艾萨克·牛顿：最后的魔术师（2013）

这部影片之中戏剧化的访谈，
是根据艾萨克‧牛顿和
同时代人物的原文
「我不知道要以何种面貌来面对世界，
‘I do not know what I may appear to the world
「但对我自己而言
‘but to myself,
「我似乎只是一个在海边游戏的小男孩，
‘I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore,
「偶尔找到光滑一点的卵石自娱
‘amusing myself by now and then finding a smoother pebble
「比普通漂亮一点的贝壳，
‘or prettier shell than ordinary,
「在我对面渺无人迹、浩瀚无涯的真理之洋时」
‘while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.’
艾萨克．牛顿被公认为
Isaac Newton is considered by many
永远都是最伟大的天才
to be the greatest genius of all time.
他的品德证明他的圣洁
His virtues proved him a saint
他的发现更是被认为…
and his discoveries might well pass…
奇蹟
..for miracles.
在他有生之年就已经被视为科学界超凡入圣的人物
He was revered as a scientific demigod in his own lifetime.
以他现在智慧的锋芒
Now the keenness of his sublime intellect
直接刺穿诸神的住所
has allowed us to penetrate the dwellings of the gods
上达天堂的高度！
and ascend the heights of heaven!
如果有人可被称为天才，
If anybody was a genius,
非牛顿莫数
Newton was.
牛顿揭示了光的本质，
Newton revealed the nature of light,
让我们可以藉此探索宇宙
allowing us to explore the universe.
他让我们能够对运动进行计算
He enabled us to calculate motion
并且预测变化量
and predict change.
他精鍊出统一整个宇宙的力
He distilled the force that unites the whole universe
以精确的数学方程式呈现出来－
into a precise mathematical formula –
万有引力定律
the Universal Law of Gravity.
牛顿被讚诵为理性的天才
Newton is celebrated as the rational genius
促使我们结束中世纪的黑暗时代
who propelled us out of medieval darkness
进入启蒙时代
and into the Enlightenment.
但是艾萨克．牛顿也是一个複杂，
But Isaac Newton was also a complex,
难懂和神秘的人
difficult and secretive man.
他不善交际
He wasn’t communicative.
他不要和别人共事
He didn’t want to work with anybody else.
他非常易怒
He was easily offended.
恶意攻讦的牆头草，比他自己更糟糕！
Spiteful and swayed by those who were worse than himself!
用世俗的现代说法，
In vulgar modern terms,
牛顿是重度神经质的人
Newton was profoundly neurotic.
牛顿最深沉的痴迷只有在他
Newton’s deepest obsession would only be revealed
死后两百年之后才被揭露出来
200 years after his death,
是一种深奥难懂的异端宗教和炼金术
an occult world of heretical religion and alchemy.
有一种精力的介质，在泥土里渗透到万物之中
There is a vital agent, diffuse through everything in the earth,
一种汞状的精气，
a mercurial spirit,
极端细微和非常易变
extremely subtle and supremely volatile.
但是牛顿神秘的痴迷
But Newton’s secret obsessions
会转化成我们理解宇宙的方式
would transform the way we understand the universe.
牛顿不是理性时代的第一人
Newton was not the first of the Age of Reason.
他是最后一位魔法师
He was the last of the magicians.
艾萨克．牛顿 最后的魔法师
1705年，艾萨克．牛顿爵士六十三岁
In 1705, Sir Isaac Newton was 63 years old
英国国教会里竖立了一座牛顿的台柱
and a pillar of the British Establishment.
他才刚刚封爵
He had just been knighted.
他才被全欧洲认为是启蒙运动的大♥师♥级人物
He was recognised across Europe as the master of the Enlightenment.
他不会自谦
He did not suffer from self-doubt.
他比较喜欢把自己比喻为新的弥赛亚，
He rather liked to think of himself as the new Messiah,
一种科学化的基♥督♥
a sort of scientific Christ
带来新的知识来拯救世界
who was bringing a new kind of knowledge to save the world.
这位弥赛亚对一般普通人的要求很没力
This messiah had a low opinion of lesser mortals.
我可以计算天体的运行
I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies
但对于人类的疯狂是无能为力
but not the madness of people.
牛顿离群所居是从他在伍尔索普庄园，林肯郡
Newton’s estrangement from humanity began from the moment he was born
出生就养成的个性
at Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincolnshire,
16♥4♥2年圣诞节的早晨
on Christmas morning, 16♥4♥2.
我出生的时候，我小到可以放进一夸脱的罐子里，
When I was born, I was so little they put me in a quart pot,
虚弱到他们都觉得我没办法存活下来
and so weakly, they did not think I would live.
我是个小傢伙
I was a little fellow.
16♥4♥0年代是英国历史中最动♥乱♥不安的十年
The 16♥4♥0s were the most tumultuous decade in English history.
英国的内战造成十分之一男人的死亡
The English Civil War left one-in-ten men dead.
