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Stephen Hawking, Master of the universe
宇宙級大師斯蒂芬·霍金
Observance by Lisa Randall
文/麗莎·蘭德爾
FOR YEARS, IT SEEMED THAT THE BEST WAY TO ESTABLISH my place in the physics world with people outside of it
多年來，在物理外行中間樹立我的形象的最好辦法
was to talk about the time Stephen Hawking, who died on March 14 at 76, saved me a seat at a conference.
似乎就是聊斯蒂芬·霍金，他已于3月14日離世了，享年76歲，在一次會議上為我留座位那件事。
In our incredible, challenging-to-explain universe,
在我們這個非凡而又頗難解釋的宇宙中，
it was perhaps inevitable that it was an incredible, challenging-to-explain person who made it more comprehensible—both to the scientiic community and to the public.
讓宇宙變得更容易理解——無論是對科學界還是對普羅大眾而言——這一工作似乎也無可避免地要由一位非凡而又頗難解釋的人來做。
A functioning brain coupled with what little of his body held of ALS was enough for him
對他而言，一個機能健碩的大腦，加上肌萎縮側索硬化癥留下的所剩無幾的肢體
to have a life far more active than that of most able-bodied individuals and a life of the mind that exceeded others’ by many multiples.
就已經足夠他活得遠比大多數肢體健全之人活躍，遠比他人精神豐富了。
His contribution to our understanding—particularly of black holes—laid bare mysteries that 40 years later are still daunting.
他對我們理解宇宙——尤其是理解黑洞——的貢獻，讓在40年后的今天依然令人望而卻步的未解之謎徹底地暴露在了世人面前。
If most people can’t begin to answer the questions he raised, he helped everyone at least approach them.
縱使大多數人連回答他提出的那些問題的勇氣都沒有，他至少讓我們對那些問題有了初步的認識。
Science is not part of a separate world;
科學并不是某個獨立世界的一部分;
it is available for anyone to participate,
科學是任何人都可以參與的事業，
and Hawking’s life should be an inspiration not to turn away from its challenges.
而霍金的一生能夠激勵我們面對困難時不膽怯，不退縮。
With his many accomplishments, he certainly laid down the gauntlet.
憑著他的諸多成就，霍金無疑又向我們發出了繼續探索宇宙的挑戰。
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
