What's in a name? For Carl Rowlands, it's been a lifetime of uncanny association with a famous scientist.

名字意味着什么? 对于卡尔·罗兰兹而言，它意味着与一位传奇科学家相伴一生的不解之缘。

 

 

My Story：Newton's Lore

我和牛顿的传奇

 

 

 

Grantham is a market town in the English county of Lincolnshire. Its most famous son is Sir Isaac Newton, one of the foremost scientists in world history. A statue of the great man stands proud and erect in the town centre, with the name “Newton” chiselled boldly below. That name has haunted me from birth, seems to have governed my life, and will be with me until I die.

格兰瑟姆是英格兰林肯郡的一个乡村集镇。这里出过的最著名的人物就是人类有史以来最有名的科学家之一——伊撒克·牛顿爵士。这位伟大人物的雕像傲然矗立在小镇中央，下面深深地刻着它的名字——“牛顿”。不知为何，这个名字从我出生时就跟随着我，控制了我的生命轨迹，看来还将陪伴我直到生命终点。

 

All I relate now is true.

我接下来所讲的都是真实的故事。

 

There are many streets in Grantham, but I was born on Newton Street. Every school day until I was 12, I passed Newton's statue on my way to and from school. From the moment I set eyes on that marble figure I experienced the strangest reaction. A chill would come over me and the hair on the back of my neck would stand up. I'd feel compelled to stare into the eyes of the statue, and I'd feel the name Newton burning into my brain. It honestly felt as if Newton was drawing me into the statue's stone.

格兰瑟姆有许多条街道，但我恰恰就出生在牛顿街上。在我12岁之前，我每天上学、放学路上都要经过牛顿的那座雕像。只要看一眼那座大理石雕像，我的身体就会有诡异的反应。一阵寒意会笼罩我的全身，我脖子后面的汗毛都会竖起来。我会不由自主地与那座雕像的眼睛对视，那一刹间，我觉得“牛顿”这个名字正烙进我的大脑。说实在的，我觉得好像牛顿正把我拉进那个石头雕像一样。

 

As a small boy, I became frightened by this almost daily experience and confided in my parents. They suggested that I take a different route to school and avoid the statue altogether. This was sensible advice, but nonetheless I found it difficult to follow. My fascination with the statue occupied my thoughts even when I was nowhere near it.

那时候我还是个小男孩，被这日复一日的经历吓坏了，我告诉了爸爸妈妈。他们建议我换条路去学校，避开那座雕像。这个提议很合理，但是我发现很难执行。即使我离它很远，我的思绪还是会不由自主地回到雕像上。

 

As my 12th birthday approached, I was informed that I had passed the grammar school entry exams. I was sent off to The King's School, which Isaac Newton attended, and on my first day there was duly assigned to one of six sporting houses. Mine, of course, was Newton House.

就在我快满12岁的时候，我通过了语法学校的入学考试，要去国王学校上学，这是牛顿的母校。每个新生在报到的第一天要被分配到六幢宿舍楼里，很自然地，我被分到了牛顿楼。

 

 

About a year later, as part of a school project, about 60 of us in my year were divided into small groups and sent to local government and council offices for the day, to see how the system worked. It was pot luck where anyone was sent. Four of us were dispatched to the town museum, where we were each given a section to clean and rearrange for display. Mine was the section devoted to, sure enough, “The Life and Works of Isaac Newton”.

大约一年以后，为了完成一个学校的项目，我们年级的大约60名学生被分成小组派往当地的政府或议会办公室工作一天，以便熟悉这些机构的运作。每个人被派到哪儿纯粹是运气使然。我们4个被派到了镇博物馆，每个人负责打扫一块区域，重新布置展品。不用问啦，我的区域是“伊撒克·牛顿的生活与工作”。

 

 

At 14, I was unexpectedly made a last-minute replacement in the school's First XI during a cricket match. A team member had suddenly become ill and I was the nearest boy who had his kit handy. I went in to bat, smiled at the 17- and 18-year-olds who surrounded me, and slashed away every ball. My eye was in and luck was with me. Together with my partner, we established a new school record for a last-wicket stand.

14岁时，我意外被学校的板球队叫去当临时先发队员。原来的一个队员突然生病，而我恰恰就在附近，还有全套装备。我走上场，朝着我周围那些17，18岁的对手们微笑了一下，然后击中了每一个投来的球。那天我的眼睛特别尖，运气也不错。我和我的搭档一起创下了最末击球手的校得分纪录。

 

My proud partner, Titch, so called because of his size, had the last name Newton.

