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今天的2016考研英語泛讀文章談及了考研英語中經常出現的一位艾薩克•牛頓爵士Sir Isaac Newton，文章獨辟蹊徑，認為真正的牛頓并不是理性時代的開國君主，而是最后的魔術師the real Sir Isaac Newton was not first king of reason, but last of the magicians。來看一下具體內容：

Sir Isaac Newton built the edifice of modern science, formulate the laws of motion, discovered the law of gravity, and provided the framework through which the observations of Galileo Galilei and the planetary laws of Johannes Kepler could be understood. His experiments with sunlight and glass prisms and mirrors helped him understand the origin of colours. He invented calculus, independently of Gottfried Leibniz, feuding with him over who was first. And he was the first to postulate that the laws of physics would be the same all over the universe.

牛頓發現了萬有引力，提出了運動定律，開創了現代科學的主要體系，很少有科學家能有如此的影響力。他提供的理論框架讓開普勒的行星定律和伽利略的觀察結果被人理解。此外，他還利用陽光、反射鏡和玻璃棱鏡做實驗，從而使人們明白了色彩的由來。他獨立于萊布尼茲發明了微積分，為誰是創始人產生爭執。他還是第一個假設全宇宙遵循相同物理定律的人。

He had become President of the Royal Society and was interred in Westminster Abbey. He left more than 7m words and sheets of paper. There were also letters to other scholars, pages of derivations of mathematics and physics formulae, and copious writings on alchemy and religion. The solitary and eccentric Newton apparently saved everything he wrote. But he was reticent about publishing his work, fearing controversy and criticism.

牛頓曾就任于皇家學會擔任會長，死后安葬在了Westminster Abbey。他身后留下了700多萬字的筆記和手稿。這些文稿包含了他最輝煌的科學成就，以及寫給其他學者的信件，推導數學和物理公式的草稿，甚至還有煉金術和宗教的論著。個性古怪的牛頓幾乎保留了他寫下的所有東西。但是他對于出版自己的著作頗為謹慎，擔心外界的爭議和批評。

The Newton that emerges from the manuscripts is far from the popular image of a rational practitioner of cold and pure reason. The architect of modern science was himself not very modern. He was obsessed with alchemy and believed that the Bible contained numerological codes. The truth is that Newton was very much a product of his time. The colossus of science was not the first king of reason, Keynes wrote after reading Newton’s unpublished manuscripts. Instead “he was the last of the magicians”.

我們從這些手稿當中看到的牛頓，并非眾所周知的理性實踐者，而是熱衷于冷酷而純粹的理性。這位現代科學的締造者本人沒有多少現代色彩。他癡迷于煉金術，相信圣經飽含命理的密碼。實際上，牛頓更多地是他那個時代的產物。凱恩斯在閱讀牛頓未出版的手稿后寫道，這位科學巨人不是理性時代的開國君主，而是“最后的魔術師”。

通過這篇文章的泛讀，希望2016考研的考生能對有關牛頓的常識有一個更加清楚的了解，因為泛讀是對背景知識的必要補充，大家在忙于復習考研英語真題的同時，也要注意泛讀的積累。小編預祝大家復習順利，夢想成真。