雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第5章:解謎接力賽(121)

This basic idea created a 'machine' that could effect a decision procedure bearing some relation to human intelligence.

這個基本想法創造了一個機器，這個機器可以實現一個類似於人類智慧的決策行為。

It was small beer compared with the Hilbert problem, which had required thinking about decision procedures for the whole of mathematics.

與希爾伯特想要的機器相比，這個要簡單得多，因為前者需要對整個數學體系進行判定，

But on the other hand, it was something that could actually work.

而後者才是一個真正有效的模型，

As a practical model for mechanical 'thinking' it fascinated Alan to the point of obsession.

可以用來研究機器的思維，這使艾倫著了魔。

Such a three-move analysis would be hopelessly ineffective in real chess,

這樣的三步分析，在真正的國際象棋中，是完全無效的。

in which players would think not in terms of moves but of chains of moves, as for example when a sequence of obligatory captures was set in motion.

在國際象棋中，玩家並不是以步為單位來考慮，而是以一條鏈作為單位。比如通過一連串的移動，實現某種封鎖戰術。

Alan and Jack Good saw this and decided that the 'look-ahead depth' would have to be variable,

艾倫和傑克·古德也看到了這一點，並認為向前看的深度必須是動態可變的，

continuing as far as any capture was possible at all, so that evaluations would only be made on 'quiescent' positions.

每一分支都要一直看到吃子為止，並且只對靜態局面進行評估。

Even so, such a scheme would fail to cope with more subtle play, involving traps leading to pins or forks, a fact which they discussed.

但即使是這樣的方案，仍然無法處理更復雜的情況，比如很多巧妙的陷阱。

It was a crude, brute force attack on chess-playing, but it was a first step in mechanising a fairly sophisticated thought process—at least, a first non-secret step.

這是對國際象棋的一種粗略的、樸素的破解，但這是機械化思維過程的第一步進展。