雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第1章18:藝術風格

Much happier was the new home in Hertfordshire, to which the boys went for the rest of the summer. It was the Georgian red-brick rectory at Watton-at-Stone, seat of the old Archdeacon Rollo Meyer, a charming and mellow man whose environment was that of the rose-bed and the tennis court, rather than the well-scrubbed, brisk discipline of the Wards. John and Alan both responded with joy, John to girls on the tennis court (he being fifteen and decidedly interested), Alan to being left alone, allowed to cycle in the woods and make his own mess as he pleased as long as he met minimum standards in the house. Alan's standing also went up in Mrs Meyer's eyes when a gypsy fortune teller at the church fête said that he would be a genius.

後來，兩個男孩回到了郝特福德郡的新家，變得開心多了，在這裏度過了餘下的夏天。紅磚的教區宅邸，透着喬治王時代的藝術風格，副主教羅勒?梅耶是一個迷人而成熟的男人，附近還有玫瑰花牀和網球場，沃德家那套嚴明的紀律也一去不復返了。約翰很喜歡在網球場和女孩們一起玩，他現在已經15歲了，顯然會對此很有興致。艾倫則開心地在叢林裏一個人騎單車，還可以隨心所欲地把屋子搞得亂七八糟。在一次教會活動時，一位吉卜賽算命人說，艾倫將來會是一個天才，梅耶夫人也覺得，艾倫確實不是個一般的孩子。

The Meyers' guardianship was shortlived, for Mr Turing suddenly decided to resign from the Indian Civil Service. He was angry at his rival, a certain Campbell who had come out with him in 1896 and had obtained a lower grade in the entrance examination, being promoted to be Chief Secretary to the Madras Government. So he abandoned his own chances of further advancement, and Alan's parents never returned as Sir Julius and Lady Turing, * though they had the more tangible benefit of a 1000 per annum pension.

他們在梅耶家並沒有住很久，因爲他們的父親朱利葉斯?圖靈先生，被競爭對手氣得要命，突然決定要辭職。他的競爭對手凱普貝，本來在上崗考試中成績不如他，但卻被提拔成馬德拉斯首席祕書長。於是，朱利葉斯不願再等待下一次晉升機會了，乾脆告老還鄉。他每年能拿1000英磅退休金，但是卻沒有爵位注。

Technically, Mr Turing did not resign until 12 July 1926, and in the meantime he was on leave, the development of Madras somehow continuing without him. But he lost no time in establishing a new sense of economy. Mrs Turing had to submit accounts detailing the housekeeping expenses to the centime. Holidays in St Moritz and Scotland were declared henceforth out of the question.

圖靈先生是1926年7月12日辭職的，他走了之後，馬德拉斯仍然照常發展，但他自己的經濟狀況卻完全不同了。艾賽兒現在要詳細記錄家用開銷的賬目，像去蘇格蘭度假這樣的事情，從此以後再也不可能了。從很多方面來看，他過早退休是一件壞事，他的兩個兒子也覺得，這是一個災難。艾倫認爲，父親本來應該勝過那個什麼凱普貝的，而約翰後來則評論道：

I doubt if I should have found my father an easy superior or subordinate for by all accounts he cared nothing for the hierarchy nor his own future in the Indian Civil Service and spoke his mind regardless of the consequences. One example will suffice. For a while he acted as principal private secretary to mild Lord Willingdon in the Madras Presidency and when a difference of opinion developed between them my father remarked 'After all you are not the Government of India'. Such thumping, suicidal indiscretion one can but admire from a safe distance.

我以前真的沒想到，我父親這麼容易就被擊敗了。其實我本來早就應該想到的，因爲很多人都說，我父親一點都不關心級別和制度，也不關心自己的政治前程，總是口無遮攔地把自己的想法說出來。有一個例子足以體現這一點，那時候他在馬德拉斯，做威靈頓的首席助理，有時候他們意見不同，我父親就會說：「你記住，你不是印度的老大！」這種嚴重的找麻煩的話，實在是讓人沒法接受。