时代周刊 缅怀宇宙级大师斯蒂芬·霍金

Stephen Hawking¹, Master of the universe

宇宙级大师斯蒂芬·霍金

Observance by Lisa Randall

文/丽莎·兰德尔

FOR YEARS, IT SEEMED THAT THE BEST WAY TO ESTABLISH my place in the physics world with people outside of it

多年来，在物理外行中间树立我的形象的最好办法

was to talk about the time Stephen Hawking, who died on March 14 at 76, saved me a seat at a conference.

似乎就是聊斯蒂芬·霍金，他已于3月14日离世了，享年76岁，在一次会议上为我留座位那件事。

In our incredible, challenging-to-explain universe,

在我们这个非凡而又颇难解释的宇宙中，

it was perhaps inevitable² that it was an incredible, challenging-to-explain person who made it more comprehensible—both to the scientiic community and to the public.

让宇宙变得更容易理解——无论是对科学界还是对普罗大众而言——这一工作似乎也无可避免地要由一位非凡而又颇难解释的人来做。

A functioning brain coupled with what little of his body held of ALS was enough for him

对他而言，一个机能健硕的大脑，加上肌萎缩侧索硬化症留下的所剩无几的肢体

to have a life far more active than that of most able-bodied individuals and a life of the mind that exceeded others’ by many multiples.

就已经足够他活得远比大多数肢体健全之人活跃，远比他人精神丰富了。

His contribution to our understanding—particularly of black holes—laid bare mysteries that 40 years later are still daunting³.

他对我们理解宇宙——尤其是理解黑洞——的贡献，让在40年后的今天依然令人望而却步的未解之谜彻底地暴露在了世人面前。

If most people can’t begin to answer the questions he raised, he helped everyone at least approach them.

纵使大多数人连回答他提出的那些问题的勇气都没有，他至少让我们对那些问题有了初步的认识。

Science is not part of a separate world;

科学并不是某个独立世界的一部分;

it is available for anyone to participate,

科学是任何人都可以参与的事业，

and Hawking’s life should be an inspiration not to turn away from its challenges.

而霍金的一生能够激励我们面对困难时不胆怯，不退缩。

With his many accomplishments⁴, he certainly laid down the gauntlet.

凭着他的诸多成就，霍金无疑又向我们发出了继续探索宇宙的挑战。

1 hawking   

利用鹰行猎

参考例句：

• He is hawking his goods everywhere. 他在到处兜售他的货物。
• We obtain the event horizon and the Hawking spectrumformula. 得到了黑洞的局部事件视界位置和Hawking温度以及Klein—Gordon粒子的Hawking辐射谱。

2 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

3 daunting   

adj.使人畏缩的

参考例句：

• They were faced with the daunting task of restoring the house.他们面临着修复房子的艰巨任务。
• Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect.开始一项新工作有时会让人望而却步。

4 accomplishments   

n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就

参考例句：

• It was one of the President's greatest accomplishments. 那是总统最伟大的成就之一。
• Among her accomplishments were sewing,cooking,playing the piano and dancing. 她的才能包括缝纫、烹调、弹钢琴和跳舞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》