What 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 verge of despair.
I have sought love， first， because it brings ecstasy --- ecstasy so great that I would have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of 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 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 away 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 pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberated 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 I would gladly live it again if the chance were offered to me.
译文:
我为何而活
柏兰特 罗素
有三种热情掌控着我的生活,它们简单而强烈：对爱的渴求，对知识的探索，对人类苦难无法忍受的怜悯。这些热情如狂风一般肆无忌惮地
吹着我飘来荡去，穿过充满痛苦的深海，抵达绝望的彼岸.
我追求爱，首先因为它让人沉醉，让人这般如痴如醉，以致于我愿意用余生来换取那几个小时的快乐。我追求爱，其次因为它能让人走出孤单---置身于那可怕的孤单中，战栗的灵魂站在世界的边缘,只能看到寒冷的,深不可测的,死寂的深渊。我寻找爱，还因为在爱水乳交融时,它汇聚为一个神奇的缩影，在这个缩影中，我看到了圣人和诗人们想像中的天堂。这就是我所追寻的，虽然对凡来说是奢望，但最终我还是找到了。
我以同样的热情探索着知识。我希望了解人们的内心世界，希望能明白星辰为何会闪烁。我尝试着领会毕达哥拉斯学派的的理论,数字主宰着世界万物的此消彼长。我明白了一些，但不是很多。
爱和知识很可能地把人带入天堂，但怜悯之心常常把我带回尘世。痛苦的呐喊常常回荡在我心中。饥饿的孩子，饱受迫害的人们，被儿女当作可憎负担的,无助的老人，以及满世界的孤单，穷困，痛苦，它们嘲笑着人们原本应有的生活，我渴望消除人世间的邪恶，但却无能为力，我也忍受着这种折磨。
这就使我一直以来的生活，这一辈子是值得的，如果有机会的话，也心甘情愿再这样活一场。