He was the cruel butt of at least one master because he always managed to get ink on his collar so that the master could raise an easy laugh by saying 'Ink on your collar again, Turing!' A small and petty thing but it stuck in my mind as an example of how a sensitive and inoffensive boy … can have his life made hell at public school.

不止一个老师喜欢挖苦艾伦，并以此为乐。因为艾伦的领子经常被墨水弄脏，所以老师有时会说：「图灵，把墨水抹到衣领上呀！」然后全班就哄堂大笑。这是个微不足道的小事，但却一直记在我心里，这是一个典型的例子，体现了对于一个敏感而无辜的男孩来说，公学是一个怎样的地狱。

Reports were issued twice a term, and the unopened envelopes would lie accusingly on the breakfast table, while Mr Turing 'fortified himself with a couple of pipes and The Times.' Alan would say, unconvincingly, 'Daddy expects school reports to be like after-dinner speeches, ' or 'Daddy should see some of the other boys' reports.' But Daddy was not paying for the other boys, and was seeing the hard-won fees disappear without detectable effect.

学校每个学期，会对家长做两次报告，图灵先生每次都会把信封放在早餐桌上，吸着烟斗看时报，以使自己坚强一些。艾伦则会无助地说，爸爸也应该看看其他男孩的报告。但问题是，爸爸并不为其他男孩付钱，他只是看到，他辛苦赚来的钱基本上打水漂了。

Daddy did not mind his divergences from conventional behaviour, or at least regarded them with an amused tolerance. In fact both John and Alan took after their father, all three believing in speaking their mind and applying their ideas with a determination punctuated by moments of recklessness. Within the family, the voice of public opinion was supplied by Mama, whose tastes and judgments were thought insipidly provincial by the others. It was she, not her husband nor John, who felt called upon to reform Alan. However, Mr Turing's tolerance did not extend to the waste of a precious public school education. His finances were particularly tight at this point. He had finally tired of exile, and had taken a small house on the edge of Guildford in Surrey, but besides paying income tax he now had to launch John on a career. He had dissuaded his son from the ICS, predicting that the 1919 reforms, introducing Indian representation into provincial government, spelt the beginning of the end. John had spiritedly thought of going into publishing instead, and his father's pet idea was that he should go to South America to make money out of guano, but in the end it was Mrs Turing's safer suggestion that he should be a solicitor which won. Mr Turing was obliged to pay ￡450 for his son to be articled and to support him for five years.

图灵先生并不在意艾伦不走寻常路，他在这方面非常宽容。实际上，约翰和艾伦在这一点上，正是像他们的父亲，他们三个都认为，要勇敢地说出自己的想法，并按自己的想法去做。在这个家庭中，图灵夫人则代表着大众的观点，她的品位和判断，被家里的其他成员认为是乏味而过时的。所以，尽管她丈夫和约翰都认为无所谓，但她觉得必须要改变艾伦。而且，尽管图灵先生很宽容，但他也不能接受，昂贵的公学学费被浪费，他在钱这个问题上，是绝对不含糊的。他已经厌倦了逃税，在瑟瑞的格尔福特边上买了个小房子，现在除了要交税，还要想办法给约翰找工作。他不让约翰前往印度从政，他预测1919年的改革会毁了印度官员的前途。约翰想要从事印刷业，图灵先生认为他应该去南美洲搞人造氮肥，最终他们采纳了图灵夫人的保守建议，让约翰去当律师。图灵先生为此需要支付450英镑，使约翰得到录用，并且还要资助他五年的生活费。