What I Have Lived for
我为何而生

What I Have Lived for is a famous essay by Bertrand Russell. It is also the prologue for his autobiography. In this essay, Russel points out three reasons for which life is significant. They are three passions: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. Russel then elaborates on the first passion — love. Love is sought after because it brings ecstasy, relieves loneliness and provides with a prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. Then Russel turns to knowledge. He aspires to know the human sentiments. Also, the universal appeals much to his thirsty mind. He wonders why the stars shine and tries to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux.
《我为何而生》是伯特兰·罗素的一篇著名散文，也是他自传的序言。罗素在文中指出人生的三大要素，即三种人生激情：对爱的渴望、对知识的追求和对人类苦难的难以抑制的怜悯。谈到第一种激情时，罗素表示自己追求爱，因为爱带来喜悦，爱缓解心理的孤独，爱让他仿佛看到了圣贤与诗人们所向往的天堂之景。谈到知识时，罗素表示自己渴望了解人类的情感，也渴望用浩瀚的宇宙填满他饥渴的求知欲。他会思考星星为什么发光，会试图领悟毕达哥拉斯所景仰的“数即万物”的思想。

Is love and knowledge, two of which lead people towards the heaven, is enough？Russel denies this and adds the pity for human suffering and pain to his life. In September 1961, at the age of eighty-nine, Russell was jailed for seven days in prison after taking part in an anti-nuclear demonstration in London, for “breach of peace”. Political and social activism occupied much of Russell's life. Russel ends with these short yet powerful lines, “This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.”
有了爱和知识带领凡人步入天堂是否就足够呢？罗素否定了这一点，并指出对人类苦难的怜悯心是他人生的第三个要素。1961年9月，为反对美国发展核武器，89岁高龄的罗素参加了伦敦的静坐示威，结果以“破坏和平”之罪被监禁七天。罗素一生的大多数时间都贡献给了政治社会运动。在文章结尾，罗素以简短有力的话总结道：“这就是我的一生。我已经找到它的价值。如果有机会，我很愿意再活一次。”