当奥布莱恩问道关于他支持安乐死问题以及他在什么情况下会考虑安乐死时,霍金回答称："违背一个人的意愿,强迫他活着,是对他人最大的侮辱."
"I would consider assisted suicide only if I were in great pain or felt I had nothing more to contribute but was just a burden to those around me."
"只有当我感受到巨大的痛苦,或我发现自己无法再做出任何贡献,而只是身边人的负担时,我才会考虑协助自杀."
But, he added: "I am damned if I'm going to die before I have unravelled more of the universe."
不过,他补充道："如果我在揭示更多宇宙奥秘之前就死了,我会很懊恼."
He is not in pain, he said, but suffers occasional discomfort because he cannot adjust his own position.
目前,他还没有受到病痛的折磨,只是时不时会觉得不舒服,因为他无法调整自己的姿势.
O'Briain, a comedian and broadcaster who has a degree in theoretical physics, praised Prof Hawking for his "impressively honest answers, even to the most direct questions".
奥布莱恩是一名喜剧演员兼播音员,同时还有理论物理学学位.他称赞霍金的回答非常诚恳,哪怕面对最直接尖锐的问题也给出了回答.
He also asked the 73-year-old physicist, who communicates through his famous speech synthesiser, whether he ever finds life lonely.
他还问这位73岁的物理学家是否感到生活孤独,霍金只能用他那套著名的语音合成器同他人交流.
"At times I get very lonely because people are afraid to talk to me or don't wait for me to write a response," said Prof Hawking, who is currently trialling even more sophisticated communication technology.
霍金答道："有时候我觉得非常孤独,因为人们害怕同我讲话或者是不愿等我把回答写出来."他目前正在试验更为复杂的通讯技术设备.
"I'm shy and tired at times. I find it difficult to talk to people I don't know."
"我很害羞,有时也感到疲乏.我觉得跟我不认识的人交谈是件很困难的事."
When asked about what he misses about being able-bodied, he added: "I would like to be able to swim again. When my children were young, I missed not being able to play with them physically."
当被问及拥有健全的身体时让他最怀念的是什么时,霍金答道："我希望能再游泳.我的孩子们还很小时,我没能亲身和他们一起玩耍."
