优美英文散文

优美英文散文篇一：优美的英语散文

优美的英语散文-What I Have Lived For

2010-08-09 16:21:06

What I Have Lived For

Bertrand Russell

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 verge of despair.

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy --- ecstasy so great that I would 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 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 away 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 reverberated 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 I would gladly live it again if the chance were offered to me. 我为何而活

伯兰特.罗素

三种简单却极其强烈的情感主宰着我的生活：对爱的渴望、对知识的追求、对人类痛苦的难以承受的怜悯之心。这

三种情感，像一阵阵飓风一样，任意地将我吹的飘来荡去，越过痛苦的海洋，抵达绝望的彼岸。

我寻找爱，首先，因为它令人心醉神迷，这种沉醉是如此美妙，以至于我愿意用余生来换取那几个小时的快乐。我寻找爱，其次是因为它会减轻孤独，置身于那种可怕的孤独中，颤抖的灵魂在世界的边缘，看到冰冷的、死寂的、无底深渊。我寻找爱，还因为在爱水乳?交融时，在一个神秘的缩影中，我见到了先贤和诗人们所想象的、预览的天堂。 这就是我所追求的，尽管对于凡人来说，这好像是一种奢望。但这是我最终找到的。

我曾以同样的热情来追求知识。我希望能理解人类的心灵，希望能知道为什么星星会发光。我也曾经努力理解毕达哥拉斯学派的理论，他们认为数字主载着万物的此消彼长。我了解了一点知识，但是不多。

爱和知识，可以最大可能地，将人带入天堂。可是，怜悯总是将我带回地面。人们因痛苦而发出的哭声在我心中久久回响，那些饥荒中的孩子们，被压迫者摧残的受害者们，被子女视为可憎负担的、无助的老人们，以及那无处不在的孤单、贫穷和无助都在讽刺着人类所本应该有的生活。我渴望能够消除人世间的邪恶，可是力不从心，我自己也同样遭受着它们的折磨。

这就是我的生活。我觉得活一场是值得的。如果给我机会的话，我愿意开心地，再活一次。

伯兰特.罗素（1872-1970）,英国著名哲学家、数学家和文学家。他在多个领域都取得了巨大成就。他所著的《西方的智慧》、《西方哲学史》对中国读者影响很大。

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优美的双语散文十六篇

1、What I Have Lived For Bertrand Russell Three passions,simple but overwhelmingly strong,have governed mylife: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearablepity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds,have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deepocean of anguish, reaching to the verge of despair.

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy --- ecstasyso great that I would have sacrificed all the rest of life for a fewhours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relievesloneliness --- that terrible loneliness in which one shiveringconsciousness looks over the rim of the world into cold unfathomablelifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union oflove I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision ofthe heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what Isought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this iswhat --- at last --- I have found.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished tounderstand the hearts of men, I have wished to know why the starsshine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by whichnumber holds away above the flux. A little of this, but not much, Ihave achieved.

Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upwardtoward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoesof cries of pain reverberated in my heart. Children in famine,victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burdento their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and painmake a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate theevil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.

This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and I wouldgladly live it again if the chance were offered to me.

我为何而活伯兰特.罗素三种简单却极其强烈的情感主宰着我的生活：对爱的渴望、对知识的追求、对人类痛苦的难以承受的怜悯之心。这三种情感，像一阵阵飓风一样，任意地将我吹的飘来荡去，越过痛苦的海洋，抵达绝望的彼岸。

我寻找爱，首先，因为它令人心醉神迷，这种沉醉是如此美妙，以至于我愿意用余生来换取那几个小时的快乐。我寻找爱，其次是因为它会减轻孤独，置身于那种可怕的孤独中，颤抖的灵魂在世界的边缘，看到冰冷的、死寂的、无底深渊。我寻找爱，还因为在爱水乳交融时，在一个神秘的缩影中，我见到了先贤和诗人们所想象的、预览的天堂。

这就是我所追求的，尽管对于凡人来说，这好像是一种奢望。但这是我最终找到的。我曾以同样的热情来追求知识。我希望能理解人类的心灵，希望能知道为什么星星会发光。我也曾经努力理解毕达哥拉斯学派的理论，他们认为数字主载着万物的此消彼长。我了解了一点知识，但是不多。

