Why Did Newton Have Mental Illness Later in His Life?
牛頓晚年為何會精神失常？
紅人自畫像
大家都聽說過那著名的蘋果落地的故事吧：一位青年在蘋果樹下專心讀書，突然一只蘋果從樹上直落下來。這位青年陷入了沉思，從而發(fā)現(xiàn)“萬有引力定律”，這位青年就是我——牛頓。
All of you must have heard about the story of the falling apple: A young man was concentrating on reading under an apple tree. Suddenly, an apple fell straight down. The young man then fell into contemplation and was inspired to formulate the Universal Law of Gravitation. I am that young man—Newton.
超級訪問
古古和同學(xué)們從小就聽大人們講牛頓的故事，以及牛頓由于專心工作而鬧出的笑話，然而這位偶像級科學(xué)家卻在50歲時精神失常了。這究竟是怎么回事呢？古古決定探望他。
Since childhood, Gugu and his classmates have heard about Newton’s stories, including that famous anecdote about his over-concentration on his work. But the star scientist had mental illness later in his life. What was wrong? Gugu felt worried and decided to call on him.
(G=Gugu N=Newton)
G: How are you doing, great scientist?
N: Fine. I just can't fall asleep everyday, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
G: You need to take a good rest. You're too devoted to work and I heard that you once boiled your pocket watch as an egg. If you go on living under such great pressure, your health would be damaged.
N: Indeed. Sometimes I feel exhausted. Moreover, my mother passed away the other day. I’m so sad.
G: Sorry to hear that.
N: That’s not the end. After that, I went back to Cambridge. One morning, I came back from church only to find the manuscripts on optics and chemistry and some other papers were all burned to ashes.
G: That’s too awful.
N: You see. I just can’t help but feel bad. Everyday I live in gloom.
G: Come on! You have to take care. Just cheer up!
古古：大科學(xué)家，您好吧！
牛頓：噢，挺好的。就是最近有些不舒服，天天都睡不著。
古古：您要多注意休息啊，您太專注工作了，聽說您曾經(jīng)把懷表當(dāng)作雞蛋煮。長期如此會影響健康的。
牛頓：是啊，有時我的確太累了。更糟糕的是，前幾天，我母親逝世了。我陷入極度的悲傷痛苦之中。
古古：那真不幸。
牛頓：壞事并沒有結(jié)束，辦完母親的喪事，我回到了劍橋大學(xué)，一天早上，我從教堂做完祈禱回來，發(fā)現(xiàn)書桌上有關(guān)光學(xué)和化學(xué)的手稿及一些論文全部被燒毀了。
古古：太倒霉啦。
牛頓：我難過極了。每天的心情都糟透了。
古古：唉！您要珍惜自己的身體，樂觀一點哦。
