long do we have to wait then?" the daughter asked.
    "At least two months. We have a long waiting list. "
    Back at home, the daughter was at her wit's end. Five years earlier, her mother had died of cancer. It was her father then who had looked after everything - her mother's operation, then the funeral. And after her mother's death, it was her father who looked after her and her younger sister, and had seen them through school, and then college for her. She had just graduated and her younger sister was still at school. How could they do without their father? No, their father must not die.

    She lost no time and spared no efforts in finding a hospital for her father. She went everywhere and asked everybody friends , relatives , acquaintances , anyone who might know of a way to , or have connections with a hospital. A few days later one of her former schoolmates came with the heartening news that one of her friends had a relative who could pull strings with a certain big hopital.