雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第5章:解謎接力賽(55)

They were only just in time and, had they fallen behind by a few months, might never have caught up. In the spring of 1940 it was particularly precarious,

他們的打孔卡片及時趕上了，如果他們落後幾個月，線索鏈就會斷開，他們就永遠無法追上了。1940年春天的情況尤其危險，

as they held on with a mixture of ingenuity and intuition—or as the military were likely to call it, sheer bloody guesswork.

而他們憑藉智力和直覺，堅強地挺過來了。

Guessing and hoping were entirely characteristic of current British operations.

現在，英方行動的主要特點，就是猜測和希望。

The government had little more idea of how a war could be won, or even of what was happening, than did the public.

對於戰爭如何才能勝利，政府也完全沒有主意。

It seemed that the British and German armed forces had, after all, agreed to have a battle again,

英國和德國，就像《愛麗絲鏡中奇遇》裏的叮噹哥和叮噹弟，他們都同意要打一架，

but the British Tweedledee was decidedly reluctant to be the one to start, and the German Tweedledum expected it all to be over by six o'clock.

但叮噹弟英國卻不願意先動手，而叮噹哥德國則希望打到六點就去吃飯。

Tweedledee's weaponry was still concealed behind Chamberlain's umbrella.

叮噹弟的武器就是張伯倫的雨傘。

The Red King was snoring on the square to the east, and no one (not even at Bletchley) knew what he was dreaming of.

紅國王在東邊打鼾，沒有人知道他在做什麼夢（連布萊切利莊園的人也不知道）。

The blockade was supposed to bring an already 'stretched' Germany to crack from within, if only Britain could 'hold out'.

只要英國頂住，似乎擴張了的德國的封鎖就會從內部崩潰。

Half desired, half dreaded by the British rulers, was the reappearance of the Monstrous Crow, currently flapping ambiguously on the other side of the Atlantic.

而英國即渴望又害怕"大烏鴉"飛過來，而眼下它正在大西洋的另一邊，雄心勃勃地振翅。