《艾伦图灵传》第1章10:印度公务员

 The Turings could afford very little, since even in the well paid ICS it was always necessary to save for the future. What they had to afford could be summed up in two words: public school. In this respect the war, the inflation, the talk of revolution changed nothing. The Turing boys had to go to public schools, and everything had to be subordinated to this demand. Never, indeed, would Mr Turing allow his sons to forget the debt they owed him for a public school education. Alan's duty was to go through with the system without causing trouble, and in particular to learn Latin, which was required for entrance to a public school.

尽管印度公务员的薪水并不低，但图灵一家的生活并不宽裕，因为他们现在要为将来攒钱，他们必须要为一件事买单，那就是公学。至于战争，革命，通货膨胀，这些似乎都跟他们没关系，两个孩子要上公学，这就是他们唯一关心的事。艾伦现在的主要责任就是别惹祸，次要责任是学拉丁文，这两样事，是上公学的必要条件。

So as Germany collapsed¹, and the bitter armistice² began, Alan was set to work on copy-books and Latin primers. He later told a joke against his own first exercise, in which he translated 'the table' as omit mensa because of the cryptic³ footnote 'omit' attached to the word 'the'. He was not interested in Latin, and for that matter he had great difficulty in writing. His brain seemed barely coordinated⁴ with his hand. A whole decade of fighting with scratchy nibs⁵ and leaking fountain-pens was to begin, in which nothing he wrote was free from crossings-out, blots⁶, and irregular script which veered⁷ from stilted⁸ to depraved.

随着德国的溃败，休战期开始了。艾伦对拉丁文实在是一点兴趣也没有，所以在写作方面遇到了很大困难。他的手和脑似乎无法合作，写作就是跟笔做斗争，这持斗争持续了整整十年。在这期间，凡是他写的东西，要么就是打满了叉，要么就是把纸弄得奇脏。

But at this stage he was still the bright, jolly little boy. On Christmas visits to the Trustram Eves in Earls Court, his uncle Bertie liked making Alan the butt⁹ of his practical jokes because of his innocent giggly¹⁰ humour. These occasions were more of a trial for John, who was now considered to be responsible for his younger brother's appearance and behaviour – a responsibility that no human being would ever lightly shoulder. To make matters worse, as John saw it,

但尽管这样，此时的艾伦仍是一个阳光开朗的男孩。在圣诞节去拜访图拉斯坦·伊夫时，他的叔叔伯蒂很喜欢给他讲笑话，因为他总是天真无邪地咯咯傻笑。然而，这样假期对于约翰来说，简直就像恶梦一样，因为他要照顾艾伦，这是一个谁也无法轻松胜任的事。约翰描述道：

he was dressed in sailor suits, according to the convention of the day (they suited him well); I know nothing in the whole range of the cussedness of inanimate objects to compete with a sailor suit. Out of the boxes there erupted collars and ties and neckerchiefs and cummerbunds and oblong pieces of flannel¹¹ with lengthy¹² tapes attached; but how one put these pieces together, and in what order, was beyond the wit of man. Not that my brother cared a button – an apt phrase, many seemed to be off – for it was all the same thing to him which shoe was on which foot or that it was only three minutes to the fatal breakfast gong. Somehow or another I managed by skimping¹³ such trumpery¹⁴ details as Alan's teeth, ears, etc, but I was exhausted¹⁵ by these nursery attentions and it was only when we were taken off to the pantomime that I was able to forget my fraternal cares. Even then Alan was quite a nuisance, complaining loudly of the scene of green dragons and other monsters in 'Where the Rainbow Ends'. …

他穿着水兵服赶时髦，他倒是挺合身，但是我完全不晓得，还有什么东西能比水兵服更难收拾。领子、领带、围巾、腰带、裤子，在箱子外面扔得到处都是，怎么把它们弄整齐，根本就是超出了人类的智力。我弟弟一个扣子都不管，我一点不夸张，他什么东西都不管，哪只脚穿哪只鞋，对他来说根本没有区别。我得帮他处理所有的事，包括刷牙和抠耳朵，这些事让我精疲力竭，只有在我们去看童话剧时，我才能暂时不用为他操心。但就算在这时，艾伦仍然非常烦人，《彩虹尽头》里的绿龙和怪兽一出场，他就开叫大喊大叫……

1 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

2 armistice   

n.休战，停战协定

参考例句：

• The two nations signed an armistice.两国签署了停火协议。
• The Italian armistice is nothing but a clumsy trap.意大利的停战不过是一个笨拙的陷阱。

3 cryptic   

adj.秘密的，神秘的，含义模糊的

参考例句：

• She made a cryptic comment about how the film mirrored her life.她隐晦地表示说这部电影是她人生的写照。
• The new insurance policy is written without cryptic or mysterious terms.新的保险单在编写时没有隐秘条款或秘密条款。

4 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

5 nibs   

上司，大人物； 钢笔尖，鹅毛管笔笔尖( nib的名词复数 )； 可可豆的碎粒； 小瑕疵

参考例句：

• They were careful not to offend his nibs. 他们小心翼翼，不敢冒犯这位大人。
• Please tell his nibs that we'd like his help with the washing-up! 请转告那位大人，我们想请他帮助刷锅洗碗！

6 blots   

污渍( blot的名词复数 )； 墨水渍； 错事； 污点

参考例句：

• The letter had many blots and blurs. 信上有许多墨水渍和污迹。
• It's all, all covered with blots the same as if she were crying on the paper. 到处，到处都是泪痕，像是她趴在信纸上哭过。 来自名作英译部分

7 veered   

v.（尤指交通工具）改变方向或路线( veer的过去式和过去分词 )；（指谈话内容、人的行为或观点）突然改变；（指风） （在北半球按顺时针方向、在南半球按逆时针方向）逐渐转向；风向顺时针转

参考例句：

• The bus veered onto the wrong side of the road. 公共汽车突然驶入了逆行道。
• The truck veered off the road and crashed into a tree. 卡车突然驶离公路撞上了一棵树。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 stilted   

adj.虚饰的；夸张的

参考例句：

• All too soon the stilted conversation ran out.很快这种做作的交谈就结束了。
• His delivery was stilted and occasionally stumbling.他的发言很生硬，有时还打结巴。

9 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

10 giggly   

adj.傻笑的，吃吃笑的

参考例句：

• She wasn't so giggly anymore and she had never looked better. 她不再傻笑，而且看上去比以前更加完美。 来自互联网
• Another one is Giggly. example, I sometimes get giggly when I watch a funny movie. 下一个是“傻笑”，例如，当我看笑片的时候，我有时会傻笑。 来自互联网

11 flannel   

n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服

参考例句：

• She always wears a grey flannel trousers.她总是穿一条灰色法兰绒长裤。
• She was looking luscious in a flannel shirt.她穿着法兰绒裙子，看上去楚楚动人。

12 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

13 skimping   

v.少用( skimp的现在分词 )；少给；克扣；节省

参考例句：

• Nearly a third of workers are skimping on work to meet personal commitments. 几乎有三分之一的员工仅仅是为了达到自己许下的承诺因而在工作上马虎了事。 来自互联网

14 trumpery   

n.无价值的杂物；adj.（物品）中看不中用的

参考例句：

• The thing he bought yesterday was trumpery.他昨天买的只是一件没有什么价值的东西。
• The trumpery in the house should be weeded out.应该清除房子里里无价值的东西。

15 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。