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He was struggling about on crutches, the result of two ruptured spinal disks,
當時，拄著拐杖的他正在冥思苦想兩個脊椎椎間盤撕裂的結果，
which can give out over time whether or not you're the kind of person who can explain the attraction between the mass of the earth and the mass of your back.
無論你是否是那種地球的質量和背部質量都能區分的人，這一結果都會隨時間變得愈加明顯。
When he makes his way from desk to couch, he drops down gratefully.
他從桌子旁邊挪到了沙發旁心滿意足地坐了下來。
Behind him is a whiteboard with a storm of equations written on it.
他身后有一塊白板，白板上寫著一大堆方程式。
The numbers and glyphs frame his face in a perfect metaphor for the impossibly complex ideas
那些數字和符號映襯著他的側臉，他的臉便瞬時變成了一個再貼切不過的隱喻，
that play out in his head, then somehow emerge comprehensibly and coherently on the page.
直指那些一一閃現在他的腦海里，之后便以這樣或那樣的方式清晰又連貫地呈現在了那張白板上的無比艱深的想法。
It's a busy time for Greene.
最近，格林很忙。
His World Science Festival will begin its 13th season in May in New York City and its fifth year in its satellite venue in Brisbane, Australia, in March.
五月份，他發起的世界科學節即將在紐約迎來第13次展覽活動，三月份，該節日還將在澳大利亞布里斯班的會場迎來第5個周年紀念日。
The Down Under version attracted a total of 700,000 visitors in its first four years.
主辦的頭四年，澳洲就吸引了70萬現場參與者。
The New York edition has drawn a cumulative 2 million people and more than 40 million online views of its content.
紐約這邊則累計吸引了200萬現場參與者及超4000萬的在線瀏覽量。
Greene, 57, is also preparing for a promotional tour for his new book,
除了籌備科學節，現年57歲的格林還在忙著準備新書路演，
and keeps up a full schedule of teaching, holding office hours and advising graduate students.
此外還有滿滿當當的教學安排，與學生面談，指導研究生等工作。
During our conversation, he mentioned that he was booked to give an evening talk
談話期間，他提到他還有一個講座沙龍，
on super string theory to a gathering of the university's Society of Physics Students.
哥倫比亞大學物理社團的學生邀請他給他們講超弦理論。
It's a Friday night, a party night, but for the students and Greene, talking superstrings is a party.
沙龍安排在了派對之夜——周五晚上，但對格林和社團的學生來說，討論超弦理論就是他們的派對。
"I've found that the theoretical physicists I've spent the most time with
“我發現，我相處得最久的那些理論物理學家
are the ones who are just enthralled by the ideas and the minutiae of an equation working out," he says.
都是那種會對想到一個方程，或是解答出一個方程這種事特別著迷的人，”他說。
"The only difference I have seen relative to my colleagues is I've never found pure research to be enough.
“相對于我的同事，我和他們唯一的不同之處在于，我從不止步于純理論的研究。
I've always felt like the world is so big and rich that I need to engage with it in different ways.
我一直覺得這個世界太大太豐富了，我需要從不同的角度去認識它。
And that can be the books, it can be the TV shows."
可以是寫書的角度，也可以是做電視節目的角度……”
Greene comes by his love of performance rightly.
格林熱愛表演，他也有充分的理由熱愛表演。
His father was a vaudeville entertainer as well as a composer and voice coach.
他的父親是一名雜耍藝人，還是一名作曲家兼聲樂教練。
But Greene's own passion was math and science and then big science—
但格林自己的愛好是數學和科學，宏大的科學——
the kind that seduces you with questions that both demand and defy answers,
就是那種用既需要解答，又無法解答，
that can cross the line from science to something else entirely.
一不小心還會從科學走向與科學截然相反的一面的問題引誘你入坑的科學。
Here, too, a close family member helped.
在這個問題上，也有一位親密的家人幫過格林。
"My brother is a Hare Krishna devotee," Greene says.
“我哥哥是哈瑞·奎師那的信徒，”格林說。
"He's 13 years older than I am.
“他比我大13歲。
When I was little and getting interested in math and physics, he'd say, 'What are you learning?'
小時候，我逐漸喜歡上了數學和物理，他會對我說，‘你在學什么呢？’
I'd describe the Big Bang, and he'd pull out the Vedas and read to me from them.
我就跟他解釋大爆炸理論，然后他就會拿出吠陀經念給我聽。
It was a very interesting back-and-forth over the decades between the scientific pathway toward a certain kind of truth
有意思的是，兩個人一個在科學的道路上追尋某種真理，一個在精神的，宗教的道路上追尋某種真理，
and the spiritual, religious pathway to a certain kind of truth."
兩個人就這么來來回來地拉鋸拉了幾十年?！?/p>
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