双语畅销书《艾伦图灵传》第3章:思考什么是思考(18)
日期:2016-09-05 16:25

(单词翻译:单击)

But it was not all work, because Alan joined the college Boat Club. This was unusual for a scholar, for the university was stuck with the polarising effect of the public schools, and students were supposed to be either 'athletes', or 'aesthetes'. Alan fitted into neither category. There was also the other problem of mental and physical balance, for he fell in love again, this time with Kenneth Harrison, who was another King's scholar of his year, studying the Natural Sciences Tripos. Alan talked to him a good deal about Christopher, and it became clear that Kenneth, who also had fair hair and blue eyes, and who also was a scientist, had become a sort of reincarnation of his first great flame. One difference, however, was that Alan did speak up for his own feelings, as he would never have dared with Christopher. They did not meet with reciprocation, but Kenneth admired the straightforwardness of his approach, and did not let it stop them from talking about science.

值得一提的还有,艾伦加入了学校的划船俱乐部。另外,他又一次坠入爱河了,这次是和肯尼斯·哈里森,他是另一位与艾伦同级的国王学院奖学金获得者,攻读自然科学荣誉学位。艾伦和他谈了很多关于克里斯朵夫的事,很显然,他把同样拥有金色头发、蓝色眼睛、从事科学的肯尼斯,当成了死去的初恋情人的转世。不同的是,艾伦现在敢说出自己的感觉,而他与克里斯朵夫在一起时,这是从来不敢的。肯尼斯喜欢他的直接,而且这不影响他们讨论科学。

At the end of January 1932, Mrs Morcom sent back to Alan all the letters between him and Christopher which he had surrendered to her in 1931. She had copied them out – quite literally – in facsimile. It was the second anniversary of his death. Mrs Morcom sent a card asking him to dinner on 19 February at Cambridge, and he in turn made the arrangements for her stay. It was not the most convenient weekend, he being engaged with the Lent boat races and obliged to be abstemious at dinner. But Alan found time to show her round: Mrs Morcom noted that his rooms were Very untidy', and they went on to see where Alan and Christopher had stayed in Trinity for the scholarship examination, and where Mrs Morcom imagined Christopher would have sat in Trinity chapel.

1932年1月末,默卡夫人把艾伦1931年给她的,与克里斯朵夫之间的所有通信都寄回给艾伦。她已经全部逐字逐句地复印过了。这是克里斯去世两周年。默卡夫人给他寄来一张卡片,请他2月19日一起在剑桥吃晚餐。艾伦为她的到来做了一些安排。这个周末其实不太方便,因为他正忙于划船比赛。艾伦抽时间带她四处转了一下,默卡夫人看到他的房间非常杂乱。他们还去看了艾伦当年与克里斯朵夫一起,在三一学院待过的地方,以及默卡夫人想象的,克里斯朵夫本来会坐在的地方,三一教堂。

In the first week of April, Alan went to stay at the Clock House again, this time with his father. Alan slept in Christopher's sleeping bag. They all went together to see the window of St Christopher, now installed in Catshill parish church, and Alan said that he could not have imagined anything more beautiful of its kind. Christopher's face had been incorporated into the window – not as the sturdy St Christopher fording the stream, but as the secret Christ. On Sunday he went to communion there, and at the house they held an evening gramophone concert. Mr Turing read and played billiards with Colonel Morcom, while Alan played parlour games with Mrs Morcom. Alan went out one day for a long walk with his father, and they had another day at Stratford-upon-Avon. On the last evening, Alan asked Mrs Morcom to come and say goodnight to him, as he lay in Christopher's place in bed. The Clock House still held the spirit of Christopher Morcom. But how could this be? Could the atoms of Alan's brain be excited by a non-material 'spirit', like a wireless set resonating to a signal from the unseen world? It was probably on this visit12 that Alan wrote out for Mrs Morcom the following explanation:

4月的第一周,艾伦再次拜访钟屋,这次是和他的父亲。艾伦睡克里斯朵夫的睡袋。他们一起去凯特西尔教堂,观看圣·克里斯朵夫彩窗,克里斯朵夫的肖像镶嵌在玻璃里,艾伦说,他想不出还有什么能比这更好看了。周日他去那里的教会,举行一场通宵的留声机音乐会。图灵先生和默卡上校一起读书、打桌球,艾伦则与默卡夫人在客厅娱乐。有一天,艾伦和他父亲一起出去散步,他们走了很远,还在埃文河畔的斯特拉特福度过了一天。最后一天晚上,艾伦躺在床上,在克里斯朵夫躺过的地方,默卡夫人走过来,对他说晚安。那一瞬间,艾伦仿佛感觉到了,克里斯朵夫·默卡的灵魂,仍然在钟屋游荡着。这是怎么回事,难道艾伦的大脑,能接受另一个世界的信号吗?关于这次拜访,艾伦写信给默卡夫人说:

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