Bertrand Russell

伯特兰·罗素

Three Passions

对爱的渴望,对知识的探索

对人类苦难难以抑制的同情

《三种激情》是选自《伯特兰·罗素自传》

的一篇优秀散文。

它既是作者心灵的抒发,

也是生命体验的总结。

作者以深刻的感悟和敏锐的目光

分析了人生中的三种激情,

即对爱的渴望,对知识的追求

和对人类苦难的同情。

three passions

朗诵者-图书管理员 孙丹丹

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.

伯特兰·罗素<1872-1970>                

二十世纪英国哲学家、数学家、逻辑学家、

历史学家，无神论或者不可知论者，

也是上世纪西方最著名、

影响最大的学者和和平主义社会活动家。

I have sought love, first,

because it brings ecstasy so great

that l 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.

And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power

by which number holds sway

above the flux.

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

it 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 burde to their sons,

and the whole world of loneliness,

poverty, and pain

make a mockery of

what human life should be.

l long to alleviate the evil,

but I cannot,

and I too suffe

This has been my life.

I have found it worth living,

and would gladly live it again

if the chance were offered me.

三种激情译文欣赏

　　我的一生被三种简单却又无比强烈的激情所控制:对爱的渴望,对知识的探索和对人类苦难难以抑制的同情。这些激情像狂风,把我恣情吹向四方,掠过苦痛的大海,迫使我濒临绝望的边缘。

　　我寻求爱,首先因为它使我心为之着迷,这种难以名状的美妙迷醉使我愿意用所有的余生去换取哪怕几个小时这样的幸福。我寻求爱, 还因为它能缓解我心理上的孤独,我感觉心灵的战栗,仿如站在世界的边缘而面前是冰冷, 无底的死亡深渊。我寻求爱, 因为在我所目睹的结合中, 我仿佛看到了圣贤与诗人们所向往的天堂之景。这就是我所寻找的,虽然对人的一生而言似乎有些遥不可及, 但至少是我用尽一生所领悟到的。

　　我用同样的激情去寻求知识。我希望能理解人类的心灵, 希望能够知道群星闪烁的缘由。我试图领悟毕达哥拉斯所景仰的“数即万物”的思想。我已经悟出了其中的一点点道理, 尽管并不是很多。

　　爱和知识,用它们的力量把人引向天堂。但是同情却总把人又拽回到尘世中来。痛苦的呼喊声回荡在我的内心。饥饿的孩子, 受压迫的难民, 贫穷和痛苦的世界, 都是对人类所憧憬的美好生活的无情嘲弄。我渴望能够减少邪恶, 但是我无能为力, 我也难逃其折磨。

　　这就是我的一生。我已经找到它的价值。而且如果有机会, 我很愿意能再活它一次。

重难点词汇

　　1 overwhelming adj. 势不可挡的,压倒之势的

　　2 wayward adj. 任性的,不规则的,刚愎的

　　3 anguish n. 痛苦,苦恼

　　4 verge vi. 濒临,接近 n. 边缘

　　5 ecstasy n. 狂喜,入迷,忘形

　　6 shiver vi. 颤抖,哆嗦,打碎

　　7 unfathomable adj. 深不可测的,莫测高深的

　　8 miniature n. 缩图,微型画

　　9 prefigure vt. 预示,预想

　　10 Pythagorean  adj. 毕达哥拉斯的

　　11 reverberate vi. 回响,反响

　　12 famine n. 饥荒

　　13 alleviate vt. 减轻,缓和

　　14 hither and thither 到处

　　15 make a mockery of 嘲笑,愚弄

Three Passions

图片、音乐来源网络

内容摘自《典藏一生的心灵美文》

文案提供：第二图书借阅室