杭州觀察（六）

 

馮儁熙

 

二零零三年十月二十九和三十日

 

思考的漣漪　流水的聯想

──劉兵《劍橋流水──英倫學術遊記》讀後感

 

此時此地，閱讀一冊《劍橋流水》，自是感受良多。

 

劉兵，清華大學教授，科學史家與科普作家。在２００１－０２年間，赴劍橋李約瑟研究所作為期半年的訪問學者。其間，他結合其旅英見聞與科學史知識，寫成一篇又一篇的散文，又拍下許多美麗的照片，在回國後結集成書，圖文並荗，取名《劍橋流水》。

 

我之買下這本書，又在兩天內一口氣把它讀完，一方面是想學寫遊記，另一方面是要懷愐往昔。

 

由福爾摩斯博物館到科學家的墓地，從波德斯(Borders)書店的講座到劍橋的鳥，二十篇散文透視著作者獨到的眼光，刻劃出半載旅英生活的輪廓。作者的文筆樸實，沒有半點誇飾，是典型科學史工作者的風格。

 

讀這本遊記，學會了不少英文專有名詞的中文譯詞。雖說曾在劍橋留學三年，我還是現在才知道Wolfson College中譯是沃爾夫森學院， Grantchester 叫格蘭徹斯特，而Cavendish Laboratory就是卡文迪什實驗室。也許對於我們這些以粤語為母語的人，面對這些以普通話為準的譯詞，還是說英語比較好。

 

對於一個從未踏足過英倫的朋友來說，劉兵筆下的描述，可能會帶給你一陣新鮮與好奇的感覺。但於我，則牽起種種回憶與聯想。

 

「從劍橋坐上火車，一個多小時到達倫敦的國王十字車站，」（頁１７６）明顯地，劉教授乘坐的，是中間會停站的慢車，如果他上了不停站的劍橋快車(Cambridge Express)，四十五分鐘就到達Kings Cross了。啊！還記得哈利波特在哪兒登上Hogwart’s Express的嗎？

 

雖說曾在這小小的大學城待了三載，我還有許多地方未踏足過。想不到，要透過一個訪問學人的書，才第一次見識到新卡文迪什實驗室的建築，和維特根斯坦(Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein, 1889-1951)的墓地。有些地方，雖曾路過百千次，卻竟然要由一個校外人來告訴我，一些我從沒有留意的東西，例如在舊卡文迪什實驗室建築群中的舊蒙德實驗室(Old Mond Laboratory)的外牆上，刻有一隻鱷魚，以紀念物理學家盧瑟福(Rutherford)（頁１１７）。當我下次重遊劍橋時，倒要認真看一看。

 

一隻鱷魚……當我下次重遊劍橋時，倒要認真看一看。（攝於2005年9月3日）

 

此書值得一讚的，是其豐富的照片，幾乎每頁都有，而且都是作者親自拍攝的（當然有他在其中的是例外啦）。他的攝影功力亦真有一手，有些角度，我也從未想到；有的照片，簡直就是名信片。圖文並荗的遊記，當然比純文字的描寫，事半功倍。其實我的一位小學老師曾建議我，把自己的照片放進《杭州觀察》系列去，只可惜我的照相機是用膠卷（即菲林）的，scanning實在太費時，只好作罷。

 

劉兵寫這本遊記，也有其主線脈絡。用他自己的話說：「我所選擇的方式，是站在一種學術的背景意識中，從一些特定的視角，去看、去想、去寫自己的印象和感受，而且，一個重要的選擇標準是，所寫的思考和記錄，至少要在間接的意義上反映了一種與廣義的學術文化，特別是科學文化的關聯」（頁２５０－２５１）。如何把耳目所聞與思考所得，結合在遊記裡，我也是在摸索當中。

 

書中所記除劍橋外，還有牛津和倫敦，考文垂(Coventry)和弗羅斯特羅(Forest Row)。作者自謙說：「這裡所寫的內容，顯然不是什麼重大的題材，相反，倒顯得頗有些瑣碎，因此，把書名中的“流水”二字理解為流水帳也未嘗不可。但是，在這些瑣細的流水帳中，也許還是多少包括了一些新的信息的。」（頁２５１）

 

思考的漣漪，流水的聯想。（劍橋Clare Bridge,馮儁熙攝於02-03年冬）

 

思考的漣漪，流水的聯想。一冊《劍橋流水》，在我腦海裡泛起多少漣漪？令我生發多少聯想？也許令我感受最深刻的是，人家訪問劍橋六個月，做了大量中國和西方科學史的資料搜集和研究工作，完成了一本科學家傳記的翻譯稿，也寫成了一本解讀科學史家薩頓(George Sarton)的《科學的生命》一書的書稿。當然，還可以在回國幾個月後，就出版了這本《劍橋流水》。

 

我在浙大十個月，又可以完成些什麼呢？

 

有關這本書的資料：

《劍橋流水──英倫學術遊記》

劉兵

河北大學出版社 (中國河北保定市)

2003年1月第一版

 

我在這本書裡找到的唯一錯誤，是作者把考文垂大教堂(Coventry Cathedral)說成是天主教大教堂（頁６９），但實際上它是屬於聖公會的。也許對很多朋友來說，天主教和聖公會的大教堂，兩者也差不多吧。請參考：http://www.coventrycathedral.org.uk

 

劉兵在網上發表的一篇散文：

http://www.oursci.org/magazine/200203/020319.htm

梅·薩頓的一首

　紀念其父親的詩

 

修訂於二零零三年十一月六日

再修訂於二零零六年三月七日

 

下一頁

 

Observations in Hangzhou (6)

 

Isaac Chun Hai Fung

 

29th & 30th October, 2003.

