高中生必背經典 ▏英文版《我為何而生》

　　【作者簡介】

　　伯特蘭?羅素（Bertrand Rus－se11）（ 1872－ 1970）：英國現當代著名的哲學家、數學家、社會活動家和政論家，于1950年獲諾貝爾文學獎。

　　【原文及譯文欣賞】

　　What I have Lived for

　　我為何而生

　　Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly（壓倒地，無法抵抗地） 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（到處）, in a wayward（任性的，不規則的） course, over a deep ocean ofanguish（極度的痛苦）, reaching to the very verge of despair.

　　有三種情感，單純而強烈，支配著我的一生：對愛情的渴望，對知識的追求，以及對人類苦難不可遏制的同情。這些感情如陣陣巨風，挾卷著我在漂泊不定的路途中東飄西蕩，飛越苦悶的汪洋大海，直抵絕望的邊緣。

　　I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy（狂喜，忘形）---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（邊緣） of the world into the cold unfathomable（深得無法到達底部的） lifeless abyss（深淵）. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature（微小模型）, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints（圣人） and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what---at least---I have found.

　　我之所以追尋愛情，首先，愛情使人心醉神迷，如此美妙的感覺，以致使我時常為了體驗幾小時愛的喜悅，而寧愿獻出生命中其它一切；其次，愛情可以解除孤獨，身歷那種可怕孤寂的人的戰栗意識，會穿過世界的邊緣，直望入冰冷死寂的無底深淵；最后，置身于愛的結合，我在一個神秘縮影中看到了圣賢與詩人們所預想的天堂。這正是我所追尋的，盡管它對于人類的生活或許太過美好，卻是我的最終發現。

　　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. And I have tried to apprehend（理解） the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux（不穩定的狀態）. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.

　　我也以同樣的熱情追求知識。我渴望理解人類的心靈，渴望知道星辰為何閃耀，我還試圖領略畢達哥拉斯關于哪些數字在變遷之上保持著永恒的智慧。在這一方面，我取得了一點成果，但并不算多。

　　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（回響，回蕩） in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors（壓迫者）, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery（嘲弄） of what human life should be. I long to alleviate（減輕） the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.

　　愛情與知識，盡其可能，引領著我通往天堂；然而憐憫總是把我帶回現實。那些痛苦的呼喚在我內心深處回響。饑餓中的孩子，被壓迫和折磨的人們，給子女造成重擔的無助老人，以及孤獨、貧窮和痛苦的整個世界，都是對人類理想生活的嘲諷。我渴望能減少這些不幸，但無能為力，這也是我的痛苦。

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

　　這就是我的一生。我發現人生是值得的；而且如果能夠再有一次這樣的機會，我會欣然接受。