Robin was moving away from theoretical physics and into the philosophy of physics, and there were many discussions with him and his friend Keith Roberts.
罗宾从理论物理转到了物理哲学，他经常与图灵和凯斯·罗伯兹一起讨论。
Once they had tried to set up a purely operational definition of Special Relativity, and when one of them objected that there was no such thing as a rigid body in relativity, Alan said, 'Well, let's call them squeegees'
有一次他们试着对狭义相对论给出一个纯操作性的定义，他们其中之一反驳说，相对论中没有"刚体"这样的东西，然后图灵说："随便你，叫橡胶体也无妨。"
It was that pleasant, unpompous way of being serious without being solemn that in 1948 was far from widespread in academic life, and was associated with the legacy of the Apostles and the King's milieu—though it came naturally to Alan.
他们用这种愉快的方式，而不是严肃的学术腔，这与使徒社和国王学院的风气有很大关系，而且对图灵来说也很自然。
There was another nice occasion when Don Bayley came for the weekend to see Alan and Robin, to be greeted with a toy steam engine that Alan had bought at Woolworths.
有一次周末，唐·贝利回来看望图灵和罗宾，他看见图灵买了一个带蒸汽机的玩具。
'I always lusted after things like this as a boy,' he said ruefully, 'but didn't have enough pocket money for them. Now I have got enough money, I might as well have it.'
图灵悲怆地说："我从小就渴望拥有一个这样的玩具，但我没钱买，现在我有钱了，终于可以拥有一个了。"
They played with it for the afternoon.
他们整个下午都在玩这个玩具。
Alan had told Robin that 'Sometimes you're sitting talking to someone and you know that in three quarters of an hour you will either be having a marvellous night or you will be kicked out of the room.'
图灵告诉罗宾："有时候我坐下来跟别人聊天，我心里就已经知道，45分钟之后，我要么拥有一个欢愉的春宵，要么就会被一脚踹出门外。"
It was not always like that, for the innocent Peter Matthews' cocoa sessions did not involve this stark dichotomy.
当然他也并不是总这样，比如天真的彼得·马修就没有经历过这样的二选一。
Nor was Alan accomplished in the necessary social game of words and eye-contact; he was too shy and brusque and lacking in confidence in his looks.
图灵仍然没有学会巧言令色，他太过于害羞，说话又非常直接，而且脸上总是缺乏自信。
Cambridge did inspire him with greater interest in his appearance, and sometimes he would show Robin a photograph of himself at sixteen and say how handsome he looked then.
剑桥倒确实使他对自己的形象产生了一点兴趣，他有时会给罗宾看他16岁时的照片，并说"你看我当年还挺帅的"。
He was certainly not attractive in the Aryan-Brylcreem style of the 1940s.
然而按照40年代的审美观，图灵的外表并无魅力可言，
To the fastidious, his open-necked, shabby, breathless immediacy came as messy and coarse, though there were redeeming features; he could put on a roguish charm which reminded people of his Irish ancestry, and besides his piercing blue eyes he had thick, luxuriant eyelashes and a soft-contoured nose.
这是一个挑剔的社会，而他总是显得落伍、破旧、憋闷、凌乱、粗糙。不过他也有一些优点，他有幽默感，这会让人联想到他的爱尔兰血统，他还有一双沁人心脾的蓝色眼睛，有着纤长而浓密的睫毛，还有一个秀丽挺拔的鼻子。
But whatever his doubts and disadvantages he would pace round the courts of King's and invite young men in for tea.
不管怎么说，他在国王学院，时常还能约到年轻小伙子一起喝茶。
Sometimes he struck lucky. In April 1948 he struck very lucky indeed, for Neville Johnson stayed for tea, and stayed many times.
他有时运气很好，1948年4月，奈维尔·约翰逊和他一起喝茶，而且喝了很多次。