查理一世被斩首
King Charles I was beheaded.
奥利弗·克伦威尔的清教♥徒♥政♥府♥
Oliver Cromwell’s puritanical government
对君主体制的天主教宣战
waged war against Catholicism in the monarchy.
鼠疫肆虐
Bubonic plague was rampant.
人们真诚相信世界末日的到来
People genuinely believed the world was coming to an end.
这段时间的混乱和不安，为牛顿留下永生难忘的伤痕
This time of chaos and upheaval marked Newton for life.
牛顿渴望确定性
Newton craved certainty.
牛顿所有的工作都是在寻找确定性，
All of Newton’s work is about finding certainty,
寻找真理
finding the truth
你可以绝对相信的东西
and the things that you can absolutely believe in.
他的家绝对不是个避风港
His home was anything but a haven.
他的父亲在他出生前几个月就去世了
His father died a few months before he was born.
之后又被母亲排斥
He was then rejected by his mother.
在他三岁时，她就离开他，重新组成新的家庭
She abandoned him to start another family when he was three years old.
牛顿在当时新教♥徒♥精神的氛围下长大的
Newton grew up in tune with the Protestant spirit of the age,
反天主教、阅读圣经和自我内省
anti-Catholic, Bible-reading and introspective.
他把孩童时期所犯的罪，列表整理，并编密♥码♥记录下来
He made a list of childhood sins, written in code.
这个表从纯洁无暇开始
The list begins innocently.
「星期天晚上做派…
“Making pies on Sunday night…
「在那天，制♥作♥捕鼠器…
“..making a mousetrap on Thy Day,
「在那天，洒水…」
“squirting water on Thy Day…”
然后比较黑暗的一面被揭露出来
Then a darker side is revealed.
「鞭打米妮，
“Striking Minnie,
「痛扁我妹…
“punching my sister…
「威胁我的父母，史密斯夫妇要把他们和房♥子都烧光」
“..threatening my Father and Mother Smith to burn them and the house over them.”
他就是这麽妄想
He was so obsessive.
他就是那种一辈子都活在自己脑袋里的人，这就是他所做所为的原因
He was a man who lived his entire life inside his head, and that’s how he did what he did.
你看看他留下来的遗稿
You look at the papers he left behind
有数百万字，潦草的字迹
and there are millions of words, of scribbling.
它们不用写来让其他人看的
They are not words written to impress anybody.
不是为了印书发行而写的
They’re not words written for publication.
这些字记录著牛顿是怎麽思考的，这就是他所做的
They’re words written because that was how Newton thought. That’s what he did.
二十世纪的经济学长约翰·梅纳德·凯因斯
The 20th-century economist John Maynard Keynes
对这位科学界的传奇人物感到非常惊奇
was fascinated by the man behind the scientific legend.
天才们都有怪癖－
Geniuses are peculiar –
不安、忧鬱、神经质…
the uneasiness, the melancholy, the nervous agitation…
用世俗的现代说法，
In vulgar modern terms,
牛顿是重度神经质的人
Newton was profoundly neurotic.
牛顿从不依赖别人…
Newton relied on no-one…
…只靠自己
..but himself.
他有一种出自内心的厌恶
He has almost a sort of visceral dislike
厌恶盲从别人
of following other people.
他有著非常强烈相信自己原创性的信念
He has a very strong belief in his own originality.
在学时期，
As a schoolboy,
牛顿充满创意的心灵已经开始运作起来
Newton’s innovative mind was already at work.
他决定用自己的方法来确定时间
He decided to invent his own way to tell the time.
牛顿把阁楼变成了一个巨大的天文钟
Newton turned the attic into a giant astronomical clock.
像是一种日晷
It was like a sundial.
他每十五分钟测量一次太阳的移♥动♥
He plotted the sun’s movement every 15 minutes
当太阳横越他房♥里的牆上时
as it moved across the walls of his room.
他可以到任何房♥间里，藉由观看牆上的阴影
He could go into any room and he could tell what time it was
告诉你现在几点钟
by looking at the shadows on the walls.
光、空间和时间
Light, space and time
已经变成他的玩具
were already his playthings.
牛顿在他十多岁的笔记里都没提到朋友
Newton’s teenage notebooks mention no friends.
反而呈现出他对实际问题进行解答的努力，
Instead, they reveal his efforts to find his own answers to practical problems,
像是缓和胀气
like alleviating wind.
把马粪浸湿，特别是种马的马粪，
Steep horse dung, especially a stone-horse,
浸到麦酒里
in ale.
然后取出来，丢进浓稠的果汁里
Then take it out, strongly express the juice
然后喝下去
and drink it.
但是牛顿创意丰沛的心灵，在可以开始结果之前
But Newton’s fertile mind was almost stifled
差点被闷熄
before it could flourish.
在他17岁的时候，和他不和的母亲把他拖出学校，要他经营家里的农庄
His estranged mother pulled him out of school when he was 17 to run the family farm.