爱和知识，可以最大可能地，将人带入天堂。可是，怜悯总是将我带回地面。人们因痛苦而发出的哭声在我心中久久回响，那些饥荒中的孩子们，被压迫者摧残的受害者们，被子女视为可憎负担的、无助的老人们，以及那无处不在的孤单、贫穷和无助都在讽刺着人类所本应该有的生活。我渴望能够消除人世间的邪恶，可是力不从心，我自己也同样遭受着它们的折磨。

这就是我的生活。我觉得活一场是值得的。如果给我机会的话，我愿意开心地，再活一次。

―――――――――――伯兰特.罗素（1872-1970）,英国著名哲学家、数学家和文学家。他在多个领域都取得了巨大成就。他所著的《西方的智慧》、《西方哲学史》对中国读者影响很大。

2、Man Is Here For The Sake of Other MenAlbert EinsteinStrange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for ashort visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine apurpose.

From the standpoint of daily life, however,there is one thing wedo know that man is here for the sake of other men --- above all forthose upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, andalso for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we areconnected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how muchmy own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellowmen, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself inorder to give in return as much as I have received. My peace of mindis often troubled by the depressing sense that I have borrowed tooheavily from the work of other men.

To ponder interminably over the reason for one’s own existence orthe meaning of life in general seems to me, from an objective pointof view, to be sheer folly. And yet everyone holds certain ideals bywhich he guides his aspiration and his judgment. The ideals whichhave always shone before me and filled me with the joy of living aregoodness, beauty, and truth. To make a goal of comfort and happinesshas never appealed to me; a system of ethics built on this basiswould be sufficient only for a herd of cattle.

―――――――――――人是为了别人而活着阿尔伯特.爱因斯坦我们在这个世界上的处境是奇怪的：每个人，都是来做一次短暂的访问，不知道是为了什么。不过有时似乎也会觉察到有某种目的。

但是从平日的生活来看，有一件事情我们是很清楚的：我们是为别人而活，最重要的是为了这些人活：他们的笑容和幸福构成了我们快乐的源泉。同时，我们活着还为了另外无数个不相识的生命，怜悯之心，将我们同他们的命运联系起来。每天，很多次，我都会意识到我的肉体生活和精神生活很大程度上是建立在那些活着的，和死去的人们的工作之上的，意识到我必须诚挚地、竭尽全力地努力去回报我所得到的东西。我经常心绪不宁，感觉自己从别人的工作里承袭了太多，这种感觉让我惴惴不安。

总体上在我看来，从客观的角度，没完没了地思考自己为什么会存在，或者是生命有什么意义，是非常愚蠢的行为。不过，每个人都有一些理想，来指引着自己的抱负和辨别是非。始终在我面前闪耀着光芒，并且让我充满活着的喜悦的理想，是善、美和真理。对我来说，以舒适和享乐为目标的生活从来没有吸引力。 以这些目标为基础建立起来的一套伦理观点只能满足一群牲畜的需要。

―――――――――――阿尔伯特.爱因斯坦（1879-1955）,美国籍犹太人，20世纪最伟大的科学家。1921年获诺贝尔物理学奖。他一生崇尚科学与民主，追求真理和光明，毕生致力于国际和平事业。

3、Work and PleasureWinston ChurchillTo be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least twoor three hobbies, and they must all be real. It is no use startinglate in life to say:―I will take an interest in this or that.‖Suchan attempt only aggravates the strain of mental effort. A man mayacquire great knowledge of topics unconnected with his daily work,and yet hardly get any benefit or relief. It is no use doing whatyou like; you have got to like what you do. Broadly speaking, humanbeings may be divided into three classes: those who are toiled todeath, those who are worried to death, and those who are bored

todeath. It is no use offering the manual labourer, tired out with ahard week’s sweat and effort, the chance of playing a game offootball or baseball on Saturday afternoon. It is no use invitingthe politician or the professional or business man, who has beenworking or worrying about serious things for six days, to work orworry about trifling things at the weekend.

It may also be said that rational, industrious useful human beingsare divided into two classes: first, those whose work is work andwhose pleasure is pleasure; and secondly, those whose work andpleasure are one. Of these the former are the majority. They havetheir compensations. The long hours in the office or the factorybring with them as their reward, not only the means of sustenance,but a keen appetite for pleasure even in its simplest and mostmodest forms. But Fortune’s favoured children belong to the secondclass. Their life is a natural harmony. For them the working hoursare never long enough. Each day is a holiday, and ordinary holidayswhen they come are grudged as enforced interruptions in an absorbingvocation. Yet to both classes the need of an alternative outlook, ofa change of atmosphere, of a diversion of effort, is essential.

