雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第3章:思考什麼是思考(3)
On receiving Alan's letter, Mrs Turing wrote to Mrs Morcom:
收到了艾倫的信，圖靈夫人給默卡夫人寫信：
Dear Mrs Morcom,
親愛的默卡夫人：
Our boys were such great friends that I want to tell you how much I feel for you, as one mother for another. It must be terribly lonely for you, and so hard not to see here the fulfilment, that I am sure there will be, of all the promise of Christopher's exceptional brains and lovable character. Alan told me one couldn't help liking Morcom and he was himself so devoted to him that I too shared in his devotion and admiration: during exams he always reported Christopher's successes. He was feeling very desolate when he wrote asking me to send flowers on his behalf and in case he feels he cannot write to you himself I know he would wish me to send his sympathy with mine.
我們的孩子，是那麼好的朋友，我想告訴你，作爲孩子的母親，我爲你感到多麼難過。你一定感到極爲孤獨，很難忘記那些卓越的成績，因爲克里斯朵夫有那麼聰明的頭腦和可愛的性格。艾倫告訴我，每個人都會情不自禁地喜歡默卡，他自己就是那麼喜歡他，於是我也和他分享了這種熱愛和欽佩。在考試期間，他經常給我講克里斯朵夫的成績。他寫信讓我代表他去獻花時，是那麼悲痛。他覺得自己不能給你們寫信，希望我把他的慰籍一併致予你們。
Yours sincerely, Ethel S. Turing
你真誠的 艾賽兒·S·圖靈
Mrs Morcom immediately invited Alan to stay at the Clock House in the Easter holiday. Her sister Mollie Swan sent him a photograph of Christopher. Sadly, the Morcoms had very few pictures of him, and this was a poor likeness, taken on an automatic machine with a reversed image. Alan replied:
默卡夫人立即邀請艾倫，在復活節假期時留在鍾屋，她的妹妹摩莉·斯萬，還把克里斯的照片送給艾倫。但遺憾的是，她那裏只有少量呆板的證件照，而且是低級傻瓜相機拍的。艾倫回信說：
Dear Mrs Morcom,
親愛的默卡夫人：
Thank you very much for your letter. I should enjoy coming to the Clockhouse immensely. Thank you so much. We actually break up on April 1, but I am going to Cornwall with Mr O'Hanlon my housemaster until the 11th – so that I could come any time that suits you between then and the beginning of May. I have heard so much about the Clockhouse – Rupert, the telescope, the goats, the Lab and everything.
很感謝你的來信。我應該有很大的可能會去鍾屋，非常感謝。我們4月1號放假，但在11號之前，我要和院長奧漢蘭先生去一趟考恩沃，所以我會在那之後、在五月之前去拜訪你。我聽說過很多關於鍾屋的事，拉普特，望遠鏡，山羊，還有實驗室。
Please thank Miss Swan very much for the photograph. He is on my table now, encouraging me to work hard.
請代我感謝斯萬小姐的照片。我把它擺在桌子上，鼓勵我努力工作。
Apart from the photograph, Alan had to keep his emotions to himself. He was allowed no mourning period, but had to go through Corps and Chapel like everyone else. Alan's devotion to Christopher's memory had come as a surprise to the Morcoms. Christopher had always been reticent at home about his school friends, and had a way of referring to 'a person called' so-and-so as though he had never been mentioned before. 'A person called Turing' had featured in a few of his remarks about experiments, but no more than that, and the Morcom parents had only very briefly met Alan in December. They knew him only from his letters. At the beginning of March they changed their plans and decided to take the holiday in Spain which had been planned before Christopher died. So it was testimony to Alan's letters that on 6 March they invited him to take Christopher's place on the journey, instead of coming to their home. Alan wrote to his mother the next day:
艾倫失去克里斯的悲痛程度，讓默卡一家有點驚訝。克里斯朵夫在家時，一般不談論學校的朋友，要提起誰的時候就會說“有個人”，大家對“一個叫圖靈的人”的印象就是他的實驗。默卡的父母只是在十二月時見過艾倫一面，他們是從他的信中瞭解他的。三月初，他們改變了計劃，決定去西班牙度假，這在克里斯在世時就打算過。3月6日，他們邀請艾倫一起去旅行（代替克里斯朵夫），而不是去鍾屋。第二天，艾倫寫信給母親：
