艾萨克·牛顿：最后的魔术师（2013）

he was awarded a position at the heart of the Establishment
他成了伦敦塔钱币铸造厂的厂长
as Warden of the Mint at the Tower of London.
牛顿也挤身到
Newton also took his place
科学精英最顶尖的地位
at the top of the scientific elite.
他在1703年尾成了皇家学会的会长，
He becomes President of the Royal Society at the end of 1703,
而且在科学界和欧洲享有极大的盛名，
and then within the scientific world and pretty much within Europe, as well,
他成了统领知识领域的标竿人物，
he becomes the dominant intellectual figure,
支配著科学界的政客
the dominant scientific politico.
他所拥有的权力
This power that he has
把他带进了他自己人格当中较黑暗的一面
brings out the nastier side of his personality.
罗伯特·虎克在那年年初过世
Robert Hooke had died earlier that year.
牛顿似乎下定决心要把他的对手，很历史当中消除乾淨
Newton seemed determined to obliterate his rival’s place in history
斩草除根、不留痕迹
and ensure his own.
在他成为皇家学会的会长时，
One of the first things he did
他首先要做的事情之一就是
when he became President of the Royal Society
献上自己的画像，
was to donate his own portrait,
而且也在相同的时期
and this was also the time
罗伯特·胡克的画像神秘失踪了！
when Robert Hooke’s picture went mysteriously missing.
没人能找到罗伯特·胡克一张肖像画，一张都不留
Nobody has ever been able to find a portrait of Robert Hooke. No portrait exists.
我们没有证据，但非常可疑
There’s no proof, but it’s a bit suspicious.
牛顿拔擢亲信
Newton promoted his supporters
排除异己
and crushed the doubters.
他要求绝对服从
He also demanded deference.
他命令皇家天文学家约翰·佛兰斯蒂德，
He ordered the Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed,
提供数据给他
to supply him with data.
不变恆星的完整目录
A complete catalogue of the fixed stars
应该由格林威治天文台观测整合再制♥作♥出来，
should be composed by observations to be made at Greenwich,
你的职责就应该提供这样的观测数据
and the duty of your place is to furnish such observations.
你儘快完成自己的工作
Your speedy compliance is expected.
他粗鄙对待佛兰斯蒂德和要求数据的手段
He treated Flamsteed shabbily and he wanted the data.
佛兰斯蒂德想：「我是皇家天文学家
Flamsteed thought, “I’m the Royal Astronomer.
「不要使唤我，要和我合作」
“Don’t just use me, collaborate with me.”
你可以看得出来这是多伤佛兰斯蒂德的感情
You know, you can see how Flamsteed’s feelings would’ve been hurt.
他竭尽所能把话说得很难听！
He called me all the ill names he could think of!
我把真心对待他的热情
I put him in mind of his passion
并且要求他能控制一下自己的感情和脾气
and asked him to govern it and keep his temper.
这让他更加生气！
This made him rage worse!
我马上就发现他只是想要强迫我去遵从他的意愿
I soon perceived that he planned only to force me to comply with his will
去奉承和讚美他，就像哈雷博士一样
and flatter him and praise him as Dr Halley did.
佛兰斯蒂德企图把牛顿精神不正常的一面引出来
Flamsteed makes Newton out to be a psychopath
那种只想要别人崇拜他的意图，
who was intent only on getting idolaters,
而且也有人说
and one has to say
佛兰斯蒂德已经掌握住牛顿人格上的某种缺陷
that Flamsteed has captured something of Newton’s personality.
疯子和天才，
Psychopath and genius,
妄想者和厌世者，
visionary and misanthrope,
受人敬重的科学家
revered scientist
和孤独的老人…
and lonely old man…
…艾萨克·牛顿生命终了的最后几年
..Isaac Newton lived out his final years
变成了一个专横的公务员，
as an autocratic civil servant,
铸造厂厂长和皇家学会会长
Master of the Mint and President of the Royal Society.
他修定了部分早期的作品，但很少有新作品出现
He revised some of his earlier work but produced little new.
他那如风暴的天才
The storm of his genius
已经平息下来
had blown itself out.
1727年，三月18日星期六
On Saturday March 18th, 1727,
牛顿从人生的舞台中退场了
Newton made his final retreat into himself.
他渐渐进入昏迷状态，那年他84岁
Aged 84, he slipped into a coma.
那天晚上，他愈来愈虚弱
That evening, he grew weaker
而且整个星期天都在昏睡
and all Sunday was quite insensible
似乎相当平静而不痛苦
and seemed to be quiet and free from pain.
20日星期一，凌晨一点钟
On Monday 20th, at one in the morning,
他过世了！
he died.
牛顿埋骨于西敏寺
Isaac Newton was buried in Westminster Abbey
空前隆重的盛况及葬礼
with unprecedented pomp and ceremony.
他成为另一种国家英雄－
He became a new kind of national hero –
科学天才
the scientific genius.
对于这样孤独、自我封闭的人，
For such a lonely, isolated guy,
他的确功成名就、天下无双
he did achieve an unparalleled measure of fame
因为有可能只是个普通的知识分子
for someone who was merely an intellectual.
英国为他举♥行♥国葬
I mean, he had a state funeral.
在他之前，对于不是贵族
No-one had had a state funeral before
或有艺术成就的人是不能举办国葬的，
who had no noble connections or artistic achievements,
他的成就完全是建立在心灵领域而国葬的第一人
whose achievements were purely in the realm of the mind.
接下来超过两百年的时间里，
Over the next 200 years,
牛顿的名气随著理性主义的涛天巨浪而水涨船高
Newton’s fame as the titan of rationalism grew
有部分原因要感谢他的崇拜者的合作
thanks, in part, to the conspiracy by his admirers
维护牛顿的名声
to safeguard that reputation.
他的全部手稿都被捆扎成束，存封在两个巨大的箱子里，
All his manuscripts were bundled up and put into two large trunks,
历经十八世纪到十九世纪的岁月，
and from time to time during the 18th and 19th centuries,
为牛顿立传的人都会仔细翻找这两个箱子
people who were writing about Newton would go and rummage through these two trunks.
他们只要找到关于炼金术和宗教相关的内容
Whenever they found anything to do with alchemy or religion,
自然而然将其放回箱子里
they shoved it back into the trunk
因为他们认为有可能会折损牛顿的名声
because they thought that might damage Newton’s reputation.
在1936年，约翰·梅纳德·凯因斯重现它们时，
When John Maynard Keynes uncovered them in 1936,
牛顿对炼金术的热情被揭露出来
Newton’s passion for alchemy was revealed.
魔法师牛顿是以科学家的名声入葬的
Newton the magician had been buried under his fame as the scientist.
凯因斯发觉牛顿比历史能容忍♥还要
Keynes realised that Newton was much more complex a man
更複杂得多的一个人
than history had allowed.
他位于理性时代的最崇高地位，
He has become the sage and monarch of the Age of Reason,
艾萨克·牛顿爵士既是传统的正统，
THE Sir Isaac Newton of orthodox tradition,
也是研究了一辈子的异端邪说的牛顿！
Newton, whose secret heresies had been the study of a lifetime!
艾萨克·牛顿既是科学家，也是魔法师，
Isaac Newton, scientist and magician,
总是问著这个大问题，
always asked the big questions,
我们还回答不出来的问题
questions we still haven’t answered.
我们仍然不知道自然界的生命是什麽？
We still don’t know what is the nature of life.
当我们活著和死去的差别是什麽？
What is the difference between me when I’m dead and me when I’m alive?
我们的确还没办法回答这样的问题
We don’t really have an answer to that question.
我们还是不知道光、重力、电、磁到底是什麽
We still don’t really know what light and gravity and electricity and magnetism are.
我们可以得到数学方程式来描述它们，
We’ve got mathematical equations that can describe them,
但是自然哲学的问题－
but the natural philosophical question –
为什麽他们在那里？他们是什麽？重力是怎麽运作的？－
Why are they there? What are they? how does gravity operate? –
我想我们没办法确实回答那些大哉问
I don’t think we really have the answers to those big questions.
也许最后我们能记得牛顿最重要的事
Maybe the most important thing to remember about Newton in the end
不是他所完成的事业
is that he did not think he had finished anything.
不是他总是解决了一个难题，或任何难题
He did not think he had solved a problem for all time, any problem.
而是他开启了一道门
He thought he had opened a door
大家也能跟著他继续穿过去的一道门
and that people would continue to walk through it.
「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.’