雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第2章:下一個星期(13)

Not very good. He spends a good deAl of time apparently in investigations in advanced mathematics to the neglect of elementary work. A sound groundwork is essential in any subject. His work is dirty.

不是很好。他花了大量的時間研究高級數學，卻忽視了基礎課的學習。任何學科都需要先打好基礎，他在這方面的表現很糟糕。

The headmaster issued a warning:

校長則提出警告：

I hope he will not fall between two stools. If he is to stay at a Public School, he must aim at becoming educated. If he is to be solely a Scientific Specialist, he is wasting his time at a Public School.

我希望他不要兩頭耽誤。如果他要留在公學，他必須以受良好教育爲目標。如果他只不過想當科學家，那麼上公學對他來說就是浪費。

The hint of expulsion thudded on to the breakfast table, endangering all that Mr and Mrs Turing had worked and prayed for respectively. But Alan discovered a way to beat the system that Nowell Smith called 'the essential glory and function of the English Public School'. He spent the second half of the term isolated in the sanatorium with mumps. Emerging to perform as well as usual in the examinations, he won a prize. The headmaster commented:

這裏面暗示了一件事，那就是開除，這是早餐桌上的一道霹靂，使圖靈夫婦的一切希望，都面臨着化爲泡影的危險。但艾倫在接下來的一個學期裏，改變了校長的看法。他因爲腮腺炎，被隔離住在醫院裏，在期末考試時，卻取得了和平時一樣的好成績。校長報告說：

He owes his place and prize entirely to mathematics and science, but he shewed improvement on the literary side. If he goes on as he is doing now, he should do very well.

他在數學和科學方面，沒有得到應有排名和獎項，但在文學方面，有了很大的提高。如果他像現在這樣繼續幹下去，他就會做得很好的。