雙語暢銷書《艾倫圖靈傳》第4章:彼岸新星(59)
But in order to embody it in working machinery, it required some means of arranging for different physical 'configurations'.
This was achieved by the switches, for the whole point of a switch would be that it could be in one of two states, 'on' or 'off', '0' or '1', 'true' or 'false'.
要解決這個問題，就要用到開關，開關的功能就是在兩種狀態中進行切換，開或關，0或1，真或假。The switches that he used were operated by relays, and in this way electricity played its first direct part in his urge to connect logical ideas with something that physically worked.
艾倫使用的開關，是由繼電器來控制的，這樣一來，電流就可以將他的邏輯想法，變成實際的物理工作。
There was nothing new about the electromagnetic relay, