E13 美文：我为何而生

 ▍课程导读

对爱情的渴望，对知识的追求，对人类苦难不可遏制的同情心，这三种纯洁但无比强烈的激情支配着罗素的一生。爱情虽然对人生似乎过于美好，然而最终罗素还是得到了它。

他以同样的热情寻求知识，希望了解人的心灵。爱情和知识，尽可能地把罗素引上天堂，但同情心总把他带回尘世。

▍英文原文

What I Have Lived For

By Bertrand Russell

Three passions, simple but overwhelminglystrong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge,and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, in a waywardcourse, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.

I have sought love, first, because itbrings ecstasy -- ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all therest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because itrelieves loneliness -- that terrible loneliness in which one shiveringconsciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomablelifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I haveseen, in a mystic miniature, and prefiguring vision of the heaven that saintsand poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem toogood for human life, this is what -- at last -- I have found.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge.I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why thestars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by whichnumber holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I haveachieved.

Love and knowledge, so far as they werepossible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back toearth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine,victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to theirsons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery ofwhat human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and Itoo suffer.

This has been my life. I have found itworth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.

▍参考译文

我为什么而活着

[英]罗素

对爱情的渴望，对知识的追求，对人类苦难不可遏制的同情心，这三种纯洁但无比强烈的激情支配着我的一生。这三种激情，就像飓风一样，在深深的苦海上，肆意地把我吹来吹去，吹到濒临绝望的边缘。

我寻求爱情，首先因为爱情给我带来狂喜，它如此强烈，以致我经常愿意为了几小时的欢愉而牺牲生命中的其他一切。我寻求爱情，其次是因为爱情解除孤寂——那是一颗震颤的心，在世界的边缘，俯瞰那冰冷死寂、深不可测的深渊。我寻求爱情，最后是因为在爱情的结合中，我看到圣徒和诗人们所想象的天空景象的神秘缩影。这就是我所寻求的，虽然它对人生似乎过于美好，然而最终我还是得到了它。

我以同样的热情寻求知识，我希望了解人的心灵。我希望知道星星为什么闪闪发光，我试图理解毕达哥拉斯的思想威力，即数字支配着万物流转。这方面我获得一些成就，然而并不多。

爱情和知识，尽可能地把我引上天堂，但同情心总把我带回尘世。痛苦的呼号的回声在我心中回荡，饥饿的儿童，被压迫者折磨的受害者，被儿女视为可厌负担的无助的老人，以及充满孤寂、贫穷和痛苦的整个世界，都是对人类应有生活的嘲讽。我渴望减轻这些不幸，但是我无能为力，而且我自己也深受其害。

这就是我的一生，我觉得它值得活。如果有机会的话，我还乐意再活一次。