Hawking was happy to court controversy and was accused of being sexist and misogynist. He turned up at Stringfellows lap dancing club in 2003, and years later declared women "a complete mystery". In 2013, he boycotted a major conference in Israel on the advice of Palestinian academics.
Some of his most outspoken comments offended the religious. In his 2010 book, Grand Design, he declared that God was not needed to set the universe going, and in an interview with the Guardian a year later, dismissed the comforts of religious belief.
"I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail," he said. "There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark."
He spoke also of death, an eventuality that sat on a more distant horizon than doctors thought. "I'm not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die," he said. "I have so much I want to do first."
What astounded those around him was how much he did achieve. He leaves his three children, from his first marriage to Jane Wilde, and three grandchildren.
▍生词好句
court /kɔːt/: vt. 招引 n. 法庭
be accused of: 被人指责
sexist /ˈsɛksɪst/: n. 性别主义者；歧视女性
misogynist /mɪˈsɒdʒ(ə)nɪst/: n. 厌女者
turn up: 出现
declare /dɪˈklɛː/: vt. 宣称
boycott /ˈbɔɪkɒt/: vt. 公开抵制；拒绝参加
dismiss /dɪsˈmɪs/: vt. 打消；解散
eventuality /ɪˌvɛn(t)ʃʊˈalɪti/: n. 可能性
astound /əˈstaʊnd/: vt. 使惊讶