双语畅销书《艾伦图灵传》第8章:面朝大海(153)

Behind this lay the question of how to tell their mother. This was the very thing for which 'men like that shot themselves',

现在还有一个问题，那就是这件事该如何告诉母亲，这是一件"应该主动自杀"的事。

Alan told Robin that it was the worst part of the whole business.

图灵对罗宾说，他觉得最痛苦的，就是要把这件事告诉母亲。

He had the gall to ask John to do it, which reasonably enough John refused.

他鼓足勇气，请约翰去说，但是约翰拒绝了。

Accordingly it became Alan's duty to make a journey to Guildford to tell her the facts of his life.

于是，前往格尔福特，并把自己的一切告诉母亲，这成了图灵的一项艰巨任务。

Mrs Turing was not entirely clear about the significance of what had happened, but she was sufficiently conscious of the subject for there to be a distressing argument, somewhat at cross purposes.

图灵夫人没有完全理解这件事的真正意义，但她知道，有大麻烦即将发生了。

She then placed the matter firmly at the back of her mind. But for whatever mixture of reasons, the salient fact was that she did not let it cause an estrangement.

但值得一提的是，她并没有与图灵产生冲突。

In Alan's schooldays she had sided with the authorities, seeing him as the problem for them, not school as a problem for him; this time she tacitly took his side.

在图灵小的时候，她总是和学校的领导站在一起，认为图灵是个棘手的孩子，而且不是学校的错。但是这一次，她安静地站在了图灵身边。

Alan wrote to his brother complaining that he had shown no sympathy with the position in which homosexuals found themselves, which was true enough.

图灵写信给哥哥，抱怨他对同性恋没有同情心，确实如此。

He also accused him of caring for nothing but his own reputation in the City, which was not.

他还指责哥哥只在乎自己的面子，不关心其它，这却有失偏颇。

It was more that both alike shared their father's character, and spoke their different minds.

他们都继承了父亲的性格，但却有着不同的思维方式。

John Turing made no secret of the fact that he considered his brother's behaviour disgusting and disreputable, an extreme example of 'a modus vivendi in which the feelings of others counted for so little.'

约翰并不隐瞒他对图灵是同性恋感到恶心和丢脸，也不隐瞒他认为图灵极其自私。

He was particularly offended by the letter of complaint, because he had intervened in order to protect Alan from himself.

但他确实觉得，自己被这封信伤害了，因为他所做的一切，并非是为了自己的面子，而是为了图灵。