雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第3章:思考什麼是思考(10)

Alan's elevation to School Prefect was a great comfort to his mother. But much more significant was a new friendship in his life.

艾倫晉升爲學校監督生，這讓他的母親感到莫大的欣慰。但意義更爲重大的是，這爲艾倫帶來了人生中的一段新友誼。

There was a boy three years younger than Alan in the house, Victor Beuttell, who was also one who neither conformed, nor rebelled, but dodged the system. He also, like Alan, was labouring under a grief that no one knew about, for his mother was dying of bovine tuberculosis. Alan saw her when she came to visit Victor, himself in great peril with double pneumonia, and asked what was wrong. It struck a terrible chord. Alan also learnt something else that few knew, which was that Victor had been caned so severely by a prefect in another house that his spine had been damaged. This turned him against the beating system, and he never caned Victor (who was frequently in trouble), but passed him on to another prefect. The link between them was one of compassion, but it developed into friendship. Though at odds with the axioms of the public school, which normally would forbid boys of different ages from spending time together, a special dispensation from O'Hanlon, who kept a card index on the boys' activities and watched closely over them, allowed it to continue.

學院裏有個比艾倫小三歲的男孩：維克托·別特爾，他也是一個既不遵守也不反抗，只是逃避體制的人。像艾倫一樣，他也承受着一段別人無法體會的悲痛，因爲他的母親此時因爲牛結核病而生命垂危，艾倫在她來看望維克托的時候見過她，這讓人很難受。艾倫也知道了其它一些鮮爲人知的事：維克托被另外一個學院的監督生打得太狠，以致脊椎受到了傷害。這使艾倫開始反對鞭打的規矩，而且他從來不打維克托（儘管維克托總是惹麻煩），只是把他交給其他監督生。他們之間的紐帶就是互相同情，後來又發展成了友誼。雖然這與公學的紀律不符（不同年級的學生禁止交往），但因爲有奧漢蘭的監督，所以這段友情得到了允許。

They spent a good deal of time playing with codes and ciphers. One source of ideas might have been the Mathematical Recreations and Essays,6 which Alan had chosen as Christopher Morcom Prize, and which indeed had served a generation of school prize-winners since it appeared in 1892. The last chapter dealt with simple forms of cryptography. The scheme that Alan liked was not a very mathematical one. He would punch holes in a strip of paper, and supply Victor with a book. Poor Victor had to plod through the pages until he found one where through the holes in the strip appeared letters that spelt out a message such as HAS ORION GOT A BELT. By this time, Alan had passed on his enthusiasm for astronomy to Victor, and had explained the constellations to him. Alan also showed him a way to construct Magic Squares (also from Mathematical Recreations), and they played a lot of chess.

他們花了很多時間學習編碼和密碼，通過《數學之樂》，這是克里斯朵夫·默卡獎的獎品，從1892年出版以來，令很多人受益匪淺。該書的最後一章，論述了密碼術的基礎。艾倫喜歡的主題，並不是非常數學化的那種，他喜歡在一個紙條上打孔，然後連同一本書，交給維克托。可憐的維克托要一頁頁翻書，看從紙條上的孔裏透出來的字，再把它們拼成一條信息，比如“獵戶星座的腰帶”。艾倫對天文學的興趣，也感染了維克托，艾倫給他講解星座。艾倫教他還玩魔方（也是從《數學之樂》中學會的），還經常玩國際象棋。

As it happened, Victor's family was also linked with the Swan electric light industry, for his father, Alfred Beuttell, had made a small fortune by inventing and patenting the Linolite electric strip reflector lamp in 1901. The lamp was manufactured by Swan and Edison, while Mr Beuttell, who had broken away from his own father's business in carpet wholesaling, acquired further experience as an electrical engineer. He had also enjoyed a fine life until the First World War, flying, motor racing, sailing, and gambling successfully at Monte Carlo.7

巧合的是，維克托家也與斯萬電燈有關係。他的父親，阿爾弗雷德·別特爾1901年發明並獲得“麗諾麗特電反射燈管”的專利，發了一筆小財。在第一次世界大戰之前，他享受美好的生活，在蒙特卡羅順利地進行飛行運動，賽車運動，帆船運動，和賭博。