雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第2章:下一個星期(12)

He was the cruel butt of at least one master because he always managed to get ink on his collar so that the master could raise an easy laugh by saying 'Ink on your collar again, Turing!' A small and petty thing but it stuck in my mind as an example of how a sensitive and inoffensive boy … can have his life made hell at public school.

不止一個老師喜歡挖苦艾倫，並以此爲樂。因爲艾倫的領子經常被墨水弄髒，所以老師有時會說：「圖靈，把墨水抹到衣領上呀！」然後全班就鬨堂大笑。這是個微不足道的小事，但卻一直記在我心裏，這是一個典型的例子，體現了對於一個敏感而無辜的男孩來說，公學是一個怎樣的地獄。

reports were issued twice a term, and the unopened envelopes would lie accusingly on the breakfast table, while Mr Turing 'fortified himself with a couple of pipes and The Times.' Alan would say, unconvincingly, 'Daddy expects school reports to be like after-dinner speeches, ' or 'Daddy should see some of the other boys' reports.' But Daddy was not paying for the other boys, and was seeing the hard-won fees disappear without detectable effect.

學校每個學期，會對家長做兩次報告，圖靈先生每次都會把信封放在早餐桌上，吸着菸斗看時報，以使自己堅強一些。艾倫則會無助地說，爸爸也應該看看其他男孩的報告。但問題是，爸爸並不爲其他男孩付錢，他只是看到，他辛苦賺來的錢基本上打水漂了。

Daddy did not mind his divergences from conventional behaviour, or at least regarded them with an amused tolerance. In fact both John and Alan took after their father, all three believing in speaking their mind and applying their ideas with a determination punctuated by moments of recklessness. Within the family, the voice of public opinion was supplied by Mama, whose tastes and judgments were thought insipidly provincial by the others. It was she, not her husband nor John, who felt called upon to reform Alan. However, Mr Turing's tolerance did not extend to the waste of a precious public school education. His finances were particularly tight at this point. He had finally tired of exile, and had taken a small house on the edge of Guildford in Surrey, but besides paying income tax he now had to launch John on a career. He had dissuaded his son from the ICS, predicting that the 1919 reforms, introducing Indian representation into provincial government, spelt the beginning of the end. John had spiritedly thought of going into publishing instead, and his father's pet idea was that he should go to South America to make money out of guano, but in the end it was Mrs Turing's safer suggestion that he should be a solicitor which won. Mr Turing was obliged to pay ￡450 for his son to be articled and to support him for five years.

圖靈先生並不在意艾倫不走尋常路，他在這方面非常寬容。實際上，約翰和艾倫在這一點上，正是像他們的父親，他們三個都認爲，要勇敢地說出自己的想法，並按自己的想法去做。在這個家庭中，圖靈夫人則代表着大衆的觀點，她的品位和判斷，被家裏的其他成員認爲是乏味而過時的。所以，儘管她丈夫和約翰都認爲無所謂，但她覺得必須要改變艾倫。而且，儘管圖靈先生很寬容，但他也不能接受，昂貴的公學學費被浪費，他在錢這個問題上，是絕對不含糊的。他已經厭倦了逃稅，在瑟瑞的格爾福特邊上買了個小房子，現在除了要交稅，還要想辦法給約翰找工作。他不讓約翰前往印度從政，他預測1919年的改革會毀了印度官員的前途。約翰想要從事印刷業，圖靈先生認爲他應該去南美洲搞人造氮肥，最終他們採納了圖靈夫人的保守建議，讓約翰去當律師。圖靈先生爲此需要支付450英鎊，使約翰得到錄用，並且還要資助他五年的生活費。