My Friend, Albert Einstein 我的挚友，阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦（在线收听）

[00:02.13]My Friend, Albert Einstein 我的挚友，阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦

[00:04.96]He was one of the greatest scientists the world has ever known,

[00:09.99]yet if I had to convey the essence of Albert Einstein in a single word,

[00:14.25]I would choose simplicity. Perhaps an anecdote will help.

[00:18.74]Once, caught in a downpour, he took off his hat and held it under his coat.

[00:23.24]Asked why, he explained, with admirable logic,

[00:26.30]that the rain would damage the hat,

[00:28.27]but his hair would be none the worse for its wetting.

[00:31.00]This knack for going instinctively to the heart of a matter

[00:34.18]was the secret of his major scientific discoveries

[00:37.13]—this and his extraordinary feeling for beauty.

[00:40.18]There was something elusively whimsical about Einstein.

[00:43.47]It is illustrated by my favorite anecdote about him.

[00:46.75]In his first year in Princeton,

[00:48.72]on Christmas Eve, so the story goes, some children sang carols outside his house.

[00:53.86]Having finished,

[00:55.16]they knocked on his door and explained they were collecting money to buy Christmas presents.

[00:59.33]Einstein listened, then said, “Wait a moment.”

[01:02.94]He put on his scarf and overcoat, and took his violin from its case.

[01:07.42]Then, joining the children as they went from door to door,

[01:10.80]he accompanied their singing of “Silent Night” on his violin.

[01:14.21]How shall I sum up what it meant to have known Einstein and his works?

[01:18.25]Like the Nobel Prize winner who pointed helplessly at his watch,

[01:22.07]I can find no adequate words.

[01:24.38]It was akin to the revelation of great art that lets one see what was formerly hidden.

[01:30.26]And when, for example, I walk on the sand of a lonely beach,

[01:34.22]I am reminded of his ceaseless search for cosmic simplicity

[01:37.82]—and the scene takes on a deeper, sadder beauty.