Indeed, it may well be that those whose work is their pleasure arethose who most need the means of banishing it at intervals fromtheir minds.

―――――――――――工作和娱乐温斯顿.丘吉尔要想获得真正的快乐与安宁，一个人应该有至少两三种爱好，而且必须是真正的爱好。到晚年才说―我对什么什么有兴趣‖是没用的，这只会徒然增添精神负担。一个人可以在自己工作之外的领域获得渊博的知识，不过他可能几乎得不到什么好处或是消遣。做你喜欢的事是没用的，你必须喜欢你所做的事。总的来说，人可以分为三种：劳累而死的、忧虑而死的、和烦恼而死的。对于那些体力劳动者来说，经历了一周精疲力竭的体力劳作，周六下午让他们去踢足球或者打棒球是没有意义的。而对那些政治家、专业人士或者商人来说，他们已经为严肃的事情操劳或烦恼六天了，周末再让他们为琐事劳神也是没有意义的。

也可以说，那些理性的、勤勉的、有价值的人们可分为两类，一类，他们的工作就是工作，娱乐就是娱乐；而另一类，他们的工作即娱乐。大多数人属于前者，他们得到了相应的补偿。长时间在办公室或工厂里的工作，回报给他们的不仅是维持了生计，还有一种强烈的对娱乐的需求，哪怕是最简单的、最朴实的娱乐。不过，命运的宠儿则属于后者。他们的生活很自然和谐。对他们来说，工作时间永远不嫌长。每天都是假日，而当正常的假日来临时，他们总是埋怨自己所全身心投入的休假被强行中断了。不过，有些事情对两类人是同样至关重要的，那就是转换一下视角、改变一下氛围、将精力转移到别的事情上。确实，对那些工作即是娱乐的人来说，最需要隔一段时间就用某种方式把工作从脑子里面赶出去。

―――――――――――温斯顿.丘吉尔（1874-1965）, 英国政治家、作家。二战中曾两任英国首相，为二战胜利立下汗马功劳。他在文学上也有很深的造诣，1953年获诺贝尔文学奖。

4、An IllusionWilliam S. MaughamIt is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those whohave lost it; but the young know they are wretched, for they arefull of the truthless ideals which have been instilled into them,and each time they come in contact with the real they are bruisedand wounded. It looks as if they were victims of a conspiracy; forthe books they read, ideal by the necessity of selection, and theconversation of their elders, who look back upon the past through arosy haze of forgetfulness, prepare them for an ueal life.

They must discover for themselves that all they have read and allthey have been told

are lies, lies, lies; and each discovery isanother nail drivens into the body on the cross of life. The strangething is that each one who has gone through that bitterdisillusionment add to it in his turn,, unconsciously, by the powerwithin him which is stronger than himself.―――――――――――一种错觉威廉. S. 毛姆认为青春是快乐的，这是一种错觉，是那些失去了青春的人的一种错觉。年轻人知道，自己是不幸的，他们脑子里充斥了被灌输的不切实际的想法，每次与现实接触时，都会碰的头破血流。似乎，他们是某种阴谋的牺牲者：那些他们所读过的精挑细选的书，那些长辈们谈起的因遗忘而蒙上玫瑰色薄雾的往事，都为年轻人提供了一种不真实的生活。

他们必须自己发现，所有他们读到的、听到的东西，都是谎言、谎言、谎言。每一次的这样的发现，都像是另一根钉子钉入他们的身体，那被束缚在生活的十字架上的身体。可是奇怪的是，每个曾经被这种错觉折磨过的人，轮到他们时，有一种不可控制的力量，让他们不自觉地为别人增添这种错觉。

―――――――――――威廉. S. 毛姆（1874-1965）,英国著名小说家、剧作家、散文家。原先攻读医学，后转而致力写作。他的文章常常在讥讽中潜藏着对人性的怜悯与同情。

5、The Wholeness of (来自:www.zhaoQt.NeT 蒲公英文摘:优美英文散文)LifeAnonymousOnce a circle missed a wedge. The circle wanted to be whole, so itwent around looking for its missing piece. But because it wasincomplete and therefore could roll only very slowly, it admired theflowers along the way. It chatted with worms. It enjoyed thesunshine. It found lots of different pieces, but none of them fit.

So it left them all by the side of the road and kept on searching.

