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ShravanSK_CheatingDeathRiddle_2021E-_你能解开这道谜题，躲过死神吗？_
You and your best friend Bill are the greatest bards in the kingdom— but maybe not the brightest. 你和摯友比尔是王国中 最伟大的吟游诗人—— 但可能不是最聪明的。
The hit song you performed at last night’s fair insulted the king, and now your hours are numbered. 昨晚你在集市表演的 热门歌曲侮辱了国王, 现在,你的死期将至。
Just before your execution , you’re approached by the princess , who happens to be a big fan. 在你被处死之前, 公主上前来找你,她刚好是铁粉。
bards:n.吟游诗人(bard的复数形式); performed:v.表演;执行;履行;演出;工作,运转(好/不好)(perform的过去分词和过去式) insulted:v.辱骂;侮辱;冒犯;(insult的过去分词和过去式) execution:n.执行,实行;完成;死刑; approached:v.走近;临近;探讨;建议;(approach的过去分词和过去式) princess:n.王妃;(除女王或王后外的)王室女成员;(尤指)公主;王公贵族夫人;
She slips you a pouch containing two magic, six-sided dice that can land any way you wish. 她偷偷塞给你一个小袋子, 内有两个六面的魔法骰子, 可掷出你希望的那一面。
You have no idea how this could possibly help, but you thank her anyways. 你完全不知道这有什么幫助,
As everything goes dark, you both suddenly find yourself standing in a deep cavern before a robed figure. 天色变暗后, 你们两人突然发现自己 站在一个很深的山洞里,
slips:滑倒;滑跤(slip的第三人称单数) pouch:n.小袋;育儿袋;烟草袋;vi.成袋状;vt.使成袋状;把…装入袋中; dice:n.骰子;色子;掷骰游戏;掷骰赌博;v.将(肉、菜等)切成小方块;将…切成丁; cavern:n.[地质]洞穴;v.置…于大山洞中;挖空; robed:n.长袍,礼服;制服;vi.穿长袍;vt.使穿长袍;
It turns out that Death is a connoisseur of most excellent music. 原来死神竟然是顶级音乐的鉴赏家。
He’s decided to give you a chance to escape your fate by beating him at his favorite game: life-sized Snakes and Ladders . 他决定给你一个机会 逃离死亡的命运, 方法就是在他最喜欢的比赛中打败他:
The cavern has 100 rooms connected by passageways as well as— you guessed it— snakes and ladders. 山洞中有一百个房间以通道相连, 以及——你也猜到了——蛇和梯子。
connoisseur:n.鉴赏家;内行; life-sized:adj.原物大小的;与原物一样大小的; Snakes and Ladders:n.蛇梯棋(棋子顺梯子图案前进,顺着蛇图案后退); passageways:n.走廊;通道;过道;(passageway的复数)
Each turn one of you will roll a die, then advance that many rooms. 每一轮,你们有一人要掷骰子,
Ending your move at the bottom of a ladder means moving up to the top, while ending on a snake’s head will make you slide down to its tail. 如果走到梯子的底端, 如果走到蛇的头上, 你就会下滑到牠的尾巴。
Each of you must make your way through the cavern and reach the exit in fewer turns than Death himself. 你们两人都得要在山洞中移动, 最后抵达出口,
Before you can think twice , your host starts casting his die, and within 6 rolls he’s reached the cavern entrance. 你都还没机会三思, 死神就开始掷骰子了, 掷了六次之后,
“Oh, and by the way , once one of you uses a snake or ladder, it’ll disappear and be inaccessible to the other.” 你们当中有人用过的蛇或梯子, 用完便会消失, 另一人就无法使用了。」
You have no idea how you can possibly get lucky enough to win, but then you remember your magic dice. 你觉得你不可能有运气赢得这场游戏, 但接着,你想起了你的魔法骰子。
think twice:再三考虑;重新考虑; by the way:顺便说一下; disappear:v.消失;失踪;不复存在; inaccessible:adj.难达到的;难接近的;难见到的;
Can you figure out a sequence of rolls that will get both of you to the exit in 5 or fewer moves each? 你能想出要依序掷出什么数字,才能让你们两人分别都在 五轮之内移动到出口？
Pause here to figure it out yourself. Answer in 3 ［若要自行作答,在此暂停。 答案公布倒数:3］
Answer in 2 ［2］
Answer in 1 ［1］
The cavern contains many routes to the exit, and it’s natural to gravitate to the ladders that allow you to cover a lot of ground, quickly. 山洞中有许多条路径都能通到出口, 你自然会想用梯子 来让你能快速移动很长的距离。[02:04]
