她為何被稱為人類「計算機」？走近這個優異女人波瀾壯闊的一生

The United States space agency recently marked the loss of a very important person to America’s early space efforts.

美國航天局最近聲明，曾為美國早期太空探索做出貢獻的一位非常重要的人物離世。

NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson died earlier this month at the age of 101. She was an African American woman who is credited with breaking race barriers by working in NASA’s early space program.

美國航空航天局數學家凱薩琳·詹森本月早些時候逝世，享年101歲。她是一名非裔美國女性，因在美國航空航天局早期太空計劃中工作而打破了種族壁壘。

「Our NASA family is sad to learn the news that Katherine Johnson passed away this morning at 101 years old,」 NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine wrote on Twitter. 「She was an American hero and her pioneering legacy will never be forgotten,」 he added.

美國航空航天局局長吉姆·布裡登斯汀在推特上寫道:「得知101歲的凱薩琳·詹森今天早上去世，我們美國航空航天局的家人都很難過。」他補充說：「她是一位美國英雄，她的開拓性遺產將永遠不會被遺忘。」

Johnson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former President Barack Obama in 2015. At the time, then-NASA Administrator Charles Bolden praised Johnson. He said, 「She’s one of the greatest minds ever to grace our agency or our country.」

2015年，凱薩琳獲得由美國前總統歐巴馬頒發的「總統自由勳章」。當時，時任美國航空航天局局長的查爾斯·博爾頓讚揚了詹森。他說：「她是給我們的機構或我們的國家增光添彩的最偉大的頭腦之一。」

A 2016 book called Hidden Figures was based on her life and experiences. It was turned into a Hollywood movie the same year. The film received three Academy Award nominations from the film industry. Johnson attended the Academy Awards ceremony the following year with actors from the film.

2016年出版的一本名為《隱藏人物》的書是根據她的生活和經歷寫成的。同年，這本書被改編成了一部好萊塢電影。這部電影獲得了電影界的三項奧斯卡提名。次年，詹森和該片的演員一起出席了奧斯卡頒獎典禮。

What did Johnson do?

Johnson and her colleagues were known as human 「computers」 during the early years of NASA’s efforts to start the space program. They used pencils, slide rules and mechanical calculating machines to calculate the paths of rockets and orbiters in the atmosphere and in space. Johnson worked on the first mission to put an American in space in 1961. She also confirmed the computer calculations made by IBM computers for orbits of the Earth in 1962.

詹森做了什麼?

在美國航空航天局開始太空計劃的最初幾年裡，詹森和她的同事被稱為人類「計算機」。他們使用鉛筆、計算尺和機械計算機來計算火箭和軌道飛行器在大氣層和太空中的路徑。1961年，詹森參與了首次將美國人送入太空的任務。她還證實了IBM電腦在1962年對地球軌道的計算。

Johnson told The Virginian-Pilot newspaper in 2012, 「Our office computed all the [rocket] trajectories.」

2012年，詹森告訴《維吉尼亞導報》，「我們的辦公室計算了所有的(火箭)軌跡。」

But Johnson and her African American coworkers were little known by the public until the appearance of the book and movie. One reason is because NASA segregated the group at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. In other words, government officials kept the women separate because of the color of their skin.

但是直到這本書和電影的出現，詹森和她的非裔美國同事才為公眾所知。原因之一是因為美國宇航局在維吉尼亞州漢普頓的蘭利研究中心將該小組隔離開來。換句話說，政府官員因為她們的膚色而把她們分開。

Although she worked in a group separated from white workers, Johnson said that she was too busy to be concerned with racism. Margot Lee Shetterly wrote in her book Hidden Figures that Johnson 「didn’t close her eyes to the racism that existed.」 She instead 「willed it out of existence inasmuch as her daily life was concerned.」

儘管她在一個與白人工作者分開的小組工作，但詹森說她太忙了，無暇顧及種族主義。瑪戈特·李·謝特利在她的書《隱藏人物》中寫道，詹森「沒有對存在的種族主義視而不見」。相反，她「出於對自己日常生活的考慮，希望它消失」。

Johnson grew up in West Virginia at a time when education for African Americans was limited. Her mother and father moved 120 miles to live in a town that had a high school for African American children.

詹森在西維吉尼亞州長大，當時非裔美國人的教育資源很有限。她的父母搬到120英裡外的一個小鎮，那裡有一所供非裔美國兒童就讀的高中。

Her skill in mathematics got her into West Virginia State College at the age of 15. She also was one of the first black students to enter the graduate school at West Virginia University in 1938.

15歲時，她憑藉出色的數學能力考入西維吉尼亞州立大學。她也是1938年第一批進入西維吉尼亞大學研究生院的黑人學生之一。

Later, Johnson went to work for an agency that would become the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, where she worked with other African American women.

後來，詹森到一個機構工作，這就是日後的國家航空航天局，在那裡她和其他非裔美國女性一起工作。

She continued with NASA long after the early space flights, working on the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs. She retired in 1986.

在早期的太空飛行後很長一段時間，她繼續在美國航空航天局工作，從事「阿波羅號」和「太空梭」的飛行項目。她於1986年退休。

She said she was most proud of calculating the paths for the lunar lander and the orbiting command spacecraft for the first trip to the moon, Apollo 11.

她說，她最自豪的是計算月球著陸器和首次登月的軌道指揮飛船「阿波羅11號」的路徑。

Johnson described her abilities to reporters this way: 「You tell me when and where you want it to come down, and I will tell you where and when and how to launch it,」 she said.

詹森是這樣向記者描述她的能力的：「你告訴我你希望它何時何地降落，我就會告訴你何時何地以及如何發射它。」

知識積累：

1. pioneering adj. to be among the first to do something usually at great risk 開拓性的，先驅性的

2. legacy n. something of value that is passed down from someone who has died 遺產

3. calculate v. to mathematically arrive at the answer to a problem 計算

4. trajectory n. the path that a moving object, like a rocket, takes through the air or space that is governed by the principles of physics 軌道，軌跡

5. segregate v. to separate people of different races, religions or sexes and treat them in a different way 隔離並區別對待

6. inasmuch as conj. used to add a comment on sth that you have just said and to say in what way it is true 因為；鑑於；在……範圍內

本文英文選自51VOA，已選入《快捷英語 活頁英語時文閱讀理解 高一年級19》，參考譯文由「快捷英語」提供。轉載需註明出處。