Then one day the circle found a piece that fit perfectly. It was sohappy. Now it could be whole, with nothing missing. It incorporatedthe missing piece into itself and began to roll. Now that it was aperfect circle, it could roll very fast, too fast to notice flowersor talk to the worms. When it realized how different the worldseemed when it rolled so quickly, it stopped, left its found pieceby the side of the road and rolled slowly away.

The lesson of the story, I suggested, was that in some strangesense we are more whole when we are missing something. The man whohas everything is in some ways a poor man. He will never know whatit feels like to yearn, to hope, to nourish his soul with the dreamof something better. He will never know the experience of havingsomeone who loves him give him something he has always wanted ornever had.

There is a wholeness about the person who has come to terms withhis limitations, who has been brave enough to let go of hisuealistic dreams and not feel like a failure for doing so. Thereis a wholeness about the man or woman who has learned that he or sheis strong enough to go through a tragedy and survive, she can losesomeone and still feel like a complete person.

Life is not a trap set for us by God so that he can condemn us forfailing. Life is not a spelling bee, where no matter how many wordsyou’ve gotten right, you’re disqualified if you make one mistake.

Life is more like a baseball season, where even the best team losesone third of its games and even the worst team has its days ofbrilliance. Our goal is to win more games than we lose. When weaccept that imperfection is part of being human, and when we cancontinue rolling through life and appreciate it, we will haveachieved a wholeness that others can only aspire to. That, Ibelieve, is what God asks of us --- not ―Be perfect‖, not ―Don’teven make a mistake‖, but ―Be whole‖.

If we are brave enough to love, strong enough to forgive, generousenough to rejoice in another’s happiness, and wise enough to knowthere is enough love to go around for us all, then we can achieve afulfillment that no other living creature will ever know.

―――――――――――人生的完整佚名从前有个圆圈，它丢失了一小段。它想变得完整，于是它到处寻找它所丢失的那部分。由于不完整，它只能滚的非常慢。在路上，它羡慕过花儿，它与虫子聊过天，它享受了阳光的照耀。它遇到过很多不同的小段，可是没有一个适合它。所以它把它们丢在路边，继续寻找。有一天，圆圈找到了可以与它完美结合的一小段，它非常高兴。它现在终于完整了，不缺任何东西了。它把丢失的那段装到自己身上，然后滚了起来。它现在是个完整的圆圈了，它可以滚的很快，，快到忽视了花儿，快到没有时间和虫子们说话。当它意识到由于它滚的太快，世界变得如此的不同时，它便停了下来，把找到的那段卸下丢在路边，慢慢地滚走了。

我想这个故事告诉我们，从某种奇怪的意义上说，当我们缺少什么东西时，我们反而是更完整的。一个拥有一切的人在某些方面也是个穷人，他永远不会知道什么是渴望、什么是期待；永远不知道用渴求更美好的东西来充实他的灵魂。他永远不会知道一个爱他人送给他一样他所梦寐以求的东西时是怎样的一种感觉。

人生的完整性，在于接受自己的缺陷，勇敢地丢弃不切实际的幻想，并且不觉得这样做是失败的；人生的完整性，在于知道自己足够强大，可以承受人生的苦难，可以在失去一个人时仍然觉得自己是完整的。

生活并不是上帝为了谴责我们的缺陷而设下的陷阱。人生也不是一场拼字比赛，无论你拼出了多少单词，只要拼错了一个你就前功尽弃了。人生更像一个棒球赛季，最好的球队也会丢掉三分之一的比赛，而最差的球队也有辉煌的胜利。我们的目标是让打赢的比赛比输掉的比赛多。当我们接受了―不完整性‖是人生的一部分时，当我们在人生之路上不断前进并且欣赏生命之美时，我们就获得了别人只能渴望的完整的人生。我相信这就是上帝对我们的期望：不求―完美‖，也不求―从来不犯错误‖，而是追求人生的―完整‖。

如果我们有足够的勇气去爱，足够强大的力量去原谅别人，足够的宽容因别人的快乐而快乐，并有足够的智慧去认识到我们身边充满着爱，我们就会得到其它生命所得不到的一种满足感。

6、The Two RoadsJohn RuskinIt was New Year’s Night. An aged man was standing at a window. Heraised his mournful eyes towards the deep blue sky, where the starswere floating like white lilies on the surface of a clear calm lake.

