演员与数学家

Victoria Gould has led unusual parallel careers: not only has she been a successful actor, she is also a mathematician. Recently she helped develop theatre company Complicite’s production, A Disappearing Number, which perfectly brought together the mathematical and theatrical sides of her life.

“I’ve always known that I wanted to be an actor, and I’ve always loved maths,” says Victoria. “I felt like I had two brains!” But when Victoria was a teenager it didn’t seem possible to pursue both mathematics and acting. “At school I was quite pushed into the arts, and used to secretly go into book shops and read maths books when I should have been studying A level arts subjects. It felt a bit like a guilty secret, that I was so interested in maths and that I found it rather comforting.”

When Victoria left school she formed a small theatre company with four other friends, called the Kangaroo Club. “It was in the early eighties and there was quite a lot of public money around for arts projects.” They toured a play around London, and then advertised for more members. The company, then a group of around 15 actors, devised a completely original show. It was based on their own experiences of going to clubs that were part of the New Romantic movement in the early eighties, and they performed the show in the clubs themselves. “It’s interesting that I was into devised theatre at such an early point in my career.”

But even while running the Kangaroo Club, Victoria continued her secret reading of maths, in a furtive way. Many of us can relate to the thrill she felt from solving an equation or understanding a proof. But there was a deeper attraction to Victoria. She says, “I love the assurance of maths. I find it tremendously comforting, reassuring.”

It was this aspect of acting, the feeling of having to constantly live in terms of other people’s judgement of her, that made Victoria “come out as a mathematician”. She completed her maths, physics and engineering A levels in a year, and went on to a degree at the University of Manchester. Manchester, which had an excellent drama department, was the perfect place and Victoria finally had a chance to combine drama acting with science and maths. “I had this wonderful three years of being in the math department in the day, being tutored by the masters, going to Jodrell Bank, doing great experiments. And then in the evening rehearsing plays. I think I did 10 plays in my first year at university!”And not only did her degree start her mathematical career, Victoria went on to work as an actor with many of the people she met in the drama department.

维多利亚・古尔德有一份不寻常的平行职业：她既是一个成功的演员，也是一个数学家。最近她参与了合拍剧社的舞台剧《一个消失的数字》，这是一份完美的融数学和表演于一身的工作。

“我一直梦想成为一名演员，我也非常喜欢数学。”维多利亚说，“以前，我总觉得自己有两个大脑。”但是,在维多利亚的少女时期，同时追求数学和艺术几乎是不可能的。“在学校我总是被推荐去参加表演，在本应该用来为获得艺术课A等成绩学习的时候，却秘密地进入书店看数学书，这听起来感觉有点像犯罪，但是我那时对数学是如此感兴趣，并以学数学感到欣慰。”

维多利亚从中学毕业后，与其他四个朋友成立了一个小剧团，名字叫作“袋鼠俱乐部” 。“那是在八十年代初，有相当多的公共资金来举办艺术活动。”他们在伦敦附近进行巡回表演，同时也打广告召集了更多的成员。俱乐部里有15名演员还创立了一种自编自导的舞台表演秀。这是他们根据自己在俱乐部的经验而编排的，俱乐部是八十年代初“新浪漫主义运动”的组成部分。“这太有意思了，也是我职业生涯中最早接触剧场的时间。”维多利亚说。

但是，即使运行着袋鼠俱乐部，维多利亚还是在继续以一种秘密的方式学数学。大家可能都能感到她从求解方程或做证明题而获得的兴奋感。但是，对于维多利亚来说有一个更深的吸引力。她说：“我喜欢数学给我带来的信心，我觉得非常欣慰，令人鼓舞。”

这是有关表演的一方面，而让更多人来评价维多利亚的却是那句“数学家里冒出来的演员”。她在一年内取得了数学，物理学和工程学的A级成绩，并考上曼彻斯特大学攻读学士学位。曼彻斯特大学有极其优秀的戏剧系，是维多利亚求学的理想地点，而且使她终于有机会同时学习戏剧和数学。“我在数学系度过了愉快的三年，白天师从数学大师学习，去焦德雷尔班克做实验。晚上，则排练戏剧。我想我在大学的第一年排的戏剧大概就有10个！” 不仅维多利亚攻读的学位成就了她与数学有关的职业生涯，而且她当了演员也是继续和那些在戏剧系的人一起合作的。

3期双语数学获奖名单

东方晓卢斯然秦海洋王良静

文绢胡小丽车军澜费明

辛吉邹欢蔡亚亮黄悠悠

湛祖成杜岚潘杨祝于欣

熊钰静严金代赫闵郑甜

《一个消失的数字》表现了一段现今与上世纪初，印度和英国两段若有若无的平行历史和现实：印度数学家拉玛奴金自学成材却无人赏识，斗胆写信把自己推算的数学公式寄给学界权威人物哈代。哈代研究后大惊，破格把拉玛奴金收入英国剑桥大学三一学院。二人的学术成就与友谊盛传至今，哈代称其为“浪漫的友谊”。拉玛奴金返乡后患病去世，年仅32岁。当下，一位女数学家追寻这段百年足迹，却在印度不幸去世，男人追随她而来。一个充满浪漫色彩的故事就此诞生……

1. The figure below shows the graph of f（x）. What is the value of f（0）?

A. -3B. -2C. 0D. 3

2. In the figure below, the line KM is tangent to circle O at point L. What is the value of x?

A. 90° B. 115°

C. 65° D. 120°

3. Which of the following equations best describes the line shown in the graph below?

A. y=-x-1 B. y=1

C. y=x-1 D.省略。

上期答案

１. 60°２. 983. 1