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A victim of an incurable disease, Stephen Hawking is almost completely paralysed, confined toa wheelchair, and unable to speak. Yet, he has overcome every obstacle and achieved far more than most able-bodied people ever dream of accomplishing and become one of the greatest physicists of our time.
斯蒂芬·霍金患了一种不治之症，几乎完全瘫痪，离不开轮椅，而且不能说话。然而，他克服了一切障碍，取得了比大多数体格健全者想要取得的还要多得多的成就，成了我们时代最伟大的物理学家之一。
Roaming the Cosmos
遨游宇宙
Leon Jaroff
利昂·贾洛夫
Darkness has fallen on Cambridge, England, and on a damp and chilly evening king's Parade is filled with students and faculty. Then, down the crowded thoroughfare comes the University of Cambridge's most distinctive vehicle, bearing its most distinguished citizen. In the motorized wheelchair, boyish face dimly illuminated by a glowing computer screen attached to the left armrest, is Stephen William Hawking, 46, one of the world's greatest theoretical physicists. As he skillfully maneuvers through the crowd, motorists slow down, some honking their horns in greeting. People wave and shout hello.
夜幕降临，暮色笼罩着英格兰剑桥市。在一个潮湿、寒冷的夜晚，“国王阅兵场”上到处是剑桥大学的师生。这时，沿着拥挤的大道驶来了校园内最有特色的一部车子，上面载着该校最著名的公民。在这辆机动轮椅上坐着的是世界上最伟大的理论物理学家之一，四十六岁的斯蒂芬·威廉·霍金。固定在轮椅左边靠手上的一只发光的计算机屏幕隐隐约约地照出了他那张孩子似的脸庞。当他熟练地驾着轮椅驶过人群时，开汽车的人都放慢车速，有的还揿揿喇叭向他致意。人们挥着手，大声跟他打招呼。
A huge smile lights up Hawking's bespectacled face, but he cannot wave or shout back. Sincehis early 20s, he has suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive deterioration of the central nervous system that usually causes death within three or four years. Hawking's illness has advanced more slowly, and now seems almost to have stabilized. Still, it has robbed him of virtually all movement. He has no control over most of his muscles, cannot dress or eat by himself and has lost his voice. Now he "speaks" only by using the slight voluntary movement left in his hands and fingers to operate his wheelchair's built-in computer and voice synthesizer.
戴着眼镜的霍金满面闪露出笑容，但他既不能挥手，也不能回喊作答。他刚二十岁出头时就患了肌萎缩性脊髓侧索硬化症（ALS）。这是一种使中枢神经系统日益退化的病症，患者一般在三四年内就会死亡。霍金的病情发展较慢，目前看来几乎已经稳定。然而，这病仍使他失去了几乎所有的活动能力。他已经不能控制大部分肌肉，不能自己穿衣进食，不能开口说话。现在他只能依靠手和手指还剩下的一点随意运动的能力操纵装在轮椅上的计算机和声音合成器来“说话”了。