我那位自豪的搭档绰号是“小矮人，”因为他长得不高，他姓牛顿。

 

At the age of 18, I was called up for national service in the RAF. After basic and trade training, I was given my permanent posting. There were hundreds of RAF stations in Britain and around the world, and I could have been sent to any one of them. I was sent to RAF Newton.

我18岁的时候应征加入了皇家空军。在完成新兵训练后，被派往属于我的岗位。英国在本土和全球有几百个空军基地，我可能前往其中任何一个。结果我被分到了皇家空军牛顿基地。

 

After national service, I joined the Nottingham City Police Force. It was up to the police administration to find suitable lodgings for its young single officers. Nottingham is a big city with a vast network of streets. But I was sent to an address on Newton Street.

在我服完兵役后，我加入了诺丁汉市警察局。该局办公室负责为新来人员安排住宿。诺丁汉是个大城市，街道纵横。但我最终却住在了牛顿街上。

 

In January 1958, I went to the Palais de Dance in Nottingham, a place of sumptuous decor and, at that time, the most popular of the city's dance halls. Among the many women there, one beauty especially enchanted me and, at the earliest opportunity, I asked her to dance.

1958年1月，我去诺丁山的Palais de Dance舞厅玩。当时装修富丽奢华的它是全市最热闹的舞厅。在那天众多的美女中，有一位特别吸引我，我很快抓住了机会请她跳一曲。

 

To my delight, she accepted and we exchanged first names. Later, after a few dances, we paused for coffee and, to pass the time, I told Jean the story of how Newton had been a constant companion all my life. Jean looked increasingly amused - I was delighted that she found me so entertaining. “You won't believe this,” she said when I'd finished, “but my full name is Jean Newton.”

让我高兴的是，她答应和我跳一会儿。在跳舞时，我告诉她我叫卡尔，她说她叫简。几曲之后，我们停下来喝杯咖啡。为了找话题，我告诉简我和牛顿这个名字之间的不解之缘。简越听兴致越高，我也挺开心她对我这么感兴趣。“你肯定不会相信这是真的，”当我说完故事后，她说：“我的全名是简·牛顿。”

 

She gazed at me with delight as I felt the hair on my neck prickle again. It seems incredible, but a voice from somewhere, very clear, was telling me I was looking at my future wife.

她双眼放光地看着我，而此时我又觉得我脖子后面的汗毛竖了起来。这看上去真不可思议，但冥冥中有个声音在清楚地告诉我，在我面前的就是我未来的妻子。

 

A few weeks later, upon meeting Jean's mother, I was reliably informed that Jean's great-grandfather had been born and raised in the tiny village of Woolsthorpe, just outside Grantham. So had Isaac Newton. In fact, his manor house is still there. I later contacted the verger at the church closest to Woolsthorpe, who made inquiries through the parish records on my behalf. Jean's family, as it transpired, was almost certainly of Sir Isaac Newton's line.

几周之后，我去见了简的妈妈。我被很肯定地告知，简的曾祖父是在一个叫沃尔斯洛普的小村子里出生并长大的。这个小村子就在格兰瑟姆镇的边上，那也是伊撒克·牛顿出生长大的地方。事实上，他的故居现在还在那里。我后来联系了离沃尔斯洛普村最近的教堂司事，让他替我查查教区纪录。结果证明简的家族正是伊撒克·牛顿的后裔。

 

Jean and I have been married for 49 years now, but I still wonder about the strange force, generated by Sir Isaac's image, that took control of my life from an early age.

现在我和简已经结婚49年了，但我还是对那股由伊撒克爵士的形象产生的神奇力量充满好奇，它从我很小的时候就操控了我的生命轨迹。

 

Could the scientist have selected me to marry one of his descendants? After all, Sir Isaac Newton was one of the greatest minds that ever lived, capable of understanding the forces that govern the universe and also able to prove them scientifically. Who can imagine what other universal secrets he unearthed in his lifetime? Was my life just a string of incredible coincidences?

会不会这位科学家选中我来和他的一个后代结婚呢？说到底，伊撒克·牛顿爵士是有史以来最聪明的人之一。他能理解并科学地证明操控宇宙的力量。谁又能猜得出他活着的时候还掌握了宇宙中别的什么秘密呢？还是说我的人生只是由一连串巧合组成的呢？

 

We'll never know...

我们永远也无法参透…