When he was nine, he once told one of his cousins, "ask me a question in Latin and I will answer you in Greek."

9岁那年，他对堂兄妹们说：“你们用拉丁文问我一个问题，我就能用希腊语回答你们。”

Oppenheimer went to Harvard and then on to Cambridge University to pursue a doctorate in physics.

奥本海默先是进入哈佛大学，然后又到剑桥大学攻读物理学博士学位。

There, Oppenheimer, who struggled with depression in his entire life, grew despondent.

这时的奥本海默却变得越来越沮丧，虽然他一生都在和挫折做斗争。

His gift was for theoretical physics, and his tutor, a man named Patrick Blackett, who had won a Nobel Prize in 1948,

他的天赋本来在理论物理方面，但他的导师，一个叫帕特里克.布莱克特（PatrickBlakett，1948年获得诺贝尔奖）的人，

was forcing him to attend to the minutiae of experimental physics, which he hated.

却让他做一些繁琐的物理实验，这是他最憎恨的。

He grew more and more emotionally unstable, and then, in an act so strange that to this day no one has properly made sense of it,

他的情绪越来越不稳定，最后他做出了一个令人匪夷所思的举动，

Oppenheimer took some chemicals from the laboratory and tried to posion his tutor.

这天，他趁着没人注意，从实验室带出了一些化学药剂，图谋毒死他的导师。

Blackett, luckily, found out that something was amiss.

幸运的是，布莱克特发现事情异常。

The university was informed.

学校获悉这件事情，

Oppenheimer was called on the carpet.

把奥本海默叫到了办公室。

And what happened next is every bit as unbelievable as the crime itself.

然而，随后发生的一切却像这个罪行一样让人难以致信。

Here is how the incident is described in American Prometheus,

下面是凯.博德和马丁.舍温写的奥本海默传记《美国的普罗米修斯》一书

Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin's biography of Oppenheimer:

对该事件的描述：

"After protracted negotiations, it was agreed that Robert would be put on probation

“经过漫长的谈判，最终同意罗伯特留校察看，

and have regular sessions with a prominent Harley Street psychiatrist in London."

并且让伦敦哈里街最有名的精神病专家对他进行鉴定。”

Probation? Here we have two very brilliant young students who run into a problem that imperils their college careers.

留校察看？在这里我们看到了两个才华横溢的年轻学子，他们面临着同样的问题，他们的大学生涯都陷入了绝境。

Langan's mother has missed a deadline for his financial aid.

兰根的母亲错过了为他申请经济资助的最后期限；

Oppenheimer has tried to poison his professor.

奥本海默图谋毒死他的导师。

To continue on, they are acquired to plead their cases to authority.

如果继续大学生涯，他们就必须向学校解释自己的所作所为。

And what happens? Langan gets his scholarship taken away, and Oppenheimer gets sent to a psychiatrist.

最终的结果呢？兰根的奖学金化为了泡影，而奥本海默被送到了精神病专家那里。

Oppenheimer and Langan might both be geniuses, but in other ways, they could not be more different.

奥本海默和兰根也许都是天才，但是在很多方面，他们之间却存在着天壤之别。

The story of Oppenheimer's appointment to be scientific director of the Manhattan Project twenty years later

20年后，奥本海默被指定为曼哈顿计划的科学带头人，

is perhaps an even better example of this difference.

这也许是这种区别最为典型的例子。

The general in charge of the Manhattan Project was Leslie Groves, and he scoured the country,

负责曼哈顿计划的是莱斯利·格罗夫斯（LeslieGroves）将军，他寻遍了美国，

trying to find the right person to lead the atomic-bomb effort.

希望找到一位合适的人选领导原子弹研究。