双语畅销书《艾伦图灵传》第1章10:印度公务员

The Turings could afford very little, since even in the well paid ICS it was always necessary to save for the future. What they had to afford could be summed up in two words: public school. In this respect the war, the inflation, the talk of revolution changed nothing. The Turing boys had to go to public schools, and everything had to be subordinated to this demand. Never, indeed, would Mr Turing allow his sons to forget the debt they owed him for a public school education. Alan's duty was to go through with the system without causing trouble, and in particular to learn Latin, which was required for entrance to a public school.

尽管印度公务员的薪水并不低，但图灵一家的生活并不宽裕，因为他们现在要为将来攒钱，他们必须要为一件事买单，那就是公学。至于战争，革命，通货膨胀，这些似乎都跟他们没关系，两个孩子要上公学，这就是他们唯一关心的事。艾伦现在的主要责任就是别惹祸，次要责任是学拉丁文，这两样事，是上公学的必要条件。

So as Germany collapsed, and the bitter armistice began, Alan was set to work on copy-books and Latin primers. He later told a joke against his own first exercise, in which he translated 'the table' as omit mensa because of the cryptic footnote 'omit' attached to the word 'the'. He was not interested in Latin, and for that matter he had great difficulty in writing. His brain seemed barely coordinated with his hand. A whole decade of fighting with scratchy nibs and leaking fountain-pens was to begin, in which nothing he wrote was free from crossings-out, blots, and irregular script which veered from stilted to depraved.

随着德国的溃败，休战期开始了。艾伦对拉丁文实在是一点兴趣也没有，所以在写作方面遇到了很大困难。他的手和脑似乎无法合作，写作就是跟笔做斗争，这持斗争持续了整整十年。在这期间，凡是他写的东西，要么就是打满了叉，要么就是把纸弄得奇脏。

But at this stage he was still the bright, jolly little boy. On Christmas visits to the Trustram Eves in Earls Court, his uncle Bertie liked making Alan the butt of his practical jokes because of his innocent giggly humour. These occasions were more of a trial for John, who was now considered to be responsible for his younger brother's appearance and behaviour – a responsibility that no human being would ever lightly shoulder. To make matters worse, as John saw it,

但尽管这样，此时的艾伦仍是一个阳光开朗的男孩。在圣诞节去拜访图拉斯坦·伊夫时，他的叔叔伯蒂很喜欢给他讲笑话，因为他总是天真无邪地咯咯傻笑。然而，这样假期对于约翰来说，简直就像恶梦一样，因为他要照顾艾伦，这是一个谁也无法轻松胜任的事。约翰描述道：

he was dressed in sailor suits, according to the convention of the day (they suited him well); I know nothing in the whole range of the cussedness of inanimate objects to compete with a sailor suit. Out of the boxes there erupted collars and ties and neckerchiefs and cummerbunds and oblong pieces of flannel with lengthy tapes attached; but how one put these pieces together, and in what order, was beyond the wit of man. Not that my brother cared a button – an apt phrase, many seemed to be off – for it was all the same thing to him which shoe was on which foot or that it was only three minutes to the fatal breakfast gong. Somehow or another I managed by skimping such trumpery details as Alan's teeth, ears, etc, but I was exhausted by these nursery attentions and it was only when we were taken off to the pantomime that I was able to forget my fraternal cares. Even then Alan was quite a nuisance, complaining loudly of the scene of green dragons and other monsters in 'Where the Rainbow Ends'. …

他穿着水兵服赶时髦，他倒是挺合身，但是我完全不晓得，还有什么东西能比水兵服更难收拾。领子、领带、围巾、腰带、裤子，在箱子外面扔得到处都是，怎么把它们弄整齐，根本就是超出了人类的智力。我弟弟一个扣子都不管，我一点不夸张，他什么东西都不管，哪只脚穿哪只鞋，对他来说根本没有区别。我得帮他处理所有的事，包括刷牙和抠耳朵，这些事让我精疲力竭，只有在我们去看童话剧时，我才能暂时不用为他操心。但就算在这时，艾伦仍然非常烦人，《彩虹尽头》里的绿龙和怪兽一出场，他就开叫大喊大叫……