轮椅上的天才

八宝

北京時间2019年4月10日晚，人类历史上首张黑洞照片“冲洗”完成。这张酷似发光甜甜圈的照片，瞬间风靡全球，成为最受关注的全球热点，我们也因此成为黑洞预言流传百年来，第一批亲眼“看见”黑洞的人类。发布的黑洞照片充分证明了霍金曾经的猜测：黑洞不是黑的。这位传奇物理学家曾断言，只要能理解黑洞以及它们如何挑战时空的本性，我们就会更接近揭开宇宙的奥秘。在得以窥见黑洞“盛世侧颜”的今天，让我们一起重读霍金，走进霍金。

Stephen Hawking was born on January 8，1942 in Oxford，exactly 300 years to the day of Galileo Galilei's death.

Hawking grew up outside London in an intellectual family. His father was aphysician and specialist in tropical diseases; his mother was active in the Liberal Party. He was an awkward schoolboy，but knew from early on that he wanted to study science. In 1959 he won a 1）scholarship to OxfordUniversity，where his 2）intellectual capabilities became more noticeable. In 1962 he went to Cambridge University to pursue a PhD in cosmology. There he became3）intrigued with black holes and“space time singularities".

Shortly after his 21st birthday he was diagnosed withmotor neuron disease，or the“ice bucket disease" in 1963 when he was declared to beable to live for just two years. But Hawkingwent on living. The disease 4）paralyzed him so heavily that he had to live in a wheelchair and speak with a voice 5）synthesizer.

He talked about his disability，“If you are disabled，it is probably not your fault，but itis no good blaming the world or expecting it to take pity on you. One has to have apositive attitude and must make the best of the situation that one finds oneself in;if one is physically disabled，one cannot afford to be 6）psychologically disabled as well. In my opinion，one should 7）concentrate on activities in which one's physical disability will not present a serious 8）handicap. I am afraid that Olympic Games for the disabled do not appeal to me，but it is easy for me to say that because I never liked athletics anyway. On the other hand，science is a very good area for disabled people because it goes on mainly in the mind. Of course，most kinds of experimental work are probably ruled out for most such people，but theoretical work is almost ideal. My disabilities have not been a significant handicap in my field，which is theoretical physics. Indeed，they have helped me in a way by 9）shielding me from lecturing and administrative work that I would otherwise have been involved in. I have managed，however，only because of the large amount of help I have received from my wife，children，colleagues and students. I find that people in general arevery ready to help，but you should encourage them to feel that their efforts to aid you are worthwhile by doing as well as you possiblycan."

He carried on researching theoretical physics and cosmology，reaching loads of breakthroughs on black holes.

The light-absorbing existence was found to emit a kind of radiation，named afterHawking's name.

Hawking was also a great science educator with a sense of humor. His bookA Brief History of Time sold more than 10million copies. It explained many physics theories in an easy-to-understand manner，leading the general public to the world of physics.

His cautious vision of artificial intelligence became a news topic. His PhD thesis，which was made public in October 2017，crashed the University of Cambridge’swebsite as too many people rushed to download it.

Apart from his 10）tremendous contribution to science，he also appeared in a 11）considerable number of films and sitcoms as a humorous man-both as himself or portrayed by others. For example，Hawking appeared several times in The BigBang Theory.

He died on 14 March 2018 at the age of 76.

Liu Cixin，author of The Three Body Problem，expressed his grief over the death of Hawking. "There are people who can only flicker their eyelids，but their thoughts may travel far into space. There are those whose bodies are robust and strong，but their minds are weak and they are destined to live their entire lives dependent on others.”

Science is not part of a separate world; it is available for anyone to participate，and Hawking's life should be an inspiration not to turn away from its challenges. With his many 12）accomplishments，he certainly laid down the gauntlet.

