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Stephen Hawking remembered by Bernard Carr

8January 1942-14 March 2018

The physicist 's former research student recalls their close relationship at Cambridge,the sheer might of his intellect, and how he once bored the great man to sleep

Stephen was not so famous when I began my PhD at Cambridge in 1972,but his brilliancewas already clear to his peers and I found it rather daunting when,on becoming hisresearch student,I was informed by one of my tutors that he was the brightest person inthe department.(1) ,it soon became(2) that my relationship with him wouldnot be the usual type of supervisor-student relationship.In those days,before he had hisentourage of nurses and assistants,students would necessarily have to help him invarious ways(3) his disability.This was not an arduous task,but it did mean thatmy relationship with him became quite(4) .Indeed,I shared an office with him,lived with his family for a while and (5)  him as he travelled around the world,givingtalks and collecting medals.

I soon discovered some of Stephen's singular(6) .The first,of course,was that hewas very smart.Students are probably always in awe of their(7) and with Stephenthe awe was even greater.Indeed,on matters of physics,I always regarded him as anoracle,just a few words from him yielding(产生)insights that would have taken weeksto (8) on my own.However,Stephen was only human and not all encounters ledto illumination.Once I asked a question about something that was(9) me.Hethought about it silently for several minutes and I was quite(10) with myself forasking something that Stephen couldn't answer immediately.His eyes then closed and Iwas even more impressed with myself because he was clearly having to think about it verydeeply.Only after some time did it become clear that he had fallen asleep.Nowadays,Ialso sometimes fall asleep while talking to students,so I recall this incident withamusement.

The other human side of Stephen is that he didn't suffer fools gladly and sometimes gotannoyed.One of the stories put around is that he would vent his frustration by runningoverstudents'toes.I'm not sure about that-he once ran over the toes of the Prince ofWales,and I'm sure that was just an accident.On the other hand,I well recall oneoccasion when I made a remark in the departmental common room at tea time thatshowed I had misunderstood what he'd been saying.Stephen screamed “No!"so loudlythat his wheelchair shot back halfway across the room under the recoil.I was mostimpressed that a single word from him could have such(11) consequences.

I also learned about Stephen's stubbornness and determination to continue doingthings for himself as long as possible,despite the relentless progress of his illness.Forexample,because he had an office in both the department of applied mathematics andtheoretical physics and the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge,I also had offices in bothplaces.I recall that he sometimes gave me a lift(probably illegally!)between the twoplaces in his three-wheeled invalid car.I found this rather (12) because I thought hedrove faster than was safe.Later,he had to discontinue the use of the car but he neverlost his drive and the desire to travel as far and wide as possible.One regret is he didn'tlive long enough to achieve his dream of going into space.

I'm often asked where Stephen stands in the pantheon(名流群)of great physicists.Thereare many ways of being a great physicist and they cannot be(13) like runners in anOlympic race.Stephen himself never(14) to have the status of Newton or Einstein,but I strongly disagree with people who suggest that his scientific contributions have been(15) because of his iconic status.His disability was clearly a factor in his becomingso famous,but I doubt any other(16)  physicist will achieve the accolade ofbeing interred next to Isaac Newton in Westminster Abbey.

Stephen died on Einstein's birthday and was born on the date of Galileo's death,so it's(17) that heshould be connected to his two greatest heroes in this way.I doubt Stephen wouldhave attributedmuch significance to this,but he would certainly (18)  that we don'tunderstand the mystery of time.In any case,the synchronicity is fitting because his firstmajor discovery was that spacetime trajectories can have singular endpoints wherestrange things may happen.Stephen was the most (19)  person Ihave ever knownand I feel truly(20) that he was my friend.

【答案】BCBCA DAABC BCCAD DBDAC

【解析】

1,根据前面一句中,我的其他导师告诉我Stephen是整个部门里最耀眼的人,后面说很快我和Stephen的关系不是一般的导师和学生之间的关系可知,作者虽然认为Stephen聪明耀眼,但是与自己关系密切,所以用让步比较合适,答案选B.

2,由本段后文中可推出,我和Stephen关系密切是很明显的。

3,根据句意是由于霍金的残疾,所以学生需要以不同方式帮助他,四个选项中B项表示的是由于。

4,根据句意,虽然帮助残疾的霍金并不是什么艰难的工作,但是这让我们的关系变得亲密起来,所以选C比较合适,其他不适合句意。

5,根据句意,知此处选A合适,意思为;确实,我与霍金在一个办公室,和他家人同住过一段时间,陪伴他周游世界......

6,结合文章第二段和第三段讲的都是霍金的一些性格特征,所以知此处应选D.

7,由前文知学生通常对自己的导师怀有敬畏之心,supervisor在前文已出现过。

8,9,我常常把霍金视作无所不知之人,他的三言两语就足够让我对于困惑着的我的问题产生了新的见解,要没有他,我估计得自己琢磨好些时间呢。

10,复现词,后文中由,我对于提出了一个连霍金也要思考的问题感到印象深刻。

11,我没有想到他的简简单单一个字能产生如此巨大的后果。

12,我觉的这相当不安全,随意反推知霍金开车是相当吓人了。

13,经常有人问我霍金在伟大物理学家群中地位如何,可是成为一个伟大的物理学家由太多种方式,并不能像奥运会中的赛跑者一样被排名。

14,霍金他自己从来没有声称过自己和牛顿和爱因斯坦一样牛掰。

15,我强烈的反对有人说霍金的名气夸大了他的科学贡献。

16,当然,他的残疾是使他出名的因素之一,但是我怀疑当代由任何的科学家能够有资格埋在牛顿坟墓旁。

17,霍金的忌日是爱因斯坦的诞辰,霍金的诞辰又是伽利略的忌日,所以以如此额方式把霍金和其他两位科学家联系在一起很奇怪。

18,我怀疑这事和霍金有关,但是他肯定不会承认我们懂得时间的奥秘。(霍金说任何的同步性是合理的,因为他的第一个发现就是时间的轨道会有一些奇怪的结点,而在这些结点会有奇怪的事情发生。)

19,霍金是我认识并了解的当中最奇特的一个,所以选A比较合适。

20,并且能与他为友,我倍感荣幸。