The popular image that men of eminence2) are learning disabled promotes an aura3) of romanticism around the learning disabilities (LD) field. Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci and Thomas Edison are usually at the top of the list of famous dyslexics.
人们常常对名人的学习障碍问题津津乐道，这给学习障碍领域的研究带来了一种浪漫色彩。在谈到名人诵读障碍时，人们提到最多的是阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦、列奥纳多·达·芬奇和托马斯·爱迪生。
Albert Einstein
阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦
According to LD lore4) Einstein failed to talk until the age of four, the result of a language disability. It is also 
claimed that Einstein could not read until the age of nine. To strengthen their case LD proponents5) point to such facts as Einstein's failed first attempt at entrance into college and how he lost three teaching positions in two years.
根据学习障碍方面的知识，爱因斯坦存在语言障碍，因此他直到四岁时才学会说话。另外，据说爱因斯坦九岁时才学会阅读。为使其论据更有说服力，学习障碍论的支持者还列举了许多事例，如爱因斯坦第一次参加大学入学考试时没有通过，两年内丢掉了三份教职等。
While this makes a nice story, this widely believed notion is false, according to Ronald W. Clark's6) comprehensive biography of Einstein, and according to Subtle is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein7), a biography by Abraham Pais (Oxford University Press, 1982).
尽管这些听起来有理有据，人们也普遍相信他存在学习障碍，但根据罗纳德·沃·克拉克所著的爱因斯坦全传以及亚伯拉罕·派斯所著的传记《上帝难以捉摸：爱因斯坦的科学与生活》(牛津大学出版社，1982)中的内容，人们对爱因斯坦的这种认识是错误的。
Pais states that although his family had initial apprehensions8) that he might be backward because of the unusually long time before he began to talk, Einstein was speaking in whole sentences by some point between age two and three years. According to Clark, a far more plausible9) reason for his relatively late speech development is "the simpler situation suggested by Einstein's son Hans Albert, who says that his father was withdrawn10) from the world even as a boy." Whether one accepts this interpretation, other information helps us to judge Einstein's language abilities after he began to speak.
派斯指出，尽管爱因斯坦的家人一开始的确担心他先天不足，因为他开口说话的时间比正常孩子要晚很多，但他大概两岁多的时候已经可以说整句话了。而克拉克认为，他的语言能力发展之所以比较晚，看似更合理的一个解释是“爱因斯坦的儿子汉斯·阿尔伯特所提到的一个更为明显的情况，他说他父亲从孩提时起就性格孤僻。”无论人们是否接受这一解释，还有其他一些信息可以帮助我们对爱因斯坦开口说话之后的语言能力做一个判断。
Einstein entered school at the age of six, and against popular belief did very well. When he was seven his mother wrote, "Yesterday Albert received his grades, he was again number one, and his report card was brilliant." At the age of twelve Einstein was reading physics books. At thirteen, after reading the Critique of Pure Reason11) and the work of other philosophers, Einstein adopted Kant as his favorite author. About this time he also read Darwin. Pais states, "The widespread belief that he was a poor student is unfounded."
爱因斯坦六岁上学，而且成绩非常出色，这与人们听到的故事是有出入的。他七岁时，他母亲写过这么一段话：“昨天，阿尔伯特拿到了考试成绩，他又是第一名，他的成绩非常棒。”12岁时，爱因斯坦开始看物理书。13岁时，爱因斯坦读完了《纯粹理性批判》和其他一些哲学家的作品后，将康德视为自己最为喜爱的作家。大概也是在这个时期，他还阅读了达尔文的作品。派斯说：“人们普遍认为爱因斯坦是个差生，但这是毫无根据的。”
True, Einstein did not pass the college exam the first time he took it. However, aside from being only sixteen, two years below the usual age, the plain fact was he did not study for it. His father wanted his son to follow a technical occupation, a decision Einstein found difficult to confront directly. Consequently, as he later admitted, he avoided following the "unbearable" path of a "practical profession" by not preparing himself for the test.
的确，爱因斯坦第一次考大学没考上。但是，这除了因为他当时只有16岁，比正常的入学年龄要小两岁外，直接原因就是他没有为这次考试复习。他父亲希望儿子以后从事技术性工作，爱因斯坦感到很难贸然反抗父亲的决定。因此，正如他后来所承认的那样，为了不走上“实践性职业”这样一条“让人无法忍受的”道路，他完全没有复习备考。
It is also true that, after graduating from the university, Einstein had difficulty finding a post. This was mainly because his independent, intellectually rebellious12) nature made him, in his own words, "a pariah13)" in the academic community. One professor told him, "You have one fault; one can't tell you anything."
此外，大学毕业后，爱因斯坦连找工作都很难，这也是事实。这主要是因为他我行我素，而且在学术上离经叛道。用他自己的话来说，这一本质使他成了学术界的“一位弃儿”。一位教授曾经告诉他：“你只有一个缺点，那就是你无所不知。”
Also true is that Einstein went through three jobs in a short time, but not because of a learning disability. His first job was as a temporary research assistant, the second as temporary replacement for a professor who had to serve a two-month term in the army. Clark remarks that it is "difficult to discover but easy to imagine" why Einstein held his third job, as a teacher in a boarding school, for only a few months: "Einstein's ideas of minimum routine and minimum discipline were very different from those of his employer."
同样，说爱因斯坦在短时间内先后换了三份工作，这也不假，但这并不是因为他存在学习障碍。他的第一份工作是一名临时助理研究员，第二份工作是在一位教授服两个月兵役期间临时顶替其工作。克拉克指出，“尽管这一点很难证实，但我们很容易就可以想象得到”为什么爱因斯坦的第三份工作——在一所寄宿学校里当老师——只干了几个月：“爱因斯坦认为应该将日常事务和纪律约束减到最少，这与他的雇主的理念截然不同。”
Leonardo da Vinci
列奥纳多·达·芬奇
Leonardo da Vinci, Italian Renaissance14) painter, most popularly known for his fresco15) The Last Supper and his painting Mona Lisa, was also a sculptor16), engineer, architect, inventor, scientist and naturalist. Leonardo is also known for his dyslexia, because he wrote his notes backwards, from right to left, in a mirror image17).
意大利文艺复兴时期的画家列奥纳多·达·芬奇因其壁画《最后的晚餐》和油画《蒙娜丽莎》而闻名于世，同时，他还是一位雕刻家、工程师、建筑师、发明家、科学家和自然主义者。众所周知，列奥纳多存在诵读障碍，因为他写字时是从右向左倒着写的，就像镜像一样。
It should be noted however, that Leonardo wrote this way by choice, not because he was dyslexic. When he was writing something intended for other people, he wrote in the normal direction.
但应当注意的是，列奥纳多是故意这么写字的，并不是因为他有诵读障碍。如果他写的东西是给别人看的，他会按正常方向书写。
No one knows the true reason Leonardo used mirror writing, though several possibilities have been suggested:
谁也不知道列奥纳多使用镜像书写方式的真正缘由，不过有人提出了以下几种可能：
* He was trying to make it harder for people to read his notes and steal his ideas.
* 他尽力使人们难以读懂他的文字，以防别人窃取他的观点。
* He was hiding his scientific ideas from the powerful Roman Catholic Church, whose teachings sometimes disagreed with what Leonardo observed.
* 他在隐藏他的科学观点，以免被强势的罗马天主教会知悉。天主教会的教义有时与列奥纳多的观察结论不一致。
* He was left-handed. Writing left handed from left to right was messy18) because the ink just put down would smear19) as his hand moved across it. Leonardo chose to write in reverse because it prevented smudging20).
* 他是左撇子。用左手从左向右书写会把字抹花，因为手从刚写下的墨水上抹过时会使墨水污成一片。列奥纳多之所以选择反向书写是因为这样可以避免把字抹花。
Thomas Edison
托马斯·爱迪生
Thomas Edison was an American inventor and businessman who developed many important devices. Edison is considered one of the most prolific21) inventors of his time, holding 1093 U.S. patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. He was, apparently, also dyslexic.
托马斯·爱迪生是一位美国发明家和商人，他有许多重要的发明设计。爱迪生被认为是当时最多产的发明家，拥有1093项美国专利。此外，他在英国、法国和德国也有多项专利。他似乎也存在诵读障碍。
Edison was often ill as a child and therefore started school later than he otherwise would have. Although he did have problems when he finally went to school, these problems were a result of his social behavior, not his mental abilities. One problem was that Tom became annoyed with having to share the text with other children. Tom, "a rapid reader, had no patience with his classmates."
爱迪生年幼时经常生病，因此上学时间比正常情况要晚。虽然他最终上学后也遇到一些问题，但这些问题的产生要归因于他的社交行为，而不是他的智力水平。其中的一个问题是，爱迪生因为不得不同其他孩子一起看课本而苦恼不堪。爱迪生是“一个看书很快的人，他没有耐心等同学看完。”
Tom's overworked and short-tempered teacher finally lost patience with the child's persistent questioning and seemingly self-centered behavior. Noting that Tom's forehead was unusually broad and his head was considerably larger than average, he made no secret of his belief that the youngster's brains were "addled22)" or scrambled23).
托马斯的老师操劳过度、脾气暴躁，最后终于对这个孩子无止境的提问和貌似以自我为中心的行为失去了耐心。这位老师发现爱迪生的前额异常宽阔，脑袋也明显大于常人，便毫不隐讳地认为这个少年思绪混乱，糊里糊涂。
His mother promptly withdrew Tom from school and began to "home-teach" him. Not surprisingly, she was convinced her son's slightly unusual demeanor24) and physical appearance were merely outward signs of his remarkable intelligence.
爱迪生的母亲立即让他退学，并开始对他进行“家庭教育”。毫不奇怪，她坚信自己儿子与常人稍异的行为和体貌特征只不过是其智力非凡的外在表现。
Before Thomas Edison was ten, he had already read History of England, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, History of the World, and The Age of Reason.
托马斯·爱迪生在十岁之前就已经读完了《英格兰历史》《罗马帝国的兴衰》《世界历史》和《理性时代》等书籍。
1. dyslexia [dɪsˈleksɪə] n. 诵读困难
2. eminence [ˈemɪnəns] n. 出众，卓越
3. aura [ˈɔːrə] n. 气氛，氛围
4. lore [lɔː(r)] n. 学问，知识
5. proponent [prəˈpəʊnənt] n. 支持者，提倡者
6. Ronald W. Clark: 罗纳德·沃·克拉克(1916～1987) ，英国传记作家。他于1971年出版的《爱因斯坦：生平与时代》(Einstein: The Life and Times)被称为是第一本比较中立的爱因斯坦传记。
7. Subtle is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein: 《上帝难以捉摸：爱因斯坦的科学与生活》，一本典型的科学传记。该书的作者为亚伯拉罕·派斯(Abraham Pais, 1918～2000)，他是一位美国理论物理学家、美国科学院院士和荷兰科学院通讯院士。派斯在此书中用了大量笔墨来解释爱因斯坦的科学理论的起源、形成及意义，而爱因斯坦的个人生活(如教育背景和职业经历等)则零星穿插其中。
8. apprehension [ˌæprɪˈhenʃ(ə)n] n. 担心，忧虑
9. plausible [ˈplɔːzəb(ə)l] adj. 看似真实的，看似有道理的
10. withdrawn [wɪðˈdrɔːn] adj. 性格内向的，孤僻的
11. Critique of Pure Reason: 《纯粹理论批判》，西方哲学史最重要的著作之一。这本书从根本上决定了现代哲学发展的进程，其作者即为下文中提到的伊曼努尔·康德(Immanuel Kant, 1724～1805)，他是德国著名哲学家，古典唯心主义的创始人。
12. rebellious [rɪˈbeljəs] adj. 桀骜不驯的
13. pariah [pəˈraɪə] n. 被社会遗弃的人，流浪汉
14. Italian Renaissance [rɪˈneɪs(ə)ns] n. 意大利文艺复兴时期
15. fresco [ˈfreskəʊ] n. 湿壁画
16. sculptor [ˈskʌlptə(r)] n. 雕刻家
17. mirror image: 镜像(左右颠倒的一个影像，如出现在镜子中一般)
18. messy [ˈmesi] adj. 脏的
19. smear [smɪə(r)] vi. 被弄脏
20. smudge [smʌdʒ] v. 弄脏
21. prolific [prəˈlɪfɪk] adj. 作品丰富的
22. addled [ˈæd(ə)ld] adj. 糊涂的；昏乱的
23. scramble [ˈskræmb(ə)l] vt. 扰乱(某人的思想等)
24. demeanor [dɪˈmiːnə(r)] n. 举止，行为；风度