Translation of "Three passions" by yalling

yaling

Three passions
    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.
   
    三种激情
    如此简单却又极度强烈的三种激情，它们主宰着我的生活：对爱的渴望，对知识的追求，还有对人类痛苦无法承受的同情。这三种激情，像狂风一样，将我肆意地吹得到处飘泊。它把我吹到痛苦的深海之上，让我濒临绝望的边缘。

    起初，我追寻爱情，因为它让我入迷——我被它迷得如此之深，以至于我愿意牺牲生活中除它之外的所有一切，只为换得几个小时的这种喜悦。其次，我追寻爱情，因为它减轻我的孤独——那种令人可怕的孤独，让你在不自觉中产生这样一种意识，它能越过这个世界的边缘让你看到另一个冷漠的、深不可测的、毫无生气的深渊。最终，我追求爱情，因为在爱的怀抱里，我看到了一个神秘的缩影，那是长久以来存在于圣徒们和诗人们想象中的，预示着天堂的缩影。这就是我所追寻的，尽管它对于人的一生来说太过美好，但它却是我最终能发现的。

    我怀着同样的热情追求知识。我希望自己能懂得人心。我希望知道星星为什么会闪闪发光。我努力想要领会毕达哥拉斯“数学可以凌驾宇宙万物变迁”的力量。我对这些的了解不是很多，仅仅是一点点。
   
    爱与知识，只要有处可寻，就能让我离天堂的距离更进一步。但同情常常把我拉回人间。痛苦哭喊的声音在我的内心回荡。饥荒中的孩童，受压迫折磨下的难民，对于子女来说已成负担的孤苦无助的老人们，还有这个孤独，贫穷，痛苦的世界，他们正在嘲弄着人类生活本来的样子。我期望减轻这些不幸，但我不能，并且我自己也同样在遭受着痛苦。

    这就是我的生活，我发现它值得一过。如果有机会，我还愿意再过一次。

Cinderella

还有对人类痛苦无法承受的同情。——————中文不通顺

尽管它对于人的一生来说太过美好，但它却是我最终能发现的——不是“能发现”，是我最终找到了。this is what- at last- I have found

我对这些的了解不是很多，仅仅是一点点。A little of this, but not much, I have achieved————英文原文是要强调无论如何我了解了一点点，虽然不是太多；但你的译文意思是我仅仅了解一点点，不能突出作者对自己比较满意的心情。

victims tortured by oppressors受压迫折磨下的难民————被压迫的人们

and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be还有这个孤独，贫穷，痛苦的世界，他们正在嘲弄着人类生活本来的样子——————make a mockery of, i.e. make sth. seem foolish or absurd; mockery, means an absurd misrepresentation or imitation of sth.。所以这句话的翻译不恰当。“以及孤独、贫穷、痛苦充斥着这个世界，人类社会根本不是我们想象中那样美好。