 

The Ripples of Thinking and a Running Water-like Imagination

--Reflections on reading “The Ripples of Thinking in Cambridge” by LIU Bing

 

Reading “The Ripples of Thinking in Cambridge” is a journey of my cherished memories.

 

LIU Bing, a professor of Tsinghua University, is a historian of sciences and a popular science writer. He had spent 6 months in the Needham Institute of Cambridge as a visiting scholar from 2001 to 2002. During that period, he wrote a number of articles, one after another, combining his travel experiences in England with his knowledge in the history of sciences. He also took a lot of beautiful photos. When he returned to China, he combined both his articles and photos and published as “The Ripples of Thinking in Cambridge”.

 

The reasons that I bought this book and finished reading it in one-go in two days, are to learn how to write a travelogue on one hand, and to cherish my memories of the past.

 

From the Sherlock Holmes Museum to the graveyards of scientists, from a talk in Borders bookshop to birds in Cambridge, these twenty articles demonstrate the particular insights of the writer, and make a rough sketch of his half-a-year stay in England. His style of writing is typical among historians of sciences, simple and without a hint of exaggeration. No flowery language would be found.

 

By reading this travelogue, I have learnt the Chinese translation of a lot of English proper names. Though I have spent three years studying in Cambridge, it is the first time that I have come across the Chinese translation of Wolfson College, Grantchester and Cavendish Laboratory. To us whose mother tongue is Cantonese, it is better to say it in English than using these translations which are based in Mandarin Chinese.

 

To a friend who has never been to England before, the descriptions by LIU Bing may bring you a fresh and curious feeling. But for me, his book leads me into a lot of memories and imaginations.

 

“Getting on a train in Cambridge, it took me more than an hour to reach London Kings Cross station.” (p.176) Obviously, Prof. LIU had taken a slow train which stopped at different stations all the way down to London. If he took the non-stop Cambridge Express, it would only take him 45 minutes. Ah! Do you still remember where did Harry Porters get on his Hogwart’s Express?

 

Though I have lived in this small university town for three years, there are still many places which I have never been to. It is only through the book of a visiting scholar that I have come across the architecture of the New Cavendish Laboratory and the grave of Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (1889-1951) for the first time. And so as many places which I have walked past many times, it is this outsider who introduce me to some features which I have never noticed, say on the exterior of the Old Mond Laboratory of the Old Cavendish Laboratory, there is a carving of a crocodile to commemorate the physicist Rutherford. When I visit Cambridge next time, I really need to take a look at it.

 

I greatly appreciate the wealth of photos printed in this book, nearly one per page, and they are all taken by the author himself (except those in which his face appears). His skill of photography is excellent. I have never thought of some of the angles at which his photos were taken and some of his photos are just like postcards. Illustrated travelogue is certainly better than pure descriptions by words. Photos save many words. Actually a primary teacher of mine suggested me to put my own photos into my series of articles, “Observations in Hangzhou”. However, my camera is not digital. Scanning is too time-consuming and I have given it up.

 

…to cherish the memories of the past. (Taken by William Curtis on my camera on my 21st birthday dinner with my friends from Trinity Hall in a Vietnamese restaurant in Cambridge.)

 

To write his travelogue, LIU Bing also has a framework. In his own words, “The method that I chose, was to stand in an academic background consciousness, to look, to think and to write down my own impressions and feelings from a particular angle. Furthermore, an important criterion was that any thoughts and records that I have written down would, at least indirectly, reflect an academic culture in a broad sense, especially the association of scientific culture.” (p.250-251) How to combine experiences and thoughts in my travel notes, is also what am I exploring.

 

Besides Cambridge, there are also articles on Oxford, London, Coventry and Forest Row. In his own humble words, “What is written here, is obviously not any topic of great significance, but on the contrary, rather trivial. And so, the 2 words “Running Water” in the (Chinese) title of the book can be interpreted as a day-book (or “running water account”). (Isaac’s note: The Chinese phrase “Running water account” means day-to-day account of transactions and it figuratively symbolizes a continuous account of something without analysis.) But perhaps these trivial accounts may include some new information too.” (p. 251)

 

The ripples of thinking and an imagination like running water. How many ripples are there in my sea of thoughts after reading “The Ripples of Thoughts in Cambridge”? How much imagination does it stimulate? Perhaps what I am most impressed, was that in the author’s six-month visit, he had done a huge amount of collection of materials and research works in the history of sciences in both China and the West. He had finished a translation of a bibliography of a scientist and had written a book interpreting “The Life of Science”, written by the historian of sciences, George Sarton. Of course, in only several months after his return to China, “The Ripples of Thinking in Cambridge” was published.

 

What can I accomplish in ten months in Zhejiang University?

 

 

Some Information about the book:

The Ripples of Thinking in Cambridge (only available in Chinese)

LIU Bing

Hebei University Press (Baoding, Hebei, China.)

First Edition, Jan 2003.

ISBN 7-81028-911-X

 

The only mistake that I have found in this book is that when the author referred to Coventry Cathedral, he called it a Catholic cathedral (p.69). However, it is actually an Anglican cathedral. Perhaps in the sight of many people, there is not much difference between a Catholic cathedral and an Anglican cathedral.

 

For reference,

http://www.coventrycathedral.org.uk

 

Revised on 6th November, 2003.

Second revision on 7th March, 2006.

 

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