研究生英语精读教程课文原文+翻译+短文unit4.docx

1、研究生英语精读教程课文原文+翻译+短文unit4Einsteins Painful RomanceWalter SullivanThe story of an anguished love affair between Albert Einstein and the woman who would later become his first wife has emerged in newly disclosed correspondence between them.新近披露的艾伯特 爱因斯坦与意中人 之间的来往信件,向人们展示了这对情侣饱含辛酸的爱情经历.Many of the lette

2、rs describe the love between the young scientist and his future wife, Mileva Maric; the pain associated with his mothersvehement disapproval of the relationship; and their excitement over the impending birth of a child.有许多信件都叙述了这位年轻科学家和他未婚妻米莱娃 玛丽克之间的爱情,叙述了因为爱因斯坦的母亲拼命反对这门亲事而引起他俩的痛苦心情,还叙述了他俩为孩子的即将出世油然

3、而生的兴奋心情.The fate of the child, a girl, however, remains a mystery. She was born before the couple married in 1903 and there apparently is no record of what became of her.然而,这个女孩后来的命运如何依然是个谜.她是在这对夫妇于 1903年结婚前生下的,而且对她后来的情况显然没有记载.Intertwined with the disclosures of a difficult romance are fragments of

4、Einsteinsthought as he struggled toward confidence in his concept of relativity.与所披露的艰难的罗曼史交织在一起的是爱因斯坦满怀信心地为自己的相对论概念而努力奋斗的思想片断.Einstein and Maric, a Serb born in a region of Hungary that is now part of Yugoslavia, became friends in 1896 while studying together at the Federal Technical Institute in Z

5、urich. In subsequent years they wrote frequently as Einsteins efforts to find work and Marics visits home caused many separations.爱因斯坦与玛丽克 是在 1896年交上朋友的.当时他俩正一起在苏黎世的联邦理工学院学习,在后来的许多岁月中,因爱因斯坦为找工作奔波,玛丽克为回家探亲而造成多次分离,所以他们通信频繁.In his letters, Einstein confided in her his efforts to participate in the revo

6、lution taking place in many fields of physics, including the nature of light, relative movement and molecular phenomenon.爱因斯坦在信中向玛丽克吐露,自己在投身于许多物理学领域 内发生的革命.According to Dr. John Stachel, a professor of physics at Boston University who is editor of the Einstein papers, Maric appears to have been more

7、 of a sounding board than a contributor to Einsteins ideas.据波士顿大学物理学教授、爱因斯坦论文集的编辑约翰 施塔赫尔博士说,看起来,与其说玛丽克是爱因斯坦思想的贡献者,不如说是爱因斯坦思想的 共鸣者 .In a letter to Maric in 1899, when he was 20 years old, Einstein anticipated his first theory of relativity, published six years later.It came in a period when many phys

8、icists still believed that space was filled with an invisible medium through which light waves could be propagated. They called the medium a luminiferous ether.1899年爱因斯坦 20岁.在给玛丽克的一封信中,他提前谈论了自己 6年后发表的早期相对论思想.当时许多物理学家仍然认为空间充满着一种能使光波传播的不可见的介质.他们将这种介质称之为传光的以太.Einsteins letters also reveal his familys d

9、isdain for Maric. In July 1900 he had been warned by his sister that his parents were bitterly opposed to him marrying Maric. When he told his mother of his intention, Mama threw herself on the bed, buried her head in the pillows, and cried like a child, he wrote to Maric.爱因斯坦的信还透露了他家里的人对玛丽克的鄙视态度. 1

10、900年 7月,他事先得到姐姐的警告说,父母竭力反对他与玛丽克结婚.当他把自己的打算告诉母亲后,妈妈一下子扑倒在床上,把头埋在枕头下,哭得像孩子似的,他在给玛丽克的信中写道.After she had recovered from the initial shock, she immediately switched to a desperate offensive, Einstein continued. He quoted his mother as saying, You are ruining your future and blocking your path through lif

