Hawking was not, perhaps, the greatest physicist of his time, but in cosmology he was a towering figure.
也许霍金不是他那个时代最伟大的物理学家，但在宇宙学方面，它是当之无愧的巨人。
cosmology [kɑz'mɑlədʒi]：宇宙学
55年前，医生说他最多活两年
1963年，21岁的霍金被确诊为患有罕见的肌萎缩性脊髓侧索硬化症（ALS），也被称为运动神经元病或鲁盖瑞氏症，俗称“渐冻人症”。
Hawking suffered from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a neurodegenerative disease commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, which is usually fatal within a few years.
霍金患有ALS（肌萎缩性脊髓侧索硬化症），一种神经退化性疾病，也称鲁盖瑞氏症，这种疾病通常在几年内即可致命。
霍金与结发30年的第一任妻子Jane Wilde
渐冻人症主要是运动神经元受到损伤，导致四肢、躯干、胸腹部的肌肉逐渐无力乃至萎缩，致使全身瘫痪：
The disease left Hawking wheelchair-bound and paralyzed. He was able to move only a few fingers on one hand and was completely dependent on others or on technology for virtually everything -- bathing, dressing, eating, even speech.
这种病使得霍金瘫痪在轮椅上。他全身能动的部位只有一只手的几根手指，几乎所有的事情——洗澡、穿衣、吃饭，甚至说话——他都要完全依赖他人，或工具的帮助。
1986年的霍金
当时，医生诊断霍金最多只能活两年，然而霍金却奇迹般地活了五十多年，而这很可能与他顽强的意志与乐观的心态有关。他曾在网上写道：
"I have been lucky that my condition has progressed more slowly than is often the case. But it shows that one need not lose hope."
“我很幸运，我的病情比通常情况下要恶化得慢。这表明人不需要失去希望。”
霍金的幽默感
虽然霍金全身瘫痪，不能言语，但他的人生并不因此而灰暗苦涩，相反，他经常给人们带来惊喜和欢笑。
For fellow scientists and loved ones, it was Hawking’s intuition and wicked sense of humour that marked him out as much as the broken body and synthetic voice that came to symbolise the unbounded possibilities of the human mind.
虽然霍金残缺的躯体和他合成的声音已成为他的标志，展现着人类大脑无法被束缚的可能，但对于霍金的同行和他的至亲们来说，他与生俱来的直觉和黑色幽默才更是他的显著标签。
