雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第2章:下一個星期(22)

It also marked a change for Alan. His housemaster asked Blamey, an earnest and also rather isolated boy a year older than Alan, to share a two-boy study with him. Blamey was to try to make Alan more tidy, to 'help him conform, and try and show him there were other things in life besides mathematics.' In the first objective there was a lamentable failure; in the second he came up against the difficulty that Alan 'had wonderful concentration, and would become absorbed in some abstruse problem.' Blamey would consider it his duty to 'interrupt and say it is time to go to chapel, to games, or afternoon classes' as the case might be, he being a well-meaning person, who believed in making the system run as smoothly as possible.19 O'Hanlon had written at Christmas of Alan that

對艾倫來說，這也標誌着改變。宿舍長布來梅（比艾倫大一歲，很認真也很孤僻的一個男孩）打聽了艾倫的情況，並試着讓他能顯得整潔一些，試着讓艾倫瞭解並相信，生命中除了數學，還有其他很多東西。他的第一個目標，可悲地失敗了，第二個目標也遇到了困難，他說：「艾倫有神奇般的注意力，會完全沉迷在一些深奧的問題中。」布來梅覺得他有必要打斷他，告訴他該做禮拜了，該做遊戲了，或者該去上課了。總得來講，他是一個很善意的人，他唯一地信念，就是讓這個體制儘量順利地運轉。在聖誕節時，奧漢蘭寫到艾倫：

No doubt he is very aggravating, and he should know by now that I don't care to find him boiling heaven knows what witches' brew by the aid of two guttering candles on a naked window sill. However, he has borne his afflictions very cheerfully, and undoubtedly has taken more trouble, e.g. with physical training. I am far from hopeless.

他非常煩人，他現在應該知道，我對他在窗邊用兩根破蠟燭燒的那些噁心的玩意一點興趣都沒有。可是他卻很開心地忍受這種折磨，然後又會陷入各種其它的麻煩，比如體育訓練。我對他幾乎絕望了。

Alan's only regret regarding the 'witches' brew' was that O'Hanlon 'had missed seeing at their height the very fine colours produced by the ignition of the vapour produced by super-heated candle-grease.' Alan was still fascinated by chemistry, but not interested in doing it in a way that pleased anyone else. Mathematics and science reports such as '… marred by inaccuracy, untidiness, and bad style … frightfully untidy both in written and experimental work …' continued to reflect his lack of ability to communicate effectively, while admitting that he was 'very promising'. 'His manner of presenting work is still disgusting, ' wrote O'Hanlon, 'and takes away much of the pleasure it should give.' 'He doesn't understand what bad manners bad writing and messy figures are.' Ross had passed him on to another form, but he was still placed nearly at the bottom in the spring of 1928. 'His mind seems rather chaotic at present and he finds great difficulty in expressing himself. He should read more, ' wrote the master, perhaps more enlightened than Ross.

艾倫則認爲，「那些噁心的玩意」的唯一遺憾，就是奧漢蘭沒有看到，高溫加熱蠟燭時產生的蒸氣，燃燒起來的顏色非常好看。艾倫仍然癡迷化學，但他的實驗報告總是髒亂到可怕的程度。在一些數學和科學的小結中，老師在表揚他「很有前途」的同時，也總是說，他缺乏有效的溝通能力。奧漢蘭評論說：「他在展示自己時，舉止仍然糟糕至極，這使他無法表現他的魅力。」羅斯把艾倫轉到了另一個年級，但直到1928年春天，他的成績仍然是倒數的。羅斯評論他：「他根本不知道什麼叫惡劣的舉止、骯髒的書寫和混亂的圖形。」還有一位老師則評論：「他的思想好像特別混亂，在展示自己時有很大的困難。他應該多讀一點書。」