-
我的朋友阿尔伯特?爱因斯坦
班尼旭·霍夫曼
爱因斯坦是历史上最
伟大的科学家，如果用一个词出神入化地描述他，那就是
“率真”。
有个例子很能表现他的率真：
一次，
爱因斯坦突遇大雨，<
/p>
他脱下帽子
将其藏在衣内。
问及为什么这
样，
他很有逻辑地说，
大雨会淋坏帽子，
脱下帽子，
头发受淋没什么关系。
真是一语切入问题实质。<
/p>
正是这种人品素质，
以及他对美
的非凡感
受，才是奠定他重大科学发现的秘诀。
第一次见到爱因斯坦，
是
1935
年，在新泽西州普林斯顿那所著名的高级研究院
里。
他是受研究院邀请最早的学者之一，
薪
金任他自己填写。
可令院长失望的是，
爱因斯坦填写的薪金太少
了，院长不得不恳请先生多填一些。
我非常敬畏爱因斯坦。一
次，我正在研究一个问题，必须向先生请教。临行前，
我
一
直
犹
犹
豫
豫
。
当
我
终
于
敲
响
< br>先
生
的
屋
门
时
，
听
到
一
声
温
和
的
“
请
进！”
-------
声调微微上扬，透着欢迎和询问的语气。我走进办公
室，见先生
坐在桌前，
一边吸烟一边做计算。
< br>他头发有些凌乱，
一副不修边幅的样子。
他对
我颔首微笑，平易的面容使我立即消除了紧张感。
我开始解释自己的想法。
他让我把公式写在黑板上，
以便能看
明白每一个发展步
骤。“请你慢慢说，我接受力很慢。”先生的请求令我愕然，也使我倍
感亲切。
这话竟出自爱因斯坦之口，而且说得那么温和！我笑了。所有的拘束荡然无存。
与爱因斯坦合作让我终身不忘。
19
37
年我和波兰物理学家奥波德?英费尔德请求
与先生一起工作
，
他愉快地答应了。
当时，
他的万有引
力设想正待进一步研究和
证明。
这以后，
工作中的朝夕相处，
使我们不仅接近和了解了作为人，
作为朋
友
的爱因斯坦，更了解了作为科学家的爱因斯坦。
爱因斯坦研究之专注，是无与伦比的。较量难题，他犹如野兽扑食物。
<
/p>
每当我
们陷入一个近乎难以超越的困境，
爱因斯坦便习惯地站起来，
放下烟斗，
用他那
< br>滑稽的英
语说“我
想想”
（他发
不”th”这
个音，所
以把“thin
k”
说成了
“
tink”）。边说边在屋里来回踱步，食指还不停地捻弄他那一头乱发。
爱因斯坦独自梦幻般地出神，
平静地思索，
根本没
有挖空心思，
绞尽脑汁的摸样。
时间一分一秒地过去，
突然他停住脚步，
脸上露出轻松的微笑，
解决办
法出来了。
有时，
解法非常简单，
而我
和英费尔德却没有想到，
我们简直想踹自己两脚。
先
生这无形的魔力我们是永远没法企及的。
师母的
去世对先生无疑是一个沉重打击，
但这并没有影响他沉浸工作。
记得在那
段悲痛的日子里，
我曾去过他家与他一起工作。
他疲惫而悲伤，
但依然竭力倾心
工作。
我尽量避免与他谈及家事，
而是跟他讨论艰深的理论问题，
帮他忘却悲痛。
爱因斯坦慢慢深入讨论，
眼里已不
再流露悲伤。
我们一直谈了两个多小时，
告别
< br>时，
他非常感谢我的诚意，
对我说：
“你的这个问题很有意思。
”他暂时忘却了
悲痛，寻词觅句
表达他内心深切的情感。
爱因斯坦不在乎宗教仪式，
也不归属任何宗教组织，
< br>但他是我碰到的最虔诚的人。
他曾跟我说“主意来自上帝”，
语中充满对上帝的敬意。
普林斯顿大学数学楼大
理石壁炉上
用德语刻着的“上帝难以捉摸，
但上帝没有恶意”，
可谓是他的
科学
信条。
爱因斯坦的意思是，
科学家
从事的工作也许艰难无比，
但绝不是杳渺无望。
宇宙是规则有序
的，上帝不会有意以悖谬和矛盾来迷惑我们。
爱因斯坦还是一
个出色的业余音乐家。
我们常常在一起二重奏，
他拉小提琴，<
/p>
我
弹钢琴。
有一次他说莫扎特是最伟大的
作曲家，
我很吃惊。
他解释说，
贝多芬
“创
造”音乐，
而莫扎特的音乐之纯洁优美，
< br>令人感到是他“发现”了音乐
--------
发现了这
宇宙本身的故事，正等待人类去展示的内在美。
这种莫扎特式
的简洁，就是典型的爱因斯坦方法。爱因斯坦
1905
年创立的
相对
论理论，就是建立在两个简单的假设上的。一个是所谓的相对原则，简单地说，
就是我们无法判定，
自己是处于静止状态，
还是正在平稳地运动。
另一个假设是，
