雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第3章:思考什麼是思考(6)

Mrs Turing had also written:

圖靈夫人也寫信說：

Dear Mrs Morcom,

親愛的默卡夫人，

Alan got home last night looking so well and happy – He loved his time with you but specially precious to him was the visit to the Clockhouse: he went off to Town today to see someone but he said he would tell me of that part another day – and I knew he meant that it was an experience quite apart. We've had no real talk yet but I am sure it has helped him to exchange memories with you and he is treasuring with the tenderness of a woman the pencils and the beautiful star map and other souvenirs you gave him.…

艾倫昨晚回到家，看上去精神很好，很高興他喜歡和你在一起的時間，參觀鍾屋對他來說是特別珍貴的經歷。他今天去城裏看望別人，說改天再給我講鍾屋的故事，我知道，這意味着那肯定是很難忘的故事。我們還沒好好聊過，但我敢肯定，和你在一起，會慰籍他的記憶。他很珍惜那些鉛筆和星圖，還有你給他的其它東西……

I hope you won't think it an impertinence – but after our talk and your telling me how true to his name Chris was – and I believe is – in helping the weak – I thought how beautiful it would be to have a panel in his memory of S. Christopher in the School Chapel – a panel of your doing, and what an inspiration it would be for the boys who are so reminded that there are the followers of S. Christopher today and that genius and humble service can go hand in hand as in Chris.…

希望我這樣說不會唐突：在我們聊天之後，我知道克里斯是一個非常樂於助人的人。我想，如果在學校教堂捐一塊紀念牌“聖·克里斯朵夫”，擺上“聖·克里斯朵夫”的鮮花，激勵以後的男孩們，鼓舞他們努力前行，這將是最好的對克里斯的懷念。他那些卓越而謙遜的故事，會不斷地傳承下去……

Mrs Morcom had already put into effect a similar idea. She had commissioned a stained-glass window of St Christopher – not however for Sherborne, but for their parish church at Catshill. Nor was it the 'humble service' of Mrs Turing that it was to express, but the life that went on. Back at school, Alan wrote to Mrs Morcom:

默卡夫人也有類似的想法。她捐了一個彩色窗戶“聖·克里斯朵夫”，但不是給舍爾伯尼，而是給凱特西爾的教區教堂。她不是爲了傳遞“卓越而謙遜的故事”，她是想借此表達，生命仍在延續。回到學校，艾倫寫作給默卡夫人：

… I am hoping to do as well as Chris in the Higher Certificate this term. I often think about how like I am to Chris in a few ways through which we became real friends, and wonder if I am left to do something that he has been called away from.

這學期有高等認證考試，我希望我能考得像克里斯一樣好。我經常想念他，想念我有多麼喜歡他，我們是真正的好朋友。他走了，而我卻留在世上，我必須得做些什麼。

Mrs Morcom had also called upon Alan to help choose books for the school prizes that Christopher was posthumously to receive:

默卡夫人還看望艾倫，讓他幫忙推薦一些克里斯喜歡的書。她將爲舍爾伯尼捐助一個獎勵基金，她想知道，克里斯喜歡什麼書：

I think Chris would almost certainly have got The Nature of the Physical World (Eddington) and The Universe around us (Jeans) for the Digby prize and possibly one of The Internal Constitution of the Stars (Eddington), Astronomy and Cosmogony (Jeans). I think you would like The Nature of the Physical World.

我想，克里斯應該從迪比獎中得到了《物理世界的本質》（愛丁頓）和《我們身邊的宇宙》（簡）兩本書，可能還有《恆星的內部結構》（愛丁頓）和《天文學與天體演化學》（簡）中的一本。我推薦《物理世界的本質》。

The Morcom family endowed a new prize at Sherborne, a science prize to be awarded for work which included an element of originality. Alan had plodded on with the iodate experiment, and now he undertook to write it up for the prize. Christopher it was, even from the grave, who induced him to communicate and to compete. He wrote to his mother:

默卡資助的基金，將獎勵給富有創造性的工作。艾倫一直孜孜不倦地研究碘實驗，現在他開始着手把它們寫下來，準備申請這個獎項。冥冥之中，他覺得克里斯朵夫彷彿在通過心靈感應在與他競爭。他給他母親寫道：

… I have just written to a Mellor the author of a Chemistry book to see if he can give me a reference about the experiment I was doing in the summer last year. Rupert said he would look it up in Zurich if I could get him a reference. It's annoying I couldn't get hold of anything before.

……我剛給一本化學書的作者米勒寫了一封信，想問他能否給我一些關於我去年夏天做的實驗的資料。拉普特說，如果米勒肯給，他可以幫我去蘇黎世拿。我也不知道他肯不肯給，唉真煩。