MBA加油站-英语晨读2017-07-22

Three Passions I Have Lived For一文系《伯特兰・罗素自传》的前言。伯特兰・罗素(Bertrand Russell,1872-1970)是英国声誉卓著、影响深远的哲学家、数学家、逻辑学家和散文家。

Three Passions Ihave Lived for

Bertrand Russell

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

吾生三愿，纯朴却激越：一曰渴望爱情，二曰求索知识，三曰悲悯吾类之无尽苦难。此三愿，如疾风，迫吾无助飘零于苦水深海之上，直达绝望之彼岸。

I have soughtlove, first, because it brings ecstasy—ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of my life for a fewhours for this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relievesloneliness—that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into thecold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in theunion of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of theheaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and thoughit might seem too good for human life, this is what—at last—I have found.

吾求爱，盖因其赐吾狂喜——狂喜之剧足令吾舍生而享其片刻；吾求爱，亦因其可驱寂寞之感，吾人每生寂寞之情辄兢兢俯视天地之缘，而见绝望之无底深渊；吾求爱还因若得爱，即可窥视圣哲诗人所见之神秘天国。此吾生之所求，虽虑其之至美而恐终不为凡人所得，亦可谓吾之所得也。

词汇小贴士

passion n. 激情；热情

overwhelmingly adv. 压倒性地；不可抵抗地

govern v. 管理，支配，统治

unbearable adj. 难以忍受的；承受不住的

despair n./vi. 绝望；丧失信心

sacrifice n/v. 牺牲，献祭，奉献

relieve vt. 减轻，缓和

consciousness n. 意识；觉悟