不论产生光的物质其速度
如何，
光速都是一样的。
假如你用棍子在湖里搅动，
观
察湖水产生波浪的情形，
就可以看出这个假设的
合理性。
不论在静止的码头，
还
是在飞
驶的快艇上搅动棍子，
波浪一旦产生，
就按其自身的速度传播，
与棍子速
度无关。
< br>两个假设分开看，
都具有明显的合理性。
可是将它们放在
一起就矛盾对立，
足以
使胆怯者放弃设想，
逃之夭夭了。
爱因斯坦勇敢地对两个假想进行探索
----
他的
努力导致物理学上的革命。
他证明
，
如果我们放弃对时间本质的固有的理解，
二
< br>者是可以和平共处的。
科学如同小孩用纸牌搭的房子，
时间与空间概念是这个房子的地基。
以前我们对
时间概念的曲解，
是整个房子几近倒坍。
正因为如此，
爱因斯坦的工作尤为重要，
也格外引起争议。
< br>在普林斯顿爱因斯坦七十寿辰的庆祝会上，
一位诺贝尔奖获得
者在试图表述爱因斯坦巨大成就的魔力而终于未果时，
无奈地耸耸肩，
指着腕上
的表，
无比惊奇地说，
“一切都来源于它呀！
”他的如此不善言辞，
是我听到的<
/p>
对爱因斯坦天才的最雄辩的赞美。
爱因
斯坦对名气处之泰然，
可却躲避不及。
他走到哪，
马上就被人认出。
一个秋
季的星期六，
我和爱因斯坦在普林斯顿大学边走边谈论一个技术问题。
路上，
家
长和毕业生们正潮水般地涌向体育馆，
热切期待即
将举行的足球比赛。
走进我们
的时候，
他们突然停住脚步。
他们认出了先生，
顿时一脸庄严，
似乎突然走进另
一个世界。
可是爱因斯坦根本没
发现什么异常，
依旧全然不知地继续着他的讨论。
别以为爱因斯坦只钻研艰深的科学问题。
实际上，
他常常在日常生活的细枝末节
中发现科学原则，
而这些细枝末节
，
常常被人忽略。
有一次他问我是否思考过这
< br>样一个问题：
踩在干燥或者浸满水的沙土上，
双脚会下陷
，
但半湿的沙土表层却
很结实。这是为什么？我无以对答，他的
答案却惊人的简单。
他说这就是表面张力，
即液体表面弹性表皮导致的结果。
< br>水珠的凝积也是因为表
面张力。
有时我们看到，
窗玻璃上两颗小雨珠一碰到一起，
立即溶成一个大水珠，
这也是表面张力的结果。
爱因斯坦解释说，
沙土半湿时，
沙粒间有少量水分，
水分的表面张
力使沙粒与沙
粒互相粘合，粘合后摩擦力使沙粒不易移动。而沙土干燥时，沙粒间没有水
分。
沙土浸透时，沙粒间虽然有水，但没有粘合它们的水表面。
这个问题没有相对论重大，
但我们很难预测这看似简单的小问题
会促使爱因斯坦
做出重大发现。从这小小的沙土问题，我们窥见出爱因斯坦多么深邃而有
创见，
而思路有是多么地清晰和简洁。
Unit Three
TEXT I
My Friend, Albert Einstein
I. Paraphrase the parts underlined in
the following:
[1]He
was
one
of
the
greatest
scientists
the
world
has
ever
known,
yet
if
I
had
to
convey
the
essence
of
Albert
Einstein
in
a
single
word,
I
would
choose
simplicity.
Perhaps an
anecdote
will
help. Once,
caught
in a downpour,
he
took off
his
hat and
held
it
under
his
coat.
Asked
why,
he
explained,
with
admirable
logic,
that
the
rain
would
damage
the
hat,
but
his
hair
would
be
none
the
worse
for
its
wetting.
This
1
knack
for
going
instinctively
to
the
heart
of
a
matter
was
the
secret
of
his
major
scientific
discoveries
—
this and his
extraordinary feeling for beauty.
