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He evidently overcame his physical weakness by the time he reached school age, for a schoolmate reported that Newton challenged a bully who had kicked him in the belly to a fight and "beat him till he would fight no more" — winning out because he had "more spirit and resolution". The bully stood high in the class, and Newton was so determined "to beat him also at his books" that "by hard work he finally succeeded, and then gradually rose to be the first in the school".
他到上学年龄时，身体显然己经不像原来那样虚弱了。这从一位同学的话中可以得到证实：有个恃强凌弱的学生踢了牛顿的肚子，牛顿便向他提出挑战，和他干了一仗，"直揍到他讨饶方才住手" ——牛顿赢了，因为他有"更大的勇气和决心"。那个小霸王在班里名列前茅，牛顿下定决心"在功课方面也要战胜他"，他发奋学习，终于学业大进，后来渐渐成了全校第一"。
When Newton was 14, his mother took the boy back into her home, her second husband having died. She conceived the idea of making him a farmer, but the experiment proved an unqualified failure. Newton found farming totally distasteful. Instead of attending properly to his chores, he would read, make wooden models with his knife, or dream. Fortunately for science, his mother gave up the attempt and allowed him to prepare for Cambridge University.
牛顿十四岁时，母亲把他领回自己家里，那时她第二个丈夫己经去世。 她打算让他做个农场主，但这一实验彻底失败了。牛顿极端讨厌农事，不去用心照料农场杂务，而是经常读书、用小刀制作木头模型，或者沉迷于遐想。对科学事业幸运的是，他母亲放弃了原先的企图，允许他准备就读剑桥大学。
At the age of 18, Newton entered Trinity College. In his early years at the University he was not outstanding in any way. Then he came under the influence of Isaac Barrow, a rofessor of mathematics and an extraordinary man. He was an able mathematician, a classicist, an astronomer and an authority in the field of optics. Barrow was one of the first to recognize Newton's genius. Soon after his student had taken a degree, Barrow resigned his professorship so that Newton might have it. Thus at 26 Newton was established in an academic post of distinction and was free to pursue his epoch-making studies.
牛顿十八岁时进入三一学院。他在这所大学的最初岁月中，各门课程成绩平平，后来他受到数学教授艾萨克·巴罗这位非凡人物的影响。巴罗是位富有才华的数学家、天文学家、古典文学艺术研究者、也是光学领域的权威。他是最早发现牛顿天才的人之一。牛顿获得学位后不久，巴罗就辞去教授职位，以便让他的学生接任。就这样，牛顿二十六岁时便在享有崇高声誉的学术职位上奠定了地位，可以放手展开划时代的研究工作了。
