纪录片《费马最后的定理》 第02期 尝试解决难题

This is the story of one man's obsession¹ with the world's greatest mathematical problem.

这个故事是关于一个人对于世界上最大数学难题的沉迷

For seven years Professor ANDREW WILES² worked in complete secrecy³, creating the calculation of the century.

七年来，安德鲁·怀尔斯教授一直进行着不为人知的研究，创造出了世纪计算式。

It was a calculation which brought him fame, and regret.

正是这个计算给他带来了名誉以及遗憾。

So I came to this.I was a 10-year-old and one day I happened to be looking in my local public library

是这么回事，我十岁的一天正好在当地公共图书馆逛。

and I found a book on math and it told a bit about the history of this problem,

发现了一本数学方面的书，讲了一些关于这个难题的历史。

that someone had resolved this problem 300 years ago, but no-one had ever seen the proof,

有人于300年前解决了这个难题，但还没有人看到过这证明。

no one have ever seen a prove, and people ever since have looked for the proof

没人知道确有个证明存在，人们自那时起就一直在寻找证明，

and here was a problem that I, a 10-year-old, could understand,

这儿有个十岁的我能够理解的问题

but none of the great mathematicians⁴ in the past had been able to resolve,

而还没有一位之前的伟大数学家得以将其解决

and from that moment of course I just tried to solve it myself.

自那时起，我自然而然地尝试要自己解决它。

It was such a challenge, such a beautiful problem.

那是如此具挑战性、如此美丽的难题。

This problem was Fermat's last theorem.

这个难题就是费马最后定理。

1 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

2 wiles   

n.（旨在欺骗或吸引人的）诡计，花招；欺骗，欺诈( wile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• All her wiles were to persuade them to buy the goods. 她花言巧语想打动他们买这些货物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The woman used all her wiles to tempt him into following her. 那女人用尽了自己的诱骗本领勾引着他尾随而去。 来自《用法词典》

3 secrecy   

n.秘密，保密，隐蔽

参考例句：

• All the researchers on the project are sworn to secrecy.该项目的所有研究人员都按要求起誓保守秘密。
• Complete secrecy surrounded the meeting.会议在绝对机密的环境中进行。

4 mathematicians   

数学家( mathematician的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Do you suppose our mathematicians are unequal to that? 你以为我们的数学家做不到这一点吗？ 来自英汉文学
• Mathematicians can solve problems with two variables. 数学家们可以用两个变数来解决问题。 来自哲学部分