雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第8章:水銀延時線(111)
Coordination and cooperation had long since been replaced by competition.
A few days later Womersley reported to Darwin with proposals for the building of the machine, which he held to be 'of supreme importance the fields of scientific research, administration, and national defence'.
當初沃默斯利向達爾文報告關於建造ACE的提議時，他說這個項目在科學研究、行政和國家防務領域有着至關重要的作用，The proposals included 'using as much of Wilkes' development work as is consistent with our own programming system', and making an approach to F.C. Williams to request a copy of the machine being built at Manchester.
他主張充分利用威爾克斯的設計思想，並爭取與威廉姆斯取得聯繫，得到曼徹斯特機器的設計藍圖。
In this radical modification, or rather abandonment, of the ACE programme, no attention was paid to the ideas of its originator. The administrators appeared to regard him as an abstract, almost anonymous entity.
在ACE項目不斷地變更、直至幾乎廢棄的過程中，他們從來都沒有考慮過它的創始人的想法，他們始終把圖靈當成空氣，把他當成一個抽象的、無名的存在。Alan was not perhaps entirely free from responsibility for this absence of communication. It was, for instance, rude of him to postpone for a long time a visit to Wilkes at the Mathematical Laboratory in Cambridge—a short walk from King's across Market Square, but not an easy one.
這次溝通的夭折，圖靈是有責任的，他無禮地推遲了很久，才前往劍橋的數學實驗室拜訪威爾克斯。這本來只是一段很短的路，當然這並不是一段簡單的路。As the time for decision approached, Alan said, 'I really must go and see Wilkes', and then put it off, and put it off again until the last minute in late May. By that time the construction of what was to be the EDSAC was in full swing.
有一天，圖靈終於說："我真的必須去看看威爾克斯了"，但是隨後他又沒有去。此行一拖再拖，直到5月下旬，EDSAC已經開始建造了。They were using mercury delay lines. He had obtained money from the DSIR, the University Grants Committee, and from J. Lyons and Co. Ltd., reflecting a very early interest on the part of private enterprise.
他們使用了汞延遲線，並從科學與工業研究部、大學基金委員會以及一家食品公司得到了資助（這反映了私人企業對計算機的興趣）。He was in full control, without a Womersley or a Darwin to get in the way, and working much as Alan would have liked to. The barricade between mathematics and engineering never arose.
威爾克斯全權掌控着自己的項目，沒有沃默斯利和達爾文的干涉，他以圖靈希望的方式工作着，從未出現過數學與工程之間的障礙。It was enough to show the folly of NPL policy, and jealousy would have been a very natural reaction.
這體現了國家物理實驗室的政策有多麼愚蠢，而且也使圖靈很自然地產生了嫉妒。Afterwards he meanly said, 'I couldn't listen to a word he said. I was just thinking, how exactly like a beetle he looked.' But duty was done.
圖靈去過之後，酸溜溜地說："我聽不進去他講的每一個字，我一直在琢磨，他長得多麼像一隻甲蟲。"他的訪問任務就這樣敷衍完成了。
