During the holidays, Alan's father coached him in English. Mr Turing had a great love of literature, although he did not have a mind for abstract ideas. He could recite from memory pages from the Bible, Kipling, and humorous Edwardian novels like Three Men in a Boat. All this was wasted on Alan, whose set work was Hamlet. For a brief moment he pleased his father by saying that at least there was one line he liked. The pleasure was dissipated when Alan explained it was the last line: 'Exeunt, bearing off the bodies....
假期时,图灵先生为艾伦指导英文。图灵先生热爱文学,他可以背诵几页《圣经》、吉卜林作品和爱德华时代的幽默小说,比如《船上的三个人》。但这些对艾伦并没有帮助,因为艾伦学习的教材是《哈姆雷特》。后来艾伦说,哈姆雷特至少有一句话让他喜欢,这令图灵先生感到了一丝欣慰,直到艾伦做出解释,说这句话是最后一行,「众人退下」。
For the summer term of 1928, Alan was moved to yet another form, that of the Reverend W.J. Bensly, to prepare for the examinations. He saw no reason to depart from his usual pattern, and continued to be placed at the bottom by Bensly, who rashly offered to donate a billion pounds to any charity named by Alan, should he pass in Latin. O'Hanlon, more perceptively, had predicted:
1928年夏季学期,艾伦转到W.J.本斯利教士的年级,以准备认证考试。但他并不觉得有什么理由,可以让他改变自己生活方式,所以他还是被本斯利排在最后一名。本斯利鲁莽地打赌说,如果艾伦能通过拉丁语考试,他就主动为艾伦指定的任意慈善机构捐款十亿英镑。奥汉兰则预测:
He has as good brains as any boy that's been here. They are good enough for him to get through even in 'useless' subjects like Latin, French and English.
他的大脑其实和这里的其它男孩一样好,他的大脑本来也应当能通过拉丁语、法语和英语这种「没什么用」的科目。
O'Hanlon saw some of the papers that Alan submitted. They were 'astonishingly legible and tidy'. He passed with credits in English, French, elementary mathematics, additional mathematics, physics, chemistry – and Latin. Bensly never paid up, authority having the privilege of being able to change the rules.
最终,奥汉兰看到了艾伦交的卷子,它们竟然惊人地清晰而整洁。艾伦通过了所有的考试:英语、法语、基础数学、高级数学、物理、化学,还有拉丁语。本斯利欠下的10亿英磅,从没还清,也没再提――权威总有改变规则的特权。