Just a Hero—Stephen William Hawking
如此也英雄——史蒂芬·威廉·霍金
On Monday， April 27th， 1998， at the University of Toronto's Convocation Hall， over twelve hundred people gathered to see the British cosmologist Stephen Hawking deliver a speech on the unified field theory， the theory combining all of the major physics concepts of the last century into a single theory. The enormous hall was filled with people of all ages， and upon appearing in the front of the auditorium， Hawking was immediately greeted with thunderous applause. Then he began to speak—a dull， monotone voice emanating from the voice synthesizer beneath his wheelchair.
By 1973， Hawking had lost the ability to walk， and he gets from place to place in a motorized wheelchair， under the constant supervision of at least one nurse. He lost the ability to speak in 1985， and he can communicate only through a computer that permits him to speak fifteen words each minute.
Today， only his hands are still working， and even those he can just barely use. Stephen Hawking has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis， also known as motor neuron (or Lou Gehrig's) disease. It is an illness in which you gradually lose the use of your entire body， sometimes over the course of a few years， or several decades. The condition is incurable， and ultimately terminal. But before he finally dies， Hawking's vital organs will still function， as well as his mind. He will still live and breathe and think， but he will have no way of communicating with the rest of us， his brilliant mind shut up from the rest of the world. But this grim5 prospect did not daunt Professor Stephen Hawking as he rode up to the front of the auditorium. He waited for the audience to cease applauding， and then he began to speak.
Stephen Hawking was born on January 8， 1942， precisely three hundred years after the death of Galileo. Even as a small child， Stephen was recognized as extraordinarily intelligent. His entire family was seen by others as highly intelligent (if eccentric)， but especially Stephen. He always had a strong sense of wonder， and his whole family used to lie on the grass， looking up at the stars. In 1959， when he was seventeen， Stephen went on to Oxford， where he studied physics and chemistry. Once， during his second year at Oxford， he was assigned thirteen questions to answer， all of them final honors questions. Three of his friends at the time (Richard Bryant， Gordon Berry， and Derek Powney) managed to complete two and a half of the questions over the course of one week， the three of them together. Stephen procrastinated until the night before the day that the questions were due. He worked from 9：00 until midnight. The next day， when his friends asked him how many of the questions he had done， he responded， “I only had time to do the first ten.” It was at this point that people began to realize just how outstanding Hawking really was.