Then he cast them on the earth, where few more hopeless people thanhimself now moved towards their certain goal --- the tomb. He hadalready passed sixty of the stages leading to it, and he had broughtfrom his journey nothing but errors and remorse. Now his health waspoor, his mind vacant, his heart sorrowful, and his old age short ofcomforts.The days of his youth appeared like dreams before him, and herecalled the serious moment when his father placed him at theentrance of the two roads --- one leading to a peaceful, sunnyplace, covered with flowers, fruits and resounding with soft, sweetsongs; the other leading to a deep, dark cave, which was endless,where poison flowed instead of water and where devils and poisonoussnakes hissed and crawled.

He looked towards the sky and cried painfully, ―O youth, return! Omy father, place me once more at the entrance to life, and I’llchoose the better way!‖ But both his father and the days of hisyouth had passed away.

He saw the lights flowing away in the darkness. These were thedays of his wasted life; he saw a star fall down from the sky anddisappeared, and this was the symbol of himself.

优美英文散文篇三：英语散文

篇一：优美英文散文

1.i love three things in this world. sun, moon and you. sun for morning, moon for night , and you forever.予独爱世间三物。昼之日，夜之月，汝之永恒。

2.life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.

生活教会我们，爱并不在于长久地凝视，而在于眺望远方同一方向的希望。

3.life isnt about waiting for the storm to pass, its about learning to dance in the rain.生活不是等待暴风雨过境，而是学会在雨中跳出最美的舞姿。

4.you know my loneliness is only kept for you, my sweet songs are only sung for you.你可知我百年的孤寂只为你一人守侯，千夜的恋歌只为你一人而唱。

5.if living on the earth is a mission from the lord… living with you is the award of the lord…如果活着，是上帝赋予我最大的使命，那么活者有你，将会是上帝赋予我使命的恩赐……

6.do you understand the feeling of missing someone? it is just like that you will spend a long hard time to turn the ice-cold water you have drunk into tears.你知道思念一个人的滋味吗，就像喝了一大杯冰水，然后用很长很长的时间流成热泪。

7.in such a soft and warm season, please accept my sincere blessing and deep concern for you.在这充满温馨的季节里，给你我真挚的祝福及深深的思念。

8.for our ever-lasting friendship, send sincere blessings and warm greetings to my friends whom i miss so much.一份不渝的友谊，执着千万个祝福，给我想念的朋友，温馨的问候。

9.it is graceful grief and sweet sadness to think of you, but in my heart, there is a kind of soft warmth that can’t be expressed with any choice of words.想你，是一种美丽的忧伤的甜蜜的惆怅，心里面，却是一种用任何语言也无法表达的温馨。

10.you and i remains the same in different time, at different places,among different people; time is changing, space is changing and everything is changing except my miss to you!不同的时间，不同的地点，不同的人群，相同的只有你和我；时间在变，空间在变，不变的只有对你无限的思念！

11.coffee is lonely without cups just as i am lonely without you.没有杯子……咖啡是寂寞的……没有你……我是孤独的……

12.my heart beats for you every day. i am inspired by you every minute, and i worry about you every second. it is wonderful to have you in my life.每一天都为你心跳，每一刻都被你感动，每一秒都为你担心。有你的感觉真好。

13.no matter the ending is perfect or not, you cannot disappear from my world.我的世界不允许你的消失,不管结局是否完美.

14.love is a carefully designed lie.爱情是一个精心设计的谎言.

15.promises are often like the butterfly, which disappear after beautiful hover.承诺常常很像蝴蝶,美丽的飞盘旋然后不见

16.fading is true while flowering is past凋谢是真实的,盛开只是一种过去

18.love ,promised between the fingers.finger rift,twisted in the love爱情…在指缝间承诺 指缝….在爱情下交缠.19.if you weeped for the missing sunset,you would miss all the shining stars如果你为着错过夕阳而哭泣，那么你就要错群星了

20.to feel the flame of dreaming and to feel the moment of dancing,when all the romance is far away,the eternity is always there.感受梦的火焰，感觉飞舞瞬间，当一切浪漫遥

远，永恒依然

21.if we can only encounter each other rather than stay with each other,then i wish we had never encountered .如果只是遇见，不能停留，不如不遇.

