书城外语双语学习丛书-艺术人生
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第12章 Nobel Prize Winner:Bloembergen 诺贝尔大师:布洛姆伯根(1)

I made the best possible use of the continental academic system, which relied heavily on independent studies.

My parents, Auke Bloembergen and Sophia Maria Quint, had four sons and two daughters. I am the second child, born on March 11, 1920, in Dordrecht, the NetherlandsNetherlands n.荷兰, 地区名.

我充分地利用了欧洲大陆的教育体制,它很强调独立学习。

诺贝尔大师:布洛姆伯根

我父母,奥克·布洛姆伯根和索菲娅·玛丽亚·昆特,有四个儿子和两个女儿。我是家中第二个孩子,于1920年3月11日生于荷兰的多德雷赫特。

My father, a chemical engineer, was an executive in a chemical fertilizer company. My mother, who had an advanced degree to teach French, devoted all her energies to rearingrear adj.后面的, 背面的, 后方的vt.培养, 饲养, 举起, 树立, 栽种vi.高耸, 暴跳, 用后腿站起 a large family.

Before I entered grade school, the family moved to Bilthoven, a residential suburb of UtrechtUtrecht 乌得勒支(荷兰城市). We were brought up in the ProtestantProtestant n.新教, 新教徒 adj.新教的, 新教徒的 work ethic .

At the age of twelve I entered the municipal gymnasium in Utrecht, founded as a Latin school in 1474. Nearly all the teachers held Ph.D. degrees. The rigidrigid adj.刚硬的, 刚性的, 严格的 curriculum emphasized the humanities: Latin, Greek, French, German, English, Dutch, history and mathematics.

我父亲是一位化学工程师,在一个化肥公司做经理。我母亲有一个教授法语的高级学位,她把她所有的精力都用于养育我们这一大家人。

在我上小学之前,我们家搬到了比尔特霍芬,它是乌得勒支的郊区住宅区。我们在新教徒的职业道德氛围下长大。

12岁的时候,我进入了乌得勒支的市立高级中学。这所学校是1474年作为拉丁学校建立的。几乎所有的教师都具有博士学位,而且课程设置非常严格,注重人文科学:拉丁文、希腊文、法文、德文、英文、荷兰文、历史和数学。

My preferencepreference n.偏爱, 优先选择 for science became evident only in the last years of secondary school, where the basics of physics and chemistry were well taught. The choice of physics was probably based on the fact that I found it the most difficult and challenging subject, and I still do to this day.

My maternal grandfather was a high school principal with a Ph.D. in mathematical physics. So there may be some hereditaryhereditary adj.世袭的, 遗传的 factor as well. I am ever more intriguedintrigue n.阴谋, 诡计vi.密谋, 私通vt.激起……的兴趣, 用诡计取得 by the correspondence between mathematics and physical facts. The adaptability of mathematics to the description of physical phenomena is uncannyuncanny adj.离奇的.

只是在中学后几年,我对科学的偏爱才显现出来,当时学校的物理和化学基础教育非常好。选择物理可能是因为我发现这门功课最难、最具有挑战性。直到现在我仍然这样认为。

我的外祖父是数学物理博士,在一所高级中学任校长,所以,也许还有些遗传的因素吧。我对数学与物理之间的联系特感兴趣。居然可以用数学来描述物理现象,真是神秘极了。

Professor L. S. Ornstein taught the undergraduateundergraduate n.大学肄业生, (尚未取得学位的)大学生adj.大学生的 physics course when I entered the University of Utrecht in 1938. He permitted me and my partner in the undergraduate lab, J. C. Kluyver to skip some lab routines and instead assist a graduate student, G. A. W. Rutgers, in a Ph.D. research project.

After the German occupation of Holland in May 1940, the Hitler regimeregime n.政体, 政权, 政权制度 removed Ornstein from the university in 1941.

I made the best possible use of the continental academic system, which relied heavily on independent studies.Just before the Nazis closed the university completely in 1943, I managed to obtain the degree of Phil. Drs., equivalent to a M.Sc. degree.

在我1938年进入乌得勒支大学上学时,L. S.奥恩斯泰因教授教大学本科物理课。他允许我和我的本科生实验室同伴J. C.克勒伊弗跳过一些常规的实验内容,帮助研究生G. A. W.吕特赫斯搞博士研究课题。

1940年5月,德国占领荷兰,1941年希特勒政权把奥恩斯泰因教授赶出了大学。