情燃烧岁月

[Sinealba]

The following sentence was found on 老郑's blog. He was so harrassed by media coverage on his divorce that he decided to provide some detail about how it really happened.

He has been saying that his ex-wife wanted a quiet happy home, whereas...:

而当年正用摇滚激情燃烧岁月的我完全不解平庸生活的风情，也就是说老昼伏夜出不沾家。

In trying to understand the logical links between words in the 用摇滚激情燃烧岁月的我 clause, I have come to several hypotheses; can you take a look and tell me which one you think is correct?

1-I understand 摇滚激情燃烧岁月 as something like "years of burning passion for rock'n'roll"; but then I don't know what to do with 用?

2-Or I understand something like: "one who burned his years because of his passion for r'n'r", but this doesn't seem to make much sense.

Generally I understand the meaning of the separate bits, but how they come together remains a puzzle. Any tip will be appreciated!

[Sinealba]

Again a quote from a blog by PRC rock star Zheng Jun in which he explains the causes behind his divorce (please note I'm doing this to practice translation and am not getting paid to spread more gossip about the poor man):

由此引发各种矛盾的激化就象柴米油盐酱油醋一样残杀着爱情，但我们顽强地爱着对方狙击着令人崩溃的生活，希望孩子能象援兵时间能象医生一样改变命运。

I cut the clause as follows: 顽强地爱着对方 / 狙击着令人崩溃的生活

where I see two parallel verb + object structures (approximately: we loved each other stubbornly / 狙击 a miserable life)

But what is the meaning of 狙击? I checked and it apparently means "shoot" or "snipe", but how can you snipe a life?

Could it be that precisely because they "shot" their lives, their lives became 令人崩溃的?

非常感谢大家的帮助!

[skylee]

1-I understand 摇滚激情燃烧岁月 as something like "years of burning passion for rock'n'roll"; but then I don't know what to do with 用?

2-Or I understand something like: "one who burned his years because of his passion for r'n'r", but this doesn't seem to make much sense.

Generally I understand the meaning of the separate bits, but how they come together remains a puzzle. Any tip will be appreciated!

而当年正用摇滚激情燃烧岁月的我完全不解平庸生活的风情 = and back then, I, who was burning (my) years using (my) passion (for) rock and roll, did not understand the charm of (a) normal and common life at all.

[skylee]

I cut the clause as follows: 顽强地爱着对方 / 狙击着令人崩溃的生活

where I see two parallel verb + object structures (approximately: we loved each other stubbornly / 狙击 a miserable life)

But what is the meaning of 狙击? I checked and it apparently means "shoot" or "snipe", but how can you snipe a life?

You can put a comma between "顽强地爱着对方" and "狙击着令人崩溃的生活". Writing such a long sentence without a comma is a style thing. IMO, 狙击 here simply means "to fight" - they were fighting their crumbling life. The dictionary's meanings are correct but the writer uses it in a broader sense. This makes the writing much more interesting.

[Sinealba]

Thanks for helping out! It all makes more sense now.