在线英语听力室

What I Have Lived For-我为何而活

时间：2013-04-16 00:38:22

（单词翻译:单击）

 　　Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing1 for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable2 pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither3, in a wayward course, over a great ocean of anguish4, reaching to the very verge5 of despair.

　　I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy6 - ecstasy so great that I would often 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 rim7 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 apprehend8 the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux9. 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 reverberate10 in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a 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 alleviate11 this evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.
　　This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.

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1 longing 98bzd     
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 alCwB     
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 thither cgRz1o     
adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的
参考例句：
  • He wandered hither and thither looking for a playmate.他逛来逛去找玩伴。
  • He tramped hither and thither.他到处流浪。
4 anguish awZz0     
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。
5 verge gUtzQ     
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。
6 ecstasy 9kJzY     
n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷
参考例句：
  • He listened to the music with ecstasy.他听音乐听得入了神。
  • Speechless with ecstasy,the little boys gazed at the toys.小孩注视着那些玩具，高兴得说不出话来。
7 rim RXSxl     
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。
8 apprehend zvqzq     
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。
9 flux sg4zJ     
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。
10 reverberate 1BIzS     
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。
11 alleviate ZxEzJ     
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。