【双语有声阅读】我为什么而活

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life:

 

三种激情，简单但是极度强烈地控制着我的生命：

the longing¹ for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable² pity for the suffering of mankind.

对爱的渴望，对知识的探索，对人类苦难的难以忍受的怜悯。

These passions, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish³, reaching to the very verge⁴ of despair.

这些激情，不可阻挡地，越过极度痛苦的海洋，直达绝境。

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy-ecstasy so great that I would often havesacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy.

我寻找爱，首先，因为它带来如此痴痴迷迷，常常使我愿意献出余生来换取几个小时的欣悦。

 

I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness-that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim⁵ of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss.

 

我寻找爱，还因为它解除孤独，在这可怕的孤独中，颤抖的意志如穿过世界的边缘看到冰冷、无底、死寂的深渊。

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.

我寻找爱，最终，因为我看到爱的交融，神秘而微妙，圣者和诗人描绘的天堂景象。

This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what-at last-I have found.

这就是我要寻找的，虽然这对人生来说过于美好，但是我最终找到了。

With equal passion I have sought knowledge.

我以同样的激情寻找知识。

I have wished to understand the hearts of men.

我希望理解人类的心灵。

I have wished to know why the stars shine.

我希望知道星星为什么闪耀。

And I have tried to apprehend⁶ the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux⁷.

我试图驾驭毕达哥拉斯的数字力量，它支配着消长变化。

A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.

很少一点，我达到了。

Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens.

爱和知识，唯有可能通向天堂。

But always pity brought me back to earth.

但是怜悯总把我带回人世。

Echoes of cries of pain reverberate⁸ in my heart.

痛苦哭叫的回声激荡在我的内心。

Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their pain make a mockery of what human life should be.

忍受饥饿的孩子，惨遭摧残的灾民，被视为重负的无助老人，糟蹋着人类应有的生活。

I long to alleviate⁹ the evil, but I can't, and I too suffer.

我试图减轻这灾祸，但是我不能，而且我也在遭受。

This has been my life.

这就是我的生活。

I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.

我发现它值得此生。如果再给我这机缘，我会很欣慰地再生活一次。

1 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

2 unbearable   

adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的

参考例句：

• It is unbearable to be always on thorns.老是处于焦虑不安的情况中是受不了的。
• The more he thought of it the more unbearable it became.他越想越觉得无法忍受。

3 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

4 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。

5 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

6 apprehend   

vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑

参考例句：

• I apprehend no worsening of the situation.我不担心局势会恶化。
• Police have not apprehended her killer.警察还未抓获谋杀她的凶手。

7 flux   

n.流动；不断的改变

参考例句：

• The market is in a constant state of flux.市场行情在不断变化。
• In most reactors,there is a significant flux of fast neutrons.在大部分反应堆中都有一定强度的快中子流。

8 reverberate   

v.使回响，使反响

参考例句：

• The decision will reverberate and will jar the country.这项决定将引起反响并震撼这个国家。
• Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my hear.痛苦呼喊的一遍遍的在我的心中回响。

9 alleviate   

v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等)

参考例句：

• The doctor gave her an injection to alleviate the pain.医生给她注射以减轻疼痛。
• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。