雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第8章:面朝大海(153)

Behind this lay the question of how to tell their mother. This was the very thing for which 'men like that shot themselves',

現在還有一個問題，那就是這件事該如何告訴母親，這是一件"應該主動自殺"的事。

Alan told Robin that it was the worst part of the whole business.

圖靈對羅賓說，他覺得最痛苦的，就是要把這件事告訴母親。

He had the gall to ask John to do it, which reasonably enough John refused.

他鼓足勇氣，請約翰去說，但是約翰拒絕了。

Accordingly it became Alan's duty to make a journey to Guildford to tell her the facts of his life.

於是，前往格爾福特，並把自己的一切告訴母親，這成了圖靈的一項艱鉅任務。

Mrs Turing was not entirely clear about the significance of what had happened, but she was sufficiently conscious of the subject for there to be a distressing argument, somewhat at cross purposes.

圖靈夫人沒有完全理解這件事的真正意義，但她知道，有大麻煩即將發生了。

She then placed the matter firmly at the back of her mind. But for whatever mixture of reasons, the salient fact was that she did not let it cause an estrangement.

但值得一提的是，她並沒有與圖靈產生衝突。

In Alan's schooldays she had sided with the authorities, seeing him as the problem for them, not school as a problem for him; this time she tacitly took his side.

在圖靈小的時候，她總是和學校的領導站在一起，認爲圖靈是個棘手的孩子，而且不是學校的錯。但是這一次，她安靜地站在了圖靈身邊。

Alan wrote to his brother complaining that he had shown no sympathy with the position in which homosexuals found themselves, which was true enough.

圖靈寫信給哥哥，抱怨他對同性戀沒有同情心，確實如此。

He also accused him of caring for nothing but his own reputation in the City, which was not.

他還指責哥哥只在乎自己的面子，不關心其它，這卻有失偏頗。

It was more that both alike shared their father's character, and spoke their different minds.

他們都繼承了父親的性格，但卻有着不同的思維方式。

John Turing made no secret of the fact that he considered his brother's behaviour disgusting and disreputable, an extreme example of 'a modus vivendi in which the feelings of others counted for so little.'

約翰並不隱瞞他對圖靈是同性戀感到噁心和丟臉，也不隱瞞他認爲圖靈極其自私。

He was particularly offended by the letter of complaint, because he had intervened in order to protect Alan from himself.

但他確實覺得，自己被這封信傷害了，因爲他所做的一切，並非是爲了自己的面子，而是爲了圖靈。