TED演讲:你能解开爱因斯坦之谜吗(1)

 　　Before he turned physics upside down,  在他颠覆物理学之前，

　　a young Albert Einstein supposedly showed off his genius by devising a complex riddle¹ involving this list of clues. 一个年轻的阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦设计了一个带一系列线索的复杂的谜题，来展示他的天分。

　　Can you resist tackling a brain teaser written by one of the smartest people in history? 你能抗拒去解一个历史上最聪明的人之一写的谜团吗？

　　Let's give it a shot. 让我们试一试。

　　The world's rarest fish has been stolen from the city aquarium². 世界上最罕见的鱼从城市水族馆被盗了。

　　The police have followed the scent³ to a street with five identical looking houses. 警察追踪线索，查到有五座一模一样的房子的街上。

　　But they can't search all the houses at once, and if they pick the wrong one, the thief will know they're on his trail. 但是他们不能同时搜查所有的房子，他们一旦选错房子，便会打草惊蛇。

　　It's up to you, the city's best detective, to solve the case. 就看你，城市里最棒的侦查员来破案。

　　When you arrive on the scene, the police tell you what they know. 当你来到现场时，警察告诉你他们了解的情况。

　　One: each house's owner is of a different nationality, drinks a different beverage⁴, and smokes a different type of cigar. 第一：每栋房子的主人都来自不同国籍，喝不同的饮料，抽不同的雪茄。

　　Two: each house's interior walls are painted a different color. 第二：每栋房子的室内墙都刷有不同颜色的涂料。

　　Three: each house contains a different animal, one of which is the fish. 第三：每栋房子里都有不同的动物，其中有一栋就是被偷的鱼。

　　After a few hours of expert sleuthing, you gather some clues. 经过几个小时的仔细侦查，你搜集到了一些线索。

　　It may look like a lot of information, but there's a clear logical path to the solution. 看似有很多信息，但是有一条清晰合理的破案途径。

　　Solving the puzzle will be a lot like Sudoku,  解开谜团就像做数独一样所以，

　　so you may find it helpful to organize your information in a grid⁵, like this. 把线索做成一张表格会有助于破案。

1 riddle   

n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜

参考例句：

• The riddle couldn't be solved by the child.这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
• Her disappearance is a complete riddle.她的失踪完全是一个谜。

2 aquarium   

n.水族馆，养鱼池，玻璃缸

参考例句：

• The first time I saw seals was in an aquarium.我第一次看见海豹是在水族馆里。
• I'm going to the aquarium with my parents this Sunday.这个星期天，我要和父母一起到水族馆去。

3 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。

4 beverage   

n.(水，酒等之外的)饮料

参考例句：

• The beverage is often colored with caramel.这种饮料常用焦糖染色。
• Beer is a beverage of the remotest time.啤酒是一种最古老的饮料。

5 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。