雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第5章:解謎接力賽(144)

The point was that electronic valves could respond in a millionth of a second, there being no Moving parts but the electrons themselves, while the electromagnetic relay had to make a physical click.

電子管的反應時間只有0.000001秒，與電磁繼電器不同的是，它本身並不發生物理上的移動，而是其中的電子在移動。

Here lay the possibility of a thousand-fold increase in speed at a time when they were frantic.

這爲他們帶來了提速1000倍的希望。

But electronic valves were notoriously prone to failure, besides being hot, cumbersome, and expensive.

但是電子管也有缺點，比如溫度高，成本高，

There were few people with the knowledge and skills required for using them.

而且沒幾個人懂得如何使用。

More precisely, applications to Bletchley problems required the use of electronic components in logical systems, to act as switches in place of relays.

準確地說，布萊切利現在的問題，就是要將系統中的繼電器升級成電子管。

But the pre-eminent use of the electronic valve had remained that of acting as an amplifier in radio reception.

電子管在這之前的主要用途是作爲無線電接收機的放大器，

It was a quite different matter to think of electronic components as providing on-or-off switches, although the principle had been demonstrated in 1919.

現在要用它們來做開關，完全不是同一回事，雖然其原理在1919年就發現了。

In this respect Wynn-Williams had the advantage of having pioneered electronic Geiger counters, and so was one of the even fewer people aware that electronics could be applied to a discrete problem.

維恩威廉姆斯的優勢就在這裏，他在電子蓋革計數器方面的先驅工作，使他成爲少數幾個懂得如何將電子技術用於離散問題的人之一。

While radar research had created a fund of high-powered electronic expertise, TRE was not the only establishment with electronic engineers.

電子通信研究所並不是唯一擁有電子工程師的機構。

There was also the Post Office Research Station, located in the London suburb of Dollis Hill.

此外還有坐落在倫敦郊區的郵政實驗室。

It had been established to protect the Post Office, in its installation of a modern telephone system, from the monopolistic practices of the equipment manufacturers.

這個研究所要保障電話系統不被個別設備製造商壟斷。

It was the vanguard of what was the only state-owned industry of the 1930s, and despite being run on a shoestring, had maintained a high level of research.

儘管他們規模不大，但卻搞出了高水平的研究。

Its young engineers, picked out by fierce competition, had ambitions and skills which went far beyond the opportunities offered in the 1930s economic climate.

這裏的年輕工程師們，都是在激烈的競爭中選拔出來的，有着領先於30年代的雄心和技術。