——The Prologue to Bertrand Russell's Autobiography

　　Russell, Bertrand Arthur William (1872-1970)

　　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 great ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.

　　I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy - 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 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 pity 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 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 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.

　　Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872—1970) was a British philosopher, logician, essayist, and social critic, best known for his work in mathematical logic and analytic philosophy. His most influential contributions include his defense of logicism (the view that mathematics is in some important sense reducible to logic), and his theories of definite descriptions and logical atomism. Along with G.E. Moore, Russell is generally recognized as one of the founders of analytic philosophy. Along with Kurt G del, he is also regularly credited with being one of the two most important logicians of the twentieth century.

　　词汇注释：

　　1)overwhelminglyadv.不可抵抗地

　　2) unbearable a. 无法忍受的

　　3) wayward a.任性的

　　4) anguish n.痛苦，苦恼

　　5) verge n. 边缘

　　6)ecstasy n.入迷

　　7) sacrifice n.牺牲

　　8)unfathomable adj.深不可测的

　　9)miniature n. 缩图，缩影

　　10)prefigure v.预示

　　11)saint n. 圣人

　　12) apprehend v. 领会，理解

　　13) Pythagorean a.毕达哥拉斯的

　　14) hold sway 支配，统治

　　15) flux n. 流动，变化

　　16) oppressor n.压迫者

　　17) mockery n.嘲笑

　　18)alleviate v.使（痛苦）易于忍受，减轻

　　下页为参考译文，仅供参考。

　　参考译文1

　　我的人生追求

　　有三种简单然而无比强烈的激情左右了我的一生：对爱的渴望，对知识的探索和对人类苦难的难以忍受的怜悯。这些激情像飓风，反复地吹拂过深重的苦海，濒于绝境。

　　我寻找爱，首先是因为它使人心醉神迷——这种陶醉是如此的美妙，使我愿意牺牲所有的余生去换取几个小时这样的欣喜。我寻找爱，还因为它解除孤独——在可怕的孤独中，一颗颤抖的灵魂从世界的边缘看到冰冷、无底、死寂的深渊。最后，我寻找爱，还因为在爱的交融中，神秘而又具体而微地，我看到了圣贤和诗人们想象出的天堂的前景。这就是我所寻找的，而且，虽然对人生来说似乎过于美妙，这也是我终于找到了的。

　　以同样的激情我探索知识。我希望能够理解人类的心灵。我希望能够知道群星为何闪烁。我试图领悟毕达哥拉斯所景仰的数字力量，它支配着此消彼涨。仅在不大的一定程度上，我达到了此目的。

　　爱和知识，只要有可能，通向着天堂。但是怜悯总把我带回尘世。痛苦呼喊的回声回荡在我的内心。忍饥挨饿的孩子，惨遭压迫者摧残的受害者，被儿女们视为可憎的负担的无助的老人，连同这整个充满了孤独、贫穷和痛苦的世界，使人类所应有的生活成为了笑柄。我渴望能够减少邪恶，但是我无能为力，而且我自己也在忍受折磨。

　　这就是我的一生。我发现它值得一过。如果再给我一次机会，我会很高兴地再活它一次。

　　参考译文2

　　我为什么活着

　　对爱情的渴望，对知识的追求，对人类苦难不可遏制的同情，是支配我一生的单纯而强烈的三种感情。这些感情如阵阵飓风，吹拂在我动荡不定的生涯中，有时甚至吹过深沉痛苦的海洋，直抵绝望的边缘。

　　我所以追求爱情有三方面的原因。首先，爱情有时给我带来狂喜，这种狂喜竟如此有力，以致使我常常会为了体验几小时的爱的喜悦，而宁愿牺牲生命中其他的一切。其次，爱情可以摆脱孤寂——身历那种可怕孤寂的人的战栗意识有时会由世界的边缘，观察到冷酷无生命的无底深渊。最后，在爱的结合中，我看到了古今圣贤以及诗人们所梦想的天堂的缩影，这正是我所追寻的人生境界。虽然它对一般的人类生活也许太美好，但这正是我透过爱情所得到的最终发现。

　　我曾以同样的感情追求知识，我渴望去了解人类的心灵，也渴望知道星星为什么会发光，同时我还想理解数字赖以支配千变万化的毕达哥拉斯力量。在这方面我有所收获，然所获不多。

　　爱情与知识的可及领域，总是引领我到天堂的境界，可对人类苦难的同情却经常把我带回现实世界。那些痛苦的呼唤经常在我内心深处激起回响，饥饿中的孩子，被压迫被折磨着，给子女造成重担的孤苦无依的老人，以及全球无情的孤独、贫穷和痛苦的存在，是对人类生活理想的无视和讽刺。我常常希望能尽自己的微薄之力去减轻这不必要的痛苦，但我发现我完全失败了，因此我自己也感到很痛苦。

　　这就是我的一生，我发现它是值得活的。如果有谁再给我一次生活的机会，我将欣然接受这难得的赐予。