萨摩斯的毕达哥拉斯

铁匠铺的院子

The Blacksmith’s Yard

毕达哥拉斯出生在蔚蓝爱琴海上的萨摩斯岛。他的父亲把宝石雕刻成印章，家里并不穷。年轻时，毕达哥拉斯心里只有一个愿望：想知道世界是由什么构成的，又是怎样运转的。

Pythagoras was born on the island of Samos, in the blue Aegean Sea. His father cut seals in precious stone, and the family was not poor. As a young man, Pythagoras wanted one thing: to know what the world was made of, and how it worked.

那时的萨摩斯富足而繁忙，有自己的港口，有自己的神庙，人们也常常为谁该掌权而争吵。对一个聪明又爱观察、爱提问的男孩来说，这里是个好地方。

Samos in those days was rich and busy, with its own harbour, its own temple and its own quarrels about who should rule. It was a good place for a clever boy to look around him and ask questions.

一天清晨，他路过一个铁匠铺的院子。里面有四个男人正在锻打红热的铁块。这时，奇怪的事情发生了。那些声音不是噪音，而是美妙的音乐。

One morning he was walking past a blacksmith’s yard. Inside, four men were hammering hot iron. And something strange happened. The sounds were not noise. They were music.

最重的铁锤发出低沉的声音，最轻的铁锤发出高亢的声音。另外两把铁锤的声音在它们之间。四种声音合在一起很动听，像和弦一样。毕达哥拉斯停下脚步，静静地听着。

The heaviest hammer made a deep note. The lightest made a high one. The other two fell between them, and together the four notes sounded friendly, like a chord. Pythagoras stopped and listened.

他跑进院子，请求试一试那些铁锤。他称了铁锤的重量。然后他明白了：敲在一起声音好听的铁锤，重量有着简单的比例。一把的重量正好是另一把的两倍；还有一把要重一半。这些动听的声音并不是靠运气，而是有规律的。

He ran in and asked to use the hammers. He weighed them. And then he saw it: the hammers that sounded good together had simple weights. One was twice as heavy as another. One was half again as heavy. The pleasant sounds were not a matter of taste. They had a rule.

铁匠们又热又累，觉得他是个怪人。但他不在乎。他发现了一样比黄金更好的东西：在美妙事物背后的隐藏规律。

The smiths, hot and tired, thought he was a strange man. He did not care. He had found something better than gold: a hidden rule behind something beautiful.