sequence:n.顺序; v.按顺序排列; routes:n.路线;途径;路途;渠道;v.按某路线发送;(route的第三人称单数和复数) gravitate:vi.受引力作用;被吸引;
Like this one— on turn 2 you’d be at 75, but without any further ladder boosts , you’d need another 5 rolls to get out. 比如走这座梯子—— 在第二轮你就会走到 75, 但没有其他梯子幫忙,
Or this one— three ladders get you to 82, but then it would take another 4 rolls to get around the pesky snake at 88. 换这种走法—— 三座梯子让你抵达 82, 但接着需要再掷四次骰子
In fact, there’s no path that can get you to the exit in 5 moves using exclusively ladders. 事实上,没有任何路径能让你光靠梯子移动五次 就抵达出口。
boosts:增加; get around:到处走走;逃避;说服;传开来(等于getround);有办法应付;有办法应付局面; pesky:adj.讨厌的;麻烦的;adv.极端; exclusively:adv.唯一地;专有地;排外地;
So where does that leave you? Snakes. 那你剩下什么选择？蛇。
It’s counterintuitive to make moves that take you farther away from your target, but snakes open up a surprising amount of opportunities. 直觉上你不会选择 带你远离目的地的路径。 但蛇所带来的机会比你想像的多。
For instance , these three ladders would put you a single roll from the exit, but cost too many turns to reach by ladders. 比如,这三座梯子能让你只要 再掷一次骰子就能抵达出口, 但要靠梯子抵达这些梯子 需要太多轮。
These two are, however, only 5 and 12 rooms from snake tails, respectively . 然而,这两座梯子距离蛇尾巴分别只有 五间和十二间房间的距离。
counterintuitive:adj.违反直觉的; instance:n.实例;情况;建议;v.举...为例; respectively:adv.分别地;各自地,独自地;
So could you work backwards from those to find a 5 roll path? 你是否能从那些地方往回推,
There are exactly two 5-turn routes you might find using these ladders: 刚刚好有两条骰五轮的路线,
Ladder snake snake ladder exit, and ladder ladder snake ladder exit. 梯子、蛇、蛇、梯子、出口, 以及,梯子、梯子、蛇、梯子、出口。
So that’s it, right? Unfortunately , no— the two paths share a snake and a ladder, each of which will be unusable after the first of you slides and then climbs. 就这样了,对吧？ 这两条路径共用了 一座梯子和一条蛇, 先走的人滑下去再爬上去之后,
You won’t find 5-turn moves anywhere else, so is one of you doomed ? 要用到最后那座梯子, 已经没有其他五轮的走法, 所以有一人死定了吗？
There’s one more possibility to consider: the disappearing ladders and snakes can impede your progress, but could they also help it? 还有一个可能性要考量: 消失的梯子和蛇会妨碍你前进, 但是否也会幫你用其他路线？
Unfortunately:adv.不幸地; unusable:adj.不能用的;与众不同的; doomed:adj.注定的;命定的;v.使…注定失败(doom的过去分词和过去式) disappearing:v.消失;不复存在;灭绝;丢失(disappear的现在分词) impede:v.阻碍;妨碍;阻止;
There are two paths to the 94 ladder that almost work, except for this snake, at exactly the midpoint between the two ladders. 有两条通到 94 的路径, 几乎可以成功,就多了这条蛇, 牠刚好位在两座梯子间会停留的地方。
If Bill were to take that snake on his route, you could then get past it and up to the exit in just 5 moves. 如果比尔先走的路径包括这条蛇, 你就可以通过,只需要五轮就能抵达出口。
And good news— whichever path you choose, one of the 5-roll paths we found earlier does exactly that without using any of your snakes or ladders. 好消息——不论你选择的是 这两条路径中的哪一条, 我们先前找到的五轮路径当中就有一条 刚好不需要走你用的蛇或梯子 就可抵达出口。
midpoint:n.中点;正中央; whichever:pron.任何一个;无论哪个;adj.无论哪个;无论哪些;
So all you need is for Bill to go first and stick to the plan. 所以只要让比尔先走并照着计画前进。
You and Bill both reach the cavern entrance and climb back into the public square, to everyone’s surprise. 你和比尔都抵达了洞口, 爬回了公共广场,让大家大吃一惊。
Before the guards can seize you again, you wow the crowd— and king— with a song about your epic contest with Death. 在守卫能再次抓住你之前, 你表演了一首曲子, 讲述你和死神之间的英勇竞赛,
seize:v.抓住;夺取;理解;逮捕; epic:adj.史诗的,叙事诗的;n.史诗;叙事诗;史诗般的作品;