21.i would like weeping with the smile rather than repenting with the cry,when my heart is broken ,is it needed to fix?宁愿笑著流泪,也不愿哭著说后悔 心碎了,还需再补吗？

22.there are no trails of the wings in the sky, while the birds has flied away.雁过无痕。

23.when a cigar falls in love with a match，its destined to be hurt.有些爱从一开始就注定会受伤。

24.only when our eyes have been washed by tears, can we have a broader field of vision. 只有泪水洗过的眼睛,才有更开阔的视野。

25.to love for the sake of being loved is human, but to love for the sake of loving is angelic.为了被爱而爱是人性，而为爱而爱是神性。

26. every hour of lost time is a chance of future misfortune.一寸光阴一寸金，寸金难买寸光阴。

27.maybe god wants you to meet many wrong people before you meet the right one, so when this happens, youl will be thankful. 也许上帝让你在遇见那个合适的人之前遇见很多错误的人，所以，当这一切发生的时候，你应该心存感激。

28.a boy will make you think he loves you, but he really doesnt. a girl will make you think she doesnt love you, when she really does. ------ 很多时候，男人会让你觉得他爱上了你，其实他真没有；而女人会让你觉得她不可能会爱上你，结果她却动了心。

29.love is when you find someone better, yet you stay with the same person you promised to spend forever with——爱情就是当遇到一个更好的人，却依然和那个曾发誓与其共度一生的人在昨天。篇二：英语散文朗读

英语散文

一、it was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way.

excerpt from a tale of two cities by charles dickens

这是一个最好的时代，也是一个最坏的时代；这是明智的年代，这是愚昧的年代；这是信任的纪元，这是怀疑的纪元；这是光明的季节，这是黑暗的季节；这是希望的春日，这是失望的冬日；我们面前应有尽有，我们面前一无所有；我们都将直下地狱…… 二．the chess-board is the world:the pieces are the phenomena of the universe; the rules of the game are what we call the laws of nature. the player on the other side is hidden from us. we know that his play is always fair, just and patient. but also we know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance. by thomas hey huxley

棋盘宛如世界：一个个棋子仿佛世间的种种现象：游戏规则就是我们所称的自然法则。竞争对手藏于暗处，不为我们所见。我们知晓，这位对手向来处事公平，正义凛然，极富耐心。然而，我们也明白，这位对手从不忽视任何错误，或者因为我们的无知而做出一丝让步，所

以我们也必须为此付出代价。

三．equality and greatness

收入相当的人除了品性迥异以外没有社会差别。金钱不能说明什么；性格，行为，能力才代表一切。在收入平等制度下，每个人将会找到他或她正常的地位，而不是所有的工人被划到应拿低工资阶层，所有的富人被划到应得高收入的阶层。人有卓著伟人，平庸之辈和碌碌小人之别，然伟人总是那些有所建树之人，而非从小深受母亲溺爱，父亲每年留下一大笔钱之人；碌碌小人总是那些心胸狭窄，品德卑劣之人，而不是那些从未获取机会的穷人。愚蠢之众总是赞成收入不平等（他们职能凭借这种机会才能为人所知），而真正伟大之人则主张平等相待，原因就在于此

四．great expectations

天黑得很快，偏巧这天又是下弦月，月亮不会很早升起。我们就稍稍商量了一下，可是也用不着多讨论，因为情况是明摆着的，再划下去我们一遇到冷落的酒店就得投宿。于是他们又使劲打起浆来，我则用心寻找岸上是否隐隐约约有什么房屋的模样。这样又赶了四五英里路，一路上好不气闷，大家简直不说一句话。天气非常冷，一艘煤船从我们近旁驶过，船上厨房里生着火，炊烟缕缕，火光荧荧，在我们看来简直就是个安乐家了。这时夜已透黑，看来就要这样一直黑到天明，我们仅有的一点光亮似乎不是来自天空，而是来自河上，一浆又一浆的，搅动着那寥寥几颗倒映在水里的寒星。

五．the doer of deeds

it is not the critic who counts,not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,the doer of deeds could have done them better.

