雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第2章:下一個星期(31)
Slightly inconsistently, Alan also wrote:
有點矛盾地，艾倫也寫道：
Chris always seemed to me very modest. He would never for instance tell Mr Andrews that his ideas weren't sound although the opportunity occurred again and again. More particularly he very much disliked to offend anyone in any way and often used to apologise (e.g. to masters) in cases where the average boy would not dream of doing so.
在我看來，克里斯好像很謙虛。比如，他從不指出安德魯先生的錯誤。他從來都不得罪別人，而且經常爲那種沒人會道歉的事情，去向別人道歉（比如向老師們）。
The average boy, as all school stories and magazines admitted, held the masters in contempt – especially in 'Stinks'. It was the most obvious contradiction of the system. But Christopher rose above it all:
一般的男孩，就像校園故事和雜誌所說，往往是輕視老師的，帶着一些臭脾氣。這是這套體制最自相矛盾的地方，但克里斯朵夫似乎超脫於一切之上：
A thing about Chris which I think is very unusual, is that he had a very definite code of morals. One day he was talking about an essay in an exam and how it had led to the subject of 'right and wrong'. 'I have some very definite ideas of “right and wrong”, ' he said. Somehow I never seemed to doubt that anything that Chris would do would be right, and I think there was a lot more in that than blind admiration.
克里斯有一點讓我覺得很不正常，就是他有非常明確的道德準則。有一次考試的論文題目是“對於錯”，克里斯寫，關於“對與錯”，“我有非常明確的想法”。不知道爲什麼，我從不懷疑克里斯所做的事，我覺得這不只是因爲崇拜。
Take dirty talk for instance. The idea of Chris having to do with such a thing seemed simply ludicrous, and of course I do not know anything at all about Chris at the house, but I should think in this respect he would prevent dirty talk by making people not want to do it rather than making them avoid shocking him. This of course tells you nothing but the way his personality impressed me. I remember an occasion when I made a remark to him on purpose, that would decidedly not pass in a drawing room, but which would not be thought anything of at school, just to see how he would take it. He made me feel sorry for saying it, without him in any way seeming silly or priggish.
克里斯認爲說髒話是很荒唐的，我不知道他在宿舍是什麼樣，但在我看來，他總是能讓周圍的人主動不想講髒話，而不是通過恐嚇讓他們不敢講，這就是他的人格魅力。我記得有一次，我故意嘲諷了他一番，想看看他有什麼反應，但他並沒有顯得自負或讓我難堪。
Despite all these amazing virtues, Christopher Morcom was human. He had nearly got into trouble when he was dropping stones down train funnels from the railway bridge and struck a railwayman instead. Another exploit involved sending gas-filled balloons over the field to the Sherborne Girls' School. Nor was their time in the laboratories too solemn. Another boy, a tough athlete called Mermagen, joined them for physics, and the three of them had to work through the practical experiments in a little annex while Gervis taught his class. These classes were enlivened by Gervis's sausage-lamps, painted bulbs which he used as electrical resistances. 'Take another sausage-lamp, boy!' was his catchphrase, and the three of them worked out a comic sketch around the things, which Christopher was thinking of setting to music.
儘管有這些令人驚奇的美德，但克里斯朵夫畢竟是個有血有肉的人。他從鐵路橋上，把石頭扔進火車煙囪，困住了一個火車工人，因此差點兒惹上大麻煩。他還把氣球送到田野對面的舍爾伯尼女校。還有一個男孩，名叫默麥根，是個強壯的運動員，和他們一起上物理課。當格維斯上課時，他們三個要一起做實驗。格維斯的香腸燈，使課堂變得很活躍，“孩子們，再拿個香腸燈！”是他的口頭禪。他們三個一直想把這個場面畫成漫畫，而克里斯朵夫還想把它譜成音樂。
