I look back on holidays in Cornwall and Sark among the great enjoyments of my life: in all his companionship and whimsical humour, and the diffident shake of the head and rather high pitched voice as he propounded some question or objection or revealed that he had proved Euclid's postulates or was studying decadent flies – you never knew what was coming.

我很怀念在考恩沃和萨克度过的，我生命中最快乐的假期：他的友好，他异想天开的幽默，他羞怯的摇头，他用尖细的声音宣布证明了欧几里德的错误，还有他正在研究果蝇──你永远不知道接下来会是什么。

The all-encompassing system still allowed some moments of freedom.

即使在僵化的体制中，仍然存在着自由的瞬间。

And Sherborne had also left Alan with one friendship that lasted – with Victor.

舍尔伯尼也给艾伦留下了一段与维克托的友谊。

Alan's younger friend had been obliged to leave school at the same time, his father suffering from financial loss at what was the worst of the Depression.

艾伦的这位年轻朋友，此时不得不离开学校，他的父亲在萧条时期，遭受了严重的经济损失。

He had failed his School Certificate (telling Alan that it was because of too much time spent on chess and codes) but quickly caught up by passing it at a London crammers, and began what Alan called 'his grim life as a chartered accountant'.

他没有拿到毕业证书（他告诉艾伦，这是因为把太多的时间花在了象棋和密码上），但很快在伦敦的补习学校补上并通过了认证，然后开始了用艾伦的话说像注册会计师一样冷酷的生活。

At Christmas 1932 Alan stayed with the Beuttells for two weeks and worked in Alfred Beuttell's office near Victoria.

1932年的圣诞节，艾伦在他家待了两周，并在维多利亚附近的阿尔弗雷德.别特尔的办公室工作。

The visit was overshadowed by the fact that Victor's mother had died on 5 November.

这次拜访蒙上了一层黑色，因为维克托在11月5日就去世了。

The deep shadow was a link, for both boys were having to deal with the fact of early death. The link was close enough to break Alan's usual reserve as to his beliefs – just as Mrs Morcom had broken it – and rather grudgingly to discuss his ideas about religion and survival.

死神的深重阴影，就像一条带子，将两个男孩联系起来，这条带子也勒死了艾伦的信仰──他从此非常不愿意讨论宗教。

Victor believed very strongly, not only in the essential Christian ideas, but in extra-sensory perception and in reincarnation.

维克托虔诚地信仰基督教，也信仰超感知和转世轮回。

To him, Alan appeared as one who wanted so much to believe, but whose scientific mind made him an unwilling agnostic, and who was under great tension as a result.

在维克托看来，艾伦很想相信一些什么，但他的科学头脑，又使他不愿被束缚，所以把自己搞得很纠结。