Russell
仿照 伯特兰·罗素 《罗素自传》序言
罗素为其自传所写的序言，尤其是开篇那段关于“三种简单而又极其强烈的情感”的自白，是世界文学史上最著名的段落之一。
以下是《罗素自传》序言的公认全文（普罗米修斯出版社版本）及中文翻译。
原文 (English):
Prologue: What I Have Lived For
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 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 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 would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.
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中文翻译：
序言：我为何而生
三种简单却又极其强烈的情感主宰着我的一生：对爱的渴望，对知识的追求，以及对人类苦难难以承受的怜悯。这三种情感，像阵阵巨风，将我吹得飘来荡去，穿过苦痛的深海，直抵绝望的边缘。
我寻求爱，首先，因为它令人心醉神迷——这种狂喜是如此美妙，我宁愿牺牲余生来换取这片刻的欢愉。我寻求爱，其次，是因为它能解除孤独——在这种可怕的孤独中，一颗颤抖的灵魂从世界的边缘望出去，只看到冰冷、深不可测、毫无生息的深渊。我寻求爱，最后，是因为在爱的结合中，我看到了圣徒和诗人们所想象的天堂的缩影。这就是我所寻求的，尽管它对人生来说似乎过于美好，但它确是我最终寻找到的东西。
我怀着同样的激情去寻求知识。我渴望理解人心。我渴望知道星星为何闪耀。我也曾试图领悟毕达哥拉斯所信仰的“数即万物”的力量。在这方面，我略有成就，但并不多。
爱与知识，只要存在，便能将人引向天堂。但怜悯之心总是将我带回尘世。痛苦的呼喊在我心中回荡。饥荒中的孩子，被压迫者折磨的受害者，被儿女视为可憎负担的无助老人，以及整个世界的孤独、贫穷和痛苦，都是对人类理想生活的嘲弄。我渴望能减少这些罪恶，但我无能为力，而我也因此受苦。
这就是我的一生。我发现它值得一过。如果有机会，我很愿意再活一次。
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简要说明
标题：这篇序言常见的标题是 《我为何而生》 或 《我的一生追求》。它位于三卷本《罗素自传》第一卷的卷首。
核心思想：罗素以诗意的语言和磅礴的气势，总结了自己生命的根本动力。他将个人对幸福（爱、知识）的追求与对全人类苦难的深切关怀紧密结合，展现了一位哲学家博大的人道主义情怀和深刻的内心世界。
文学价值：这段文字超越了单纯的序言功能，成为一篇独立成章的哲理散文精品。其结构清晰，比喻生动，情感真挚，是英语散文中的不朽名篇。