Spender also does not seem to have remarked on Oppenheimer's eyes, which had a kind of wary luminescence. Siamese cats make a similar impression. But more important, Oppenheimer appears in Spender's journal as a disembodied figure with no contextual relevance to Spender's own life.
斯彭德似乎也没有对奥本海默的那双总是闪着一种谨慎的寒光的眼睛进行评论。暹罗猫的眼睛也可以给人一种类似的感觉。但是更更重要的是,出现在斯彭徳的日志中的奥本海默是一个游离于斯彭德本人的生活环境之外的脱离实体的人物。
There is no comment about the fact that, three years earlier, Oppenheimer had been "tried" for disloyalty to this country and that his clearance had been taken away. One of the charges brought against him was that his wife, Katherine Puening Oppenheimer, was the former wife of Joseph Dallet, who had been a member of the Communist Party and who had been killed in 1937 fighting for the Spanish Republican Army. In 1937, Spender was also a member of the Communist Party in Britain and had also spent time in Spain. Did Oppenheimer know this? He usually knew most things about the people who interested him. Did "Kitty" Oppenheimer know it? Did this have anything to do with the fact that, during Spender's visit, she was upstairs "ill"? Spender offers no comment. What was he thinking? There were so many things the two of them might have said to each other, but didn't. They talked about the invasion of the Suez Canal.
日记中也没有评论这样一个事实:三年前奥本海默曾因被疑为对国家不忠而受到“审讯”,其接触国家机密文件的权利被剥夺。不利于他的一项指控是他的妻子凯瑟琳·普宁·奥本海默也是约瑟夫·戴勒特的前妻。约瑟夫·戴勒特曾是一名共产党员,在1937年与西班牙共和军的战斗中牺牲。同一年,斯彭德也是英国共产党员,当时也在西班牙。奥本海默知道这件事吗?他总是知道他所感兴趣的人的大多数事情。“基蒂”·奥本海默知道这件亊吗?这与斯彭德来访期间她正在楼上养“病”避而不见的事实是否有关?斯彭德在日记里没有任何评述。他那时在想什么?他们两人有许多可以互相倾诉的事情,却什么都没谈,谈的只是苏伊士运河的入侵。
In the fall of my second year at the institute, Dirac came for a visit. We all knew that he was coming, but no one had actually encountered him, despite rumored sightings. By this time, Dirac, who was in his mid-fifties, had a somewhat curious role in physics. Unlike Einstein, he had kept up with many of the developments and indeed from time to time commented on them.
我在研究院的第二年的秋天,狄拉克来到这里访学。我们都知道他要来,却没有人真的遇到过他,尽管谣言有人看到他在远处的身影。当时已经50多岁的狄拉克,在物理学界仍然占据游有点奇怪的一席之地。与爱因斯坦不同的是,他能够紧跟研究领域的发展形势,还能不时地品头论足一番。