Sentence:  The stories did not seem to me to touch <WSD>life</WSD>. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed. They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Nature, reality, and the forms that exist in it.