真正令人尊敬的并非那些评论家和那些指出强者是如何跌倒，实干家本该做得更好的人。 荣誉属于那些亲临竞技场，满脸污泥，汗水和鲜血的人。他们不懈努力，他们曾犯过过错，并一再失败。因为付出即意味着犯错和失败。他们满怀激情地努力做事，执着不懈，将生命奉献于崇高的事业。他们为经过艰辛努力最终取得的伟大成就而自豪，如果失败，他们夜败的荣耀。因而，这样的人永远不应与那些不知道胜利，也从未失败过的冷淡而胆怯的灵魂相提并论。

——excerpt from the moon and sixpennce by w. somerset maugham 一个钟头以后，这一家挤上一辆马车回家去了，我也一个人懒散地往俱乐部踱去。我也许感到有一点寂寞，回想我刚才瞥见的这种幸福家庭生活，心里不无艳羡之感。这一家人感情似乎非常融洽。他们说一些外人无从理解的小笑话，笑得要命。如果纯粹从善于辞令这一角度衡量一个人的智慧，也许查理斯。思特里克兰德算不得聪明，但是在他自己的那个环境里，他的智慧还是绰绰有余的，这不仅是事业成功的敲门砖，而且是生活幸福的保障。思特里克兰德太太是一个招人喜爱的女人，她很爱她的丈夫。我想象着这一对夫妻的生活，不受任何灾殃祸变的干扰，诚实、体面，两个孩子更是规矩可爱，肯定会继承和发扬这一家人的地位和传统。在不知不觉间，他们俩的年纪越来越老，儿女却逐渐长大成人，到了一定的年龄，就会结婚成家——一个已经出息成美丽的姑娘，将来还会生育活泼健康的孩子；另一个则是仪表堂堂的男子汉，显然会成为一名军人。最后这一对夫妻告老引退，受到子孙敬爱，过着富足、体面的晚年。他们幸福的一生并未虚度，直到年寿已经很高，才告别了人世。

十七、imagine that you spent your whole life at a single house.each day at the same hour you entered an artificially-lit room,undressed and took up the same position in front of a motion picture camera.it photographed one frame of you per day,every day of your life. on your seventy-second birthday,the reel of film was shown.you saw yourself growing and aging over seventy-two years in less than half an hour(27.4minites at sixteen frames per second). images of this sort ,though

terrifying, are helpful in suggesting unfamiliar but useful perspectives of time. they may ,for example ,symbolize the telescoped ,almost momentary charater of the past as seen through the eyes of an anxious or disa-ffected individual. or they may suggest the remarkable brevity of our lifes in the cosmic scale of time. if the estimated age of the cosmos were shorted to seventy-two years, a human life would take about ten seconds.

优美的英语散文-what i have lived for

2010-08-09 16:21:06

what i have lived for

bertrand russell

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 verge of despair. i have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy --- ecstasy so great that i would 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 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 away above the flux. a little of this, but not much, i have achieved.

this has been my life. i have found it worth living, and i would gladly live it again if the chance were offered to me. 我为何而活

伯兰特.罗素

三种简单却极其强烈的情感主宰着我的生活：对爱的渴望、对知识的追求、对人类痛苦的难以承受的怜悯之心。这三种情感，像一阵阵飓风一样，任意地将我吹的飘来荡去，越过痛苦的海洋，抵达绝望的彼岸。

我寻找爱，首先，因为它令人心醉神迷，这种沉醉是如此美妙，以至于我愿意用余生来换取那几个小时的快乐。我寻找爱，其次是因为它会减轻孤独，置身于那种可怕的孤独中，颤抖的灵魂在世界的边缘，看到冰冷的、死寂的、无底深渊。我寻找爱，还因为在爱水乳?交融时，在一个神秘的缩影中，我见到了先贤和诗人们所想象的、预览的天堂。 这就是我所追求的，尽管对于凡人来说，这好像是一种奢望。但这是我最终找到的。

我曾以同样的热情来追求知识。我希望能理解人类的心灵，希望能知道为什么星星会发光。我也曾经努力理解毕达哥拉斯学派的理论，他们认为数字主载着万物的此消彼长。我了解了一点知识，但是不多。

爱和知识，可以最大可能地，将人带入天堂。可是，怜悯总是将我带回地面。人们因痛苦而发出的哭声在我心中久久回响，那些饥荒中的孩子们，被压迫者摧残的受害者们，被子女视为可憎负担的、无助的老人们，以及那无处不在的孤单、贫穷和无助都在讽刺着人类所本应该有的生活。我渴望能够消除人世间的邪恶，可是力不从心，我自己也同样遭受着它们的折

磨。这就是我的生活。我觉得活一场是值得的。如果给我机会的话，我愿意开心地，再活一次。

伯兰特.罗素（1872-1970）,英国著名哲学家、数学家和文学家。他在多个领域都取得了巨大成就。他所著的《西方的智慧》、《西方哲学史》对中国读者影响很大。

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