《艾伦图灵传》第1章13:图灵夫人

 Turing's fond of the football field

图灵为什么喜欢冰球场

For geometric problems the touch-lines yield

因为边线是一道几何题

Later another verse had him 'watching the daisies grow' during hockey, an image which inspired his mother to a whimsical pencil sketch¹. And although intended as a joke against his dreamy passivity, there might have been a truth in the observation. For something new had happened.

艾伦的母亲，图灵夫人艾赛儿，还想象着这样的场面，画了一幅素描。虽然这只是同学们对他的心不在焉的一种嘲讽，但这句话里确实有一些真实成分，因为在这个时期，有一些新鲜的事情发生了。

At the end of 1922, some unknown benefactor² had given him a book, called Natural Wonders Every Child Should Know.8 Alan told his mother later that this book had opened his eyes to science. Indeed, it must have been the first time that he became conscious that such a kind of knowledge as 'science' existed. But more than that, it opened the book of life. If anything at all can be said to have influenced him, it was this book which, like so many new things, came from the United States.

1922年末，不知道是谁送给艾伦一本书，叫《儿童必读的自然奇迹》。他后来告诉母亲，这本书让他大开眼界，让他知道了世界上还存在一种知识，叫作科学。这本书，不仅让他认识到什么是生命，而且也改变了他的生命之路。如果说，有一样东西，曾经改变过图灵，那无疑就是这本来自美国人的书。

The book had first appeared in 1912 and its author, Edwin Tenney Brewster, had described it as … the first attempt to set before young readers some knowledge of certain loosely related but very modern topics, commonly grouped together under the name, General Physiology³. It is, in short, an attempt to lead children of eight or ten, first to ask and then to answer, the question: What have I in common with other living things, and how do I differ from them? Incidentally, in addition, I have attempted to provide a foundation on which a perplexed⁴ but serious-minded parent can himself base an answer to several puzzling questions which all children ask – most especially to that most difficult of them all: By what process of becoming did I myself finally appear in this world?

这本书出版于1912年，作者埃德文?特尼?布鲁斯特如此描述它：「……这是首次尝试为年轻的读者们讲述生理话题。总之，这是一次尝试，启发孩子们产生这样的疑问：『我和其他生物有什么共性？又有什么区别？』并且给出了回答。另外，孩子们经常会问一些让人为难的问题，其中最难回答的就是：『我是怎么形成的？是怎么来到这个世界的？』在本书中，我也尝试为那些严肃却困惑的家长，提供一些解答这类问题的基本原理。」

1 sketch   

n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述

参考例句：

• My sister often goes into the country to sketch. 我姐姐常到乡间去写生。
• I will send you a slight sketch of the house.我将给你寄去房屋的草图。

2 benefactor   

n. 恩人，行善的人，捐助人

参考例句：

• The chieftain of that country is disguised as a benefactor this time. 那个国家的首领这一次伪装出一副施恩者的姿态。
• The first thing I did, was to recompense my original benefactor, my good old captain. 我所做的第一件事, 就是报答我那最初的恩人, 那位好心的老船长。

3 physiology   

n.生理学，生理机能

参考例句：

• He bought a book about physiology.他买了一本生理学方面的书。
• He was awarded the Nobel Prize for achievements in physiology.他因生理学方面的建树而被授予诺贝尔奖。

4 perplexed   

adj.不知所措的

参考例句：

• The farmer felt the cow,went away,returned,sorely perplexed,always afraid of being cheated.那农民摸摸那头牛，走了又回来，犹豫不决，总怕上当受骗。
• The child was perplexed by the intricate plot of the story.这孩子被那头绪纷繁的故事弄得迷惑不解。