双语畅销书《艾伦图灵传》第5章:解谜接力赛(14)

It shows the state of the machine at some particular moment in its use.

这是该机器的某个特定的工作状态，

The lines marked correspond to current-carrying wires.

这些线表示相应的电路。

A simple switch system at the input has the effect that if a key (say the B key) is depressed, a current flows (as shown in the diagram by bold lines) and lights up a bulb in the output display panel (in this case, under the letter D).

输入端是一个简单的开关系统，如果按下一个键（在这个例子中是B），电流就会按照图中的粗线方向流动，然后输出端对应的灯泡就会亮起来（在此例中是D）。

For the hypothetical 8-letter Enigma, the next state of the machine would be:

这个机器的下一个状态是：转动一格不动不动

For the 26-letter Enigma, there would be 26 × 26 × 26 = 17576 possible states of the rotors.

对于26个字母的谜机来说，一共有263（图）=17, 576种不同的转盘状态。

They were geared essentially like any kind of adding machine or comptometer, so that the middle rotor would move on one step when the first had made a complete revolution, and the innermost move a step when the middle one had made a complete turn.

它们基本上就像加法机或康普托计算机那样组合在一起注，第一个转盘每转一圈，中间的转盘就旋转一格，中间的转盘每转一圈，最里面的转盘就旋转一格。

The 'reflector', however, would not move, it being a fixed set of wires connecting the outputs of the innermost rotor.

反馈器是不能移动的，它是一个固定的设备，与最里面的转盘的输出相连。

So the Enigma was polyalphabetic, with a period of 17576.

所以，谜机是一个周期为17, 576的单字母替换机，

But this was not a 'tremendously large number'.

但这并不算是一个"非常大的数"。

Indeed, it would require a book only the size of a ready reckoner for all the alphabets to be written out.

实际上，用一个密码手册也完全可以把这些规则全部写下来。