1）scholarship ['skolaf[p] n.奖学金

2）intellectual [Inte'lektfuel] adj.智力的

3）intrigued [n'tri：gd] adj. 好奇的

4）paralyze ['paerelalz] vt.使麻痹，使瘫痪

5）synthesizer ['sln0asalza]n.合成器

6）psychologically [，salke'lbdzlkl] adv.心理上地

7）concentrate [‘konsntrelt]vi.集中，全神贯注

8）handicap ['haendikaep] n.障碍

9）shield [fi：ld] V.保护

10）tremendous [tre'mendes] adj.极大的，巨大的

11）considerable [ken'sldarabl] adj.相當大的

12）accomplishment [e'kamplJment] n.成就

词组加油站

be diagnosed with被诊断出

take pity on sb.同情某人

make the best of充分利用

参考翻译：

斯蒂芬。霍金1942年1月8日生于牛津，这一天正好是伽利略逝世300周年纪念日。霍金出生于伦敦郊区的一个知识分子家庭，他的父亲是一名擅长医治热带病的内科医生，母亲是一名活跃的英国自由党成员。上学时霍金就表现得有些怪异，和其他孩子不同。但很早人们就知道他有志于科学研究。1959 年霍金获得了牛津大学的奖学金，在那里他的研究能力得到了很大提高。1962 年霍金前往剑桥大学攻读宇宙学博士学位。在剑桥大学，他对黑洞理论和时空奇点理论产生了兴趣。

1963年，在他21岁生日后不久，他被诊断患有运动神经元疾病，或称“冰桶病”，当时他被宣布只能活两年。但霍金继续活着。疾病使他瘫痪得很厉害，他不得不坐轮椅，用声音合成器讲话。

关于自己的残疾，霍金是这样说的：“如果你患有残疾，这也许不是你的错，但抱怨社会，或指望他人的怜悯，毫无益处。一个人要有积极的态度，要最大限度地利用现状找到自我;生理上有残疾的人，可不能再让自己在心理上也残疾了。在我看来，一个人应该专注于不受身体残疾严重影响的活动。恐怕残奥会对我没有吸引力，我可以很轻松这么说，因为我从来就不喜欢体育运动。另一方面，科学对残疾人来说是一个非常好的领域，因为它主要是在头脑中进行的。当然，大多数的实验工作可能对于这类人来说是不可能的，但是理论工作几乎是理想的。我的残疾并没有在我的领域里产生重大的障碍，那就是理论物理。事实上，它们在某种程度上帮助了我，使我不受上课和行政工作的影响，否则我可能会深陷其中。不过，我已经设法从我的妻子、孩子、同事和学生那里得到了大量的帮助。我发现一般人都乐于助人，但你应该尽自己所能做好事情，让他们觉得帮助你是值得的。

他继续研究理论物理学和宇宙学，并在黑洞上取得突破性进展。

他提出一种吸收光线的存在会发出一种辐射，这种辐射以霍金命名，称作霍金辐射。霍金也是一位很有幽默感的科学教育家。他的《时间简史》一书累计卖出了1000多万册。它以一种易于理解的方式解释了许多物理理论，引导公众进入物理学的世界。

他对人工智能的谨慎看法成为一个新闻话题。他的博士论文于2017年10月公之于众，由于太多人急于下载，剑桥大学的网站崩溃了。

他除了对科学的巨大贡献外，还作为一个幽默的人出现在大量的电影和情景喜剧中一无论是作为他自已还是由他人描绘。比如，霍金曾在《生活大爆炸》中出演过几次。霍金于2018年3月14日去世，享年76岁。

《三体》的作者刘慈欣对霍金的死表达了哀悼：“世界 上曾经有这么一个人，就眼皮能动，思想却在遨游太空。而很多人身强力壮，但是思想却一辈子都瘫在轮椅上。”

科学并不是某个独立世界的一部分，科学是任何人都可以参与的事业，而霍金的一生能够激励我们面对困难时不胆怯，不退缩。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。