英语智慧背囊13-爱因斯坦

[00:02.13]My Friend, Albert Einstein
[00:04.96]He was one of the greatest scientists the world has ever known,
[00:09.99]yet if I had to convey the essence of Albert Einstein in a single word,
[00:14.25]I would choose simplicity. Perhaps an anecdote will help.
[00:18.74]Once, caught in a downpour, he took off his hat and held it under his coat.
[00:23.24]Asked why, he explained, with admirable logic,
[00:26.30]that the rain would damage the hat,
[00:28.27]but his hair would be none the worse for its wetting.
[00:31.00]This knack for going instinctively to the heart of a matter
[00:34.18]was the secret of his major scientific discoveries
[00:37.13]—this and his extraordinary feeling for beauty.
[00:40.18]There was something elusively whimsical about Einstein.
[00:43.47]It is illustrated by my favorite anecdote about him.
[00:46.75]In his first year in Princeton,
[00:48.72]on Christmas Eve, so the story goes, some children sang carols outside his house.
[00:53.86]Having finished,
[00:55.16]they knocked on his door and explained they were collecting money to buy Christmas presents.
[00:59.33]Einstein listened, then said, “Wait a moment.”
[01:02.94]He put on his scarf and overcoat, and took his violin from its case.
[01:07.42]Then, joining the children as they went from door to door,
[01:10.80]he accompanied their singing of “Silent Night” on his violin.
[01:14.21]How shall I sum up what it meant to have known Einstein and his works?
[01:18.25]Like the Nobel Prize winner who pointed helplessly at his watch,
[01:22.07]I can find no adequate words.
[01:24.38]It was akin to the revelation of great art that lets one see what was formerly hidden.
[01:30.26]And when, for example, I walk on the sand of a lonely beach,
[01:34.22]I am reminded of his ceaseless search for cosmic simplicity
[01:37.82]—and the scene takes on a deeper, sadder beauty.