[2]I
first
met
Albert
Einstein
in 1935, at
the
famous Institute
for
Advanced Study
in
Princeton,
N.
J.
He
had
been
among
the
first
to
be
invited
to
the
Institute,
and
was
offered
carte
blanche
2
as
to
salary.
To
the
director's
dismay,
Einstein
asked
for
an
impossible
sum:
it
was
far too
small.
The director
had
to
3
plead with
him to accept a
large
salary.
[3]I
4
was
in awe of
Einstein, and hesitated before
5
approaching
him
about some
ideas
I
had
been
6
working
on .
When
I
finally
knocked
on
his
door,
a
gentle
voice
said,
“Come”—
with
a
rising
7
inflection that
made the single
word both a
welcome and a
question. I
entered his office and found him seated at a
table, calculating and smoking
his
pipe. Dressed
in
ill -
fitting clothes,
his
hair
characteristically
8
awry,
he smiled
a
warm welcome. His utter naturalness
at once set me at ease.
[4]As
I
began
to
explain
my
ideas,
he
asked
me
to
write
the
equations
on
the
blackboard
so
he
could
see
how
they
developed.
Then
came
the
staggering
---
and
a1together
9
endearing
---
request
:
“Please
go
slowly.
I
do
not
understand
things
quickly.”
This
from
Einstein!
He
said
it
gently
,
and
I
laughed.
From
then
on,
all
10
vestiges of fear were
gone.
[5]Einstein
was
born
in
1879
in
the
German
city
of
Ulm.
He
had
been
no
11
infant
prodigy
;
indeed,
he
was
so
late
in
learning to speak that
his
parents
feared
he
was a
12
dullard.
In school, though
his
teachers saw
no special
talent
in
him,
the signs were
already there. He taught
himself calculus, for example, and his teachers
seemed a little
afraid of
him because he asked questions they
could not answer. At the age of 16,
he
himself
whether
a
light
wave
would
seem
stationary
if
one
ran
13
abreast
of
it.
From
that
innocent question would arise, ten years later,
his theory of relativity.
[6]Einstein
failed
his entrance examinations at the Swiss
Federal Polytechnic School,
in
Zurich,
but
was
admitted
a
year
later.
There
he
went
beyond
his
regular
work
to
study the
14
masterwork of physics on
his own. Rejected when he applied for academic
positions, he ultimately found work, in
1902, as a patent examiner in Berne, and there
in 1905 his genius burst into fabulous
flower.
[7]Among
the
extraordinary
things
he
produced
in
that
memorable
year
were
his
theory
of relativity, with its famous offshoot, E = mc 2
(energy equals mass times the
speed of
light squared), and
his
quantum theory of
light. These two
theories were
not
only
revolutionary, but
seemingly
contradictory: the
former
was
intimately
linked to
the
theory
that
light
consists
of
waves,
while
the
latter
said
it
consists
somehow
of
particles.
Yet
this
unknown
young
man boldly proposed both at once
--- and
he
was
right
in both cases,
though
how
he
could
have been
is
far
too
complex a story to tell
here.
[8]Collaborating
with
Einstein
was
an
unforgettable
experience.
In
1937,
the
Polish
physicist Leopold Infeld and I asked if
we could work with him. He was pleased with
the
proposal,
since
he
had
an
idea
about
gravitation
waiting
to
be
15
worked
out
in
detail.
Thus
we
got
to
know
not
merely
the
man
and
the
friend,
but
also
the
professional.
[9]The
intensity
and
depth
of
his
concentration
were
fantastic.
When
battling
a
16
recalcitrant problem,
he
17
worried
it as an animal
worries
its prey. Often,
when
we
found
ourselves
up
against
a
18
seemingly
insuperable
difficulty,
he
would
stand
up,
put his pipe on the
table, and say in his
19
quaint English, “I will
a
little tink” (he could
not pronounce
“th”). Then he
would pace
up and down,
20
twirling a
lock
of
his
long,
graying hair around his forefinger.
[10]A dreamy,
faraway and
yet
inward
look would come over
his
face. There was
no
appearance
of
concentration,
no
furrowing
of
the
brow---only
a
21
placid
inner
communion. The
minutes
would pass, and
then
suddenly
Einstein
would stop
pacing
as
his
face
relaxed
into
a
gentle
smile .
He
had
found
the
solution
to
the
problem.
Sometimes
it
was
so
simple
that
Infeld
and
I
could
have
22
kicked
ourselves
for
not