雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第8章:水銀延時線(105)
The winter was spent on various topics, none with all-absorbing attention.
The numerical analysis paper—the only published evidence of his ACE work—was finished in November.
11月，他完成了一篇關於數值分析的論文，這是他發表的唯一與ACE有關的東西。Most of all he wanted to understand more about 'thinking'. Somehow the brain did it—but how?
圖靈更感興趣的問題是"思維"，是大腦到底如何運轉。
Contemporary physiologists had only the faintest ideas about neural stimuli and responses.
當時的心理學家，只能給出一些譬如神經刺激與反應之類的初級想法。He went to R.H. Adrian's lectures, but was disappointed.
圖靈參加了R·H·艾德里安的講座，但卻很是失望。Chemistry and physics were at last pushing their way into biology, but his whole thesis lay in a different kind of description, the logical description of the nervous system, for which chemistry and physics were only the medium.
化學和物理被引入了生物領域，但是這套理論還存在着另一個層面的描述，即神經系統的邏輯描述，化學和物理僅僅是個載體。He conveyed his disappointment to Peter Matthews, a very sharp undergraduate, one of the few who had come to Cambridge at eighteen, with whom he went to the physiology lectures.
圖靈對彼得·馬修表達了他的失望，這是一位非常聰明的學生，也是極少數在18歲就進入劍橋的學生之一，是他陪同圖靈參加了這個講座。They would talk long over lunch and over mugs of cocoa in the evenings, since they lived on the same staircase.
自從他們住在同一樓後，他們經常在午餐時促膝長談，或者是在晚上，伴着許多咖啡。Jim Wilkinson would visit Cambridge from time to time, and kept Alan informed as to the developments, or lack of them, back at Teddington. The news was that of cuts, crises, and an ever-narrowing vision.
威爾金森到劍橋來了好幾次，把特丁頓的進展或障礙告訴圖靈，基本上都是關於閹割、窘迫和窄視。At a meeting in November, they had abandoned many of the advanced ideas for the ACE, including the 'abbreviated code instructions'.
在11月的會議中，他們又刪掉了ACE的很多先進思想，包括"助記指令碼"。An edict from Darwin had stopped Huskey's Test Assembly, because of complaints from Thomas.
由於托馬斯的抱怨，達爾文下令阻止了哈斯基的實驗。The ACE section was reduced to the writing of a report on their numerical analysis and programming work.
本來好好的ACE項目，現在的目標卻變成了寫一篇報告就完事。
