17 Three Passions I have Lived for

Bertrand Russell

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither , in a wayward course over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy —ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of my life for a few hours for this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness—that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good 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 the stars shine... A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.

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

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

难词释义

overwhelmingly [ˌəʊvərˈwelmɪŋli] adv. 压倒性地；无法抗拒地

long for 渴望

hither and thither 各处；四处

wayward [ˈweɪwərd] adj. 难以控制的；任性的；倔强的

sought [sɔːt] v. 寻找，探寻（seek的过去式和过去分词）

ecstasy [ˈekstəsi] n. 狂喜；陶醉；入迷

unfathomable [ʌnˈfæðəməbl] adj. 难以理解的；莫测高深的

prefiguring [ˌpriːˈfɪgjərɪŋ] adj. 预示的；预兆的

reverberate [rɪˈvɜːrbəreɪt] v. 回响；回荡

alleviate [əˈliːvieɪt] v. 减轻；缓和；缓解

我为之而活的三种激情

伯特兰·罗素

三种单纯而极其强烈的激情支配着我的一生，那就是对爱情的渴望、对知识的寻求，以及对人类苦难痛彻肺腑的怜悯。这些激情犹如狂风，把我吹到绝望边缘的深深苦海上空东抛西掷，使我的生活没有定向。

我追求爱情，首先因为它叫我销魂，爱情令人销魂的魅力使我常常乐意为了几小时这样的快乐而牺牲生活中的其他一切。我追求爱情，又因为它减轻孤独感——那种一个颤抖的灵魂望着世界边缘之外冰冷而无生命的无底深渊时所感到的可怕的孤独。我追求爱情，还因为爱的结合使我在一种神秘的缩影中提前看到了圣者和诗人曾经想象过的天堂。这就是我所追求的，尽管人的生活似乎还不配享有它，但它毕竟是我终于找到的东西。

我以同样的热情追求知识。我想理解人类的心灵；我想了解星辰为何灿烂……在这些方面我略有成就，但不多。

爱情和知识只要存在，总是将我们向上引向天堂。但是怜悯又总使我回到地面，痛苦的喊叫声回荡在我心中。饥饿的孩子，被压迫者折磨的无辜者，在自己的儿子眼中变成可恶的累赘的孤弱无助的老人，以及世上触目皆是的孤独、贫困和痛苦——这些都是对人类生活的嘲弄。我渴望能减少罪恶，可我做不到，于是我也感到痛苦。

这就是我的一生。我觉得这一生是值得活的。如果再给我一次机会，我将欣然再活一次。