TED演讲:你能解开囚犯帽子谜题吗(1)

 　　You and nine other individuals have been captured by super intelligent alien overlords. 你和其他九个人被高智商的外星人统治者俘虏了。

　　The aliens think humans look quite tasty, but their civilization forbids eating highly logical and cooperative beings. 他们觉得地球人看起来很好吃，但是他们的文明禁止他们吃有很强逻辑性和合作性的生物。

　　Unfortunately, they're not sure whether you qualify, so they decide to give you all a test. 不幸的是，他们不确定你们是否合乎标准，所以他们决定给你们所有人一个测试。

　　Through its universal translator, the alien guarding you tells you the following:  通过他们的“全宇宙通翻译”软件，外星守卫告诉你以下信息：

　　You will be placed in a single-file line facing forward in size order 你们会被从高到矮排成一条直线，

　　so that each of you can see everyone lined up ahead of you. 这样每个人就可以看到站在前面的所有人。

　　You will not be able to look behind you or step out of line. 你不能往后看或者走到线外。

　　Each of you will have either a black or a white hat on your head assigned randomly¹, 每个人的头上会有一顶白色或者黑色的帽子。帽子的颜色是随机分配的，

　　and I won't tell you how many of each color there are. 而且我不会告诉你每种颜色的帽子总共有几个。

　　When I say to begin, each of you must guess the color of your hat starting with the person in the back and moving up the line. 当我说“开始”时，每个人必须猜测自己帽子的颜色，从最后一个人开始。

　　And don't even try saying words other than black or white or signaling some other way, like intonation² or volume; you'll all be eaten immediately. 不要试图说除了黑或白以外的词，或者通过声调或音量等其他方式做出暗示，要不你们就会马上被吃掉。

　　If at least nine of you guess correctly, you'll all be spared. 如果至少九个人能猜对，你们就会被释放。

　　You have five minutes to discuss and come up with a plan, 你们有五分钟的时间来商量，想出一个方案，

　　and then I'll line you up, assign your hats, and we'll begin. 然后我会把你们排成一排，分发帽子，然后就开始。

　　Can you think of a strategy guaranteed to save everyone? 你能想到一个绝对能救大家的计划吗？

1 randomly   

adv.随便地，未加计划地

参考例句：

• Within the hot gas chamber, molecules are moving randomly in all directions. 在灼热的气体燃烧室内，分子在各个方向上作无规运动。 来自辞典例句
• Transformed cells are loosely attached, rounded and randomly oriented. 转化细胞则不大贴壁、圆缩并呈杂乱分布。 来自辞典例句

2 intonation   

n.语调，声调；发声

参考例句：

• The teacher checks for pronunciation and intonation.老师在检查发音和语调。
• Questions are spoken with a rising intonation.疑问句是以升调说出来的。