11、e.爱因斯坦继续写道,当她从开头的打击中恢复过来后,便立即转换方式,发起猛烈攻势.他还援引母亲的话说,你是在毁掉自己的前途,你是在阻塞自己的人生道路.Although Einsteins family looked down on Marics background, another problem was the couples meager income. As Einstein wrote to a friend, Neither of us two has gotten a job and we support ourselves by private lessons - when w

12、e can pick up some, which is still very questionable.虽然爱因斯坦的家人瞧不起玛丽克的出身,另外一个原因也是因为这对未婚夫妇的微薄收入.就像爱因斯坦在给一个朋友的信中所写的那样,我们俩都还未找到工作.我们只靠给私人上课为生 ,但这还是很成问题的.Interspersed among Einsteins repeated expressions of love were discussions of scientific questions with which both were concerned.在爱因斯坦的那些情意缱绻的信中也掺带着对他

13、们双方都关心的科学问题的讨论.While visiting the Swiss town of Aarau a good idea occurred to me, he wrote, about a way of investigating how a bodys relative motion with respect to the luminiferous ether affects the velocity of propagation of light in transparent bodies. Also a theory on this matter occurred to me,

14、 which seems to be highly probable.在游览瑞士的阿劳城时,我心中产生了一个好主意,他写道,即关于研究一个物体与传光以太的相对运动如何影响光在透明物体中的传播速度的方法.在这个问题上我头脑里还产生了一种似乎十分有可能成立的理论.He also was pondering the definition of absolute rest, a paradox that led him to his initial theory on relativity. The theory ruled out the possibility of absolute rest,

15、since all objects are considered to be in motion relative to other objects. He also was contemplating the electrodynamics of moving bodies which, he said, promises to be a capital paper.他还在思考着绝对静止的定义,一种导致他产生最初相对论的悖论.这种理论排除了绝对静止的可能性.因为一切物体对于其他有关物体来说都被看作是处在运动之中的.他还对移动物体的电动力学冥思苦想,他说,这有希望成为一篇优秀论文.I wrot

16、e to you that I doubted the correctness of the idea s about relative motion, he wrote. But my doubts were based solely on a simple mathematical error.Now I believe in it more than ever. 我曾写信给你,谈到过我对相对运动想法的正确性有怀疑,他写道.但我的怀疑只是基于简单的数学上的错误.现在我比以前更深信无疑了.Mr. Stachel, writing in the May issue of Physics Tod

17、ay, says this passage suggests that Einstein had already adopted some version of the relativity principle, although not in its final form.斯塔赫尔先生在 5月号的今日物理上撰文说,这篇文章 意味着爱因斯坦已经采用了某种形式的相对论原理 ,尽管还不是最终形式.Although Maric has been depicted by historians as a dull woman, the letters show her interest in the n

18、ature of infinity.虽然玛丽克被历史学家描写成一位缺乏想象力的女子,这些信却表明,她对无限性很感兴趣.I do not believe the structure of the human brain is to be blamed for the fact that man cannot grasp infinity, she wrote to him in 1897, when he was 18 years old.我认为,人们不能了解无限性,不应归咎于人脑的结构, 1897年她给当时 18岁的爱因斯坦的信中写道.She continued: He certainly c

19、ould do that if in his young days, when he was learning to perceive, the little fellow had not been so cruelly confined to the earth, or even to a nest, between four walls, but instead was allowed to walk out a little into the universe.她接下去写道：倘若一个人在年轻时期,在学习掌握新概念时,不被无情地局限于地球,或者甚至局限于四面围墙的斗室之中,而是被允许走出去

20、涉足一下宇宙的话,他当然是能够做到这一点的.Science historians, such as Gerald Holton of Harvard University, regard Einsteins ability to walk out into the universe and think in pure abstractions as essential to his revolutionary discoveries. Particularly remarkable, Mr. Holton said in an interview, is the extent to which

21、 their interest in physics dominates the correspondence despite their personal difficulties.科学史家们,诸如哈佛大学的热拉尔霍尔顿认为,爱因斯坦涉足宇宙的能力和用纯抽象方式思维的能力对他的各项具有革命性的发现是必不可少的.特别引人注目的是,霍尔顿先生在一次会见中说,尽管他们各自都有困难,但他们在通信中对物理学的兴趣竟然占着最重要的位置.Most important for historians of science, he added, is the evidence that so early in

22、his life Einstein was already deeply thinking about the nature of light, relativity and molecular motion. This all fell into place in a spectacular set of papers published in 1905 and thereafter, he said.他又说：对科学史学工作者来说,最重要的是 ,在爱因斯坦的一生中这样早的时候就有迹象表明,他 就已经在深刻地思考着光的特性、相对论和分子运动的问题了 .他说,这一思想 都体现在一系列引人注目的论

23、文之中,并从 1905年起陆续发表.Despite long periods of separation, Maric and Einstein occasionally managed to meet and hike the Swiss mountains. About the time of one of their excursions, in May 1901, she learned of her pregnancy.尽管玛丽克与爱因斯坦多次长期分离,但他俩有时也设法团聚,去瑞士的崇山峻岭观光,作徒步旅行. 1901年 5月在一次短途旅行时,玛丽克得知自己怀孕了.The first

24、 letter in which Einstein mentioned this subject, however, began with discussion of a paper on the production of cathode rays by ultraviolet light. It then continued：Just be of good cheer, love, and dont fret. After all, I am not leaving you and Ill bring everything to a happy conclusion. 然而,爱因斯坦提到此

25、事的第一封信是以谈论一篇关于用紫外线产生阴级射线的论文开头的.该信接着才写道： 你要高兴喜欢才是,可别忧愁烦恼.毕竟我不会离开你,而且我一定会把一切圆满了结.As in several subsequent letters he referred to the child a s though the baby was already born, saying, How is the young chap?当他在后来的几封信中再谈到这个孩子的情况时,仿佛孩子已经生下了.他问道,小家伙好吗?Maric was hoping for a girl and they called the unbor

26、n child Lieserl, a diminutive of Liese. I am dizzy with joy, Einstein wrote her, after receiving word of a job in Bern. The only thing that must be solved is how to have our Lieserl with us. I do not want for us to have to part with her.玛丽克希望生个女孩,所以他们在孩子未出生时便叫她莉塞尔 .当爱因斯坦得知在伯尔尼找到工作的消息后,他写信给玛丽克说,我高兴死了

27、.唯一得解决的事情就是怎样使莉塞尔和我们在一起.我不想使我们不得不离开她.Despite his mothers opposition, Einstein and Maric were married in January 1903 in Bern. According to a letter, to appear in the next volume of his papers, the Einsteins later learned that their daughter had recovered from scarlet fever. But apparently she was st

28、ill in her mothers native region. The mention of scarlet fever is the last reference to the girl in the correspondence.尽管遭到母亲的反对,爱因斯坦还是于 1903年元月在伯尔尼与玛丽克结为伉俪.根据爱因斯坦文集下一卷上发表的一封信,爱因斯坦夫妇后来得知,女儿的猩红热已经痊愈.看来这孩子还是住在她母亲的故乡了.在通信中有关这女孩的最后情况只是提到了猩红热.Supplementary ReadingAs far as the professional staff of the E

29、TH was concerned, Albert Einstein was one of the awkward scholars who might or might not graduate, but who in either case was a great deal of trouble. And in accordance with their opinions, when Einstein did graduate after four years, ETH did not offer him a position as was the custom of the time. F

30、or the difficult fellow, no opening on the academic ladder could be found.Yet it cannot have been entirely unexpected and it was certainly not unnatural. In the autumn of 1900 Albert Einstein was a graduate who denied rather than defied authority; a young man who was written off as virtually unemplo

31、yable by many self-respecting citizens. It was to be two years later before Einstein was able to obtain his first regular albeit nonacademic position. Even so Einsteins position with the Swiss Patent Office was obtained through the intervention of friends on his behalf.The work of the Patent Office

32、at the turn of the century was strikingly different from what it later became. The difference is illustrated by one fact: until 1908 patents were granted only for inventions which could be represented by a model. The model may have been as important as the specification which described, in words which ideally should allow of no dispu