Legend has it that an apple which fell from its branches was the inspiration for Sir Isaac Newton’s discovery of gravity.
大家都听说过这个故事：一个从树上落下的苹果砸中了牛顿的头，启发他发现了万有引力定律。
But now history’s most celebrated fruit tree is paying the price of fame.
这棵苹果树可谓是历史上最出名的苹果树，但如今盛名 也让它遭遇生存危机。
The thousands of visitors drawn to Sir Isaac’s childhood home each year could be damaging the roots. And in an effort to ensure it keeps flourishing, a willow barrier has been put around the tree.考试大－中 每年，成千上万的游客前往牛顿童年的家，观看苹果树，这可能导致苹果树的根部受损。现在，为了保证它的健康成长，苹果树周围已竖起了柳木围栏。
It means visitors to the 17th century Woolsthorpe Manor, near Grantham, Lincolnshire, will no longer be able to sit under its branches as Newton was said to have been doing in 1665 when ‘the notion of gravitation came to mind’.
始于17世纪的伍尔斯索普庄园位于英国林肯郡格兰瑟姆附近，柳木围栏的设立意味着游客们无法与苹果树“亲密接触”，也不能像曾经的牛顿1665年那样坐在树荫下，正是那时牛顿发现了万有引力。
The National Trust, which owns the small manor house where Newton was born in 1642, said the 2ft-high fence was designed to preserve the tree, not exclude visitors.
1642年牛顿出生在这个庄园，现在庄园归英国国民信托组织所有，并由该组织负责管理和保护。该组织表示，0.6米高的围栏是为了保护苹果树，不是为了赶走游客。
Official Ann Moynihan said there had been no damage so far but warned that there could soon be a problem.
国民信托组织官员安?莫伊尼汉说，尽管目前苹果树还未显示出任何健康问题，但如果长期置之不理肯定会造成损伤。
‘Visitor numbers have gone up by around 50 per cent, to 33,000 a year in three years. The more people who visit, the more the soil will become compacted around the tree and over the roots.’
她说：“3年中前来参观的游客数量已增长了50%，达到每年3.3万人，游客越多，苹果树周围的泥土就变得越紧实，进而损害树根。”
She said the tree – which re-rooted itself in 1820 after being blown down in a storm and grew back in an ‘inverted S-shape’ – was already difficult to get close to because of its shape.
莫伊尼汉表示，这棵苹果树曾在1820年被暴风刮倒过，随后重新生长起来，长成了倒“S”形，这种形状本来已让人难以靠近。
‘People have always been free to walk around the apple orchard unescorted,’ she added.
莫伊尼汉补充道：“人们过去总是不受拘束地在果园中行走。”
‘We just want to preserve the tree for another 400 years if we can.’ She said visitors will still be able to take apples from the tree.
我们只是想保护这棵树，尽可能地让它能再生长400年。”她说建立围栏后，游客们依然可以摘到树上的苹果。
Visitor and history graduate Chris Gwyther, 37, said: ‘I suppose it is a pity that you can’t sit under the tree like Newton.
游客克里斯?格威瑟今年37岁，他是一名历史系毕业生，他说：“游客们无法模仿牛顿坐在苹果树下，在我看来这是一种遗憾。
‘But you can still see it and the tree is 400-years-old, it needs saving for the future.’
“但人们还是能看到这棵树，它也需要被精心维护，以便未来的人们也能看到它。”
The tree is of the rare Flower of Kent variety, a green cooking apple. It stands in the front garden of the property and is visible from what was Newton’s bedroom window.
这棵苹果树属稀有品种，结出的果实是绿色的，可用于烹饪。它位于伍尔斯索普庄园前面的花园里，从牛顿卧室的窗户里就能看到它。
Newton left no account confirming he had been inspired by a falling apple. The story appeared in a book by French philosopher Voltaire published in 1727, the year Newton died at the age of 84.
牛顿自己从来就没说过受苹果落地启发这件事，这个故事是在牛顿去世那年，1727年法国哲学家伏尔泰出版的一本书中第一次出现的。作者: tingroom 时间: 2012-4-18 14:52
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i find this picture on baidu.作者: huahua990 时间: 2012-4-18 15:20
