雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第2章:下一個星期(28)
As Alan explained, Einstein had not stated this law of motion in his popular account. Alan might just possibly have guessed it for himself. On the other hand, he could very well have found it in another work which was published in 1928, and which he was reading by 1929 – The Nature of the Physical World by Sir Arthur Eddington. Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge, Eddington had worked on the physics of the stars and the development of the mathematical theory of relativity. This influential book, however, was one of his popular works, in which he set out to convey the great change in the scientific world-picture that had taken place since 1900. Its rather impressionistic account of relativity did state the law of motion, although without proof, and might have supplied its form to Alan. Certainly, in one way or another, Alan had done more than study a book, for he had put several ideas together for himself.
艾倫說，愛因斯坦並未在他的著作中闡述他的運動定律。這可能是艾倫自己推導的，也可能是他從一本1928年出版的書裏看到的。他是在1929年讀的這本書《物理世界的本質》，作者是阿瑟.愛丁頓爵士。愛丁頓是劍橋大學天文學教授，研究天體物理學和相對論數學理論。這本影響深遠的書，是他最有名的作品之一，他在這本書中，展示了1900年以來科學界的巨大進展。書中對相對論進行了深入的介紹，也談到了運動定律，雖然沒有證明，但也許爲艾倫提供了思路。當然，艾倫所做的並不是閱讀一本書，他是在爲自己收集想法。
This study arose out of his own initiative, and Eperson did not know about it. He was thinking quite independently of his environment, which offered him little but nagging and scolding. He had had to look to his totally bewildered mother for a little encouragement. But then something new happened to put him into contact with the world.
這項探究，完全是艾倫自發的，愛普森不知道這件事。艾倫與自己所處的環境，一直小心地保持着距離，這個環境帶給他的，只有沒完的嘮叨和斥責。他只能從他完全困惑了的母親那裏，得到些許安慰和鼓勵。但是，接下來發生的事，使艾倫與這個世界，開始產生聯繫了。
There was a boy in another house – Ross's house, in fact – whose name was Morcom. As yet he was nothing but 'Morcom' to Alan, although Later23 he became 'Christopher'. Alan had first noticed Christopher Morcom early in 1927, and had been very struck by him, partly because he was surprisingly small for his form. (He was a year older than Alan and a year ahead in the school, but fair-haired and slight.) It was also, however, because he 'wanted to look again at his face, as he felt so attracted.' Later in 1927 Christopher had been away from school and then had returned looking, Alan noticed, very thin in the face. He shared with Alan a passion for science, but he was a very different person. The institutions that were for Alan such stumbling-blocks had been for Christopher Morcom the instruments of almost effortless advance, the source of scholarships, prizes and praise. He again returned late to school this term, but when he arrived Alan was waiting for him.
羅斯的學院有一個男孩，名叫克里斯朵夫.默卡。1927年初，艾倫第一次見到這個男孩，吃了一驚，一是因爲他比同齡人矮很多，他比艾倫大一歲，而且比他早一年上學，但是很瘦小，頭髮是金色的；二是因爲艾倫“好想再看一眼他的臉，太有魅力了”。1927年，克里斯朵夫從學校離開了一陣，回來後，艾倫發現他的臉看起來更瘦了。他和艾倫分享對科學的熱愛，但他是個與艾倫不同的人。體制對艾倫來說，就是意味着羈絆，但對克里斯朵夫，卻意味着獎學金、獎項、榮譽和讚賞。這學期他又回到學校，他到達的時候，艾倫在迎接他。
