雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第9章:退隱山林(103)

For it was the biological theory, rather than the imitation game, that was his favourite topic now. At last there was something else that he was seriously interested in, that he could also talk about.

現在圖靈最喜歡的話題不再是模擬原則，而是生物理論，他終於擁有了一個可以公開討論的興趣。

As soon as the new computer was installed and working, it was set up to simulate chemical waves on his idealised ring of cells, the Turing Hydra.

新計算機剛剛部署完畢，他就開始模擬他的細胞化學波，他稱之爲"圖靈水螅"。

After much working on different cases, he came up with a convincing set of hypothetical reactions which, set to work in an initially homogeneous 'soup', would have the effect of setting up a stationary spatial distribution of waves of chemical concentration.

在對很多種情況進行了研究之後，他得到了一系列很有說服力的猜想，初始狀態相同的化學物質，有可能形成不同的濃度波分佈。

This could be done at different speeds, with different results: 'fast cooking' and 'slow cooking', he called it.

不同的速度能導致不同的結果，他稱其爲"快煮"和"慢煮"。

He also tried out the gastrulation problem, showing how random disturbances on a sphere could lead to a particular axis being picked out.

他還實驗了原腸胚的形成，其結果表明了球面上的隨機干擾將如何影響軸線的選擇。

In this work he developed a unique sense of interaction with what was, in effect, a personal computer.

在這項研究中，圖靈產生了一種特殊的互動感，一種"個人計算機"的感覺。

It was like the dialogue with the Colossus, perhaps, though Roy Duffy, the new maintenance engineer, would call it 'playing the organ' as he watched Alan sit at the console and use the manual controls.

這很像他與巨人機之間的互動，新來的運維工程師勞伊·杜菲，看到圖靈坐在控制檯前操作機器，覺得就像是在"演奏風琴"。

Everyone who used the machine had to develop a good sense of how it was actually working, if only because there were always drum tracks and cathode ray tube stores out of action, requiring modifications to be made to the programming.

每個使用機器的人，都必須清楚它的工作原理，因爲磁道和陰極射線管總會出一些差錯，這都需要進行人工的調試。

But Alan developed it to a fine art, writing in instructions which would make the machine's 'hooter' sound at different points, when new parameters would be required. In his way he could watch the 'cooking' as it went along.

但是圖靈把這些發展成了一門高雅的藝術，他寫了一些指令，使機器在需要參數時，會發出一些不一樣的響聲，這樣他就能直觀地體會"煮"的過程。

The user also had complete control of the running and output mode of the machine, and Alan sometimes had it display the biological patterns on the cathode ray tube monitors, or print out contour maps in the way that crystallographers had by then devised.

使用者還必須完全控制機器的運行和輸出過程，圖靈有時會把生物模式顯示在射線管顯示器上，有時則會把生成的輪廓圖像打印出來。