評論
打印
He evidently overcame his physical weakness by the time he reached school age, for a schoolmate reported that Newton challenged a bully who had kicked him in the belly to a fight and "beat him till he would fight no more" — winning out because he had "more spirit and resolution". The bully stood high in the class, and Newton was so determined "to beat him also at his books" that "by hard work he finally succeeded, and then gradually rose to be the first in the school".
他到上學年齡時，身體顯然己經不像原來那樣虛弱了。這從一位同學的話中可以得到證實：有個恃強凌弱的學生踢了牛頓的肚子，牛頓便向他提出挑戰，和他干了一仗，"直揍到他討饒方才住手" ——牛頓贏了，因為他有"更大的勇氣和決心"。那個小霸王在班里名列前茅，牛頓下定決心"在功課方面也要戰勝他"，他發奮學習，終于學業大進，后來漸漸成了全校第一"。
When Newton was 14, his mother took the boy back into her home, her second husband having died. She conceived the idea of making him a farmer, but the experiment proved an unqualified failure. Newton found farming totally distasteful. Instead of attending properly to his chores, he would read, make wooden models with his knife, or dream. Fortunately for science, his mother gave up the attempt and allowed him to prepare for Cambridge University.
牛頓十四歲時，母親把他領回自己家里，那時她第二個丈夫己經去世。 她打算讓他做個農場主，但這一實驗徹底失敗了。牛頓極端討厭農事，不去用心照料農場雜務，而是經常讀書、用小刀制作木頭模型，或者沉迷于遐想。對科學事業幸運的是，他母親放棄了原先的企圖，允許他準備就讀劍橋大學。
At the age of 18, Newton entered Trinity College. In his early years at the University he was not outstanding in any way. Then he came under the influence of Isaac Barrow, a rofessor of mathematics and an extraordinary man. He was an able mathematician, a classicist, an astronomer and an authority in the field of optics. Barrow was one of the first to recognize Newton's genius. Soon after his student had taken a degree, Barrow resigned his professorship so that Newton might have it. Thus at 26 Newton was established in an academic post of distinction and was free to pursue his epoch-making studies.
牛頓十八歲時進入三一學院。他在這所大學的最初歲月中，各門課程成績平平，后來他受到數學教授艾薩克·巴羅這位非凡人物的影響。巴羅是位富有才華的數學家、天文學家、古典文學藝術研究者、也是光學領域的權威。他是最早發現牛頓天才的人之一。牛頓獲得學位后不久，巴羅就辭去教授職位，以便讓他的學生接任。就這樣，牛頓二十六歲時便在享有崇高聲譽的學術職位上奠定了地位，可以放手展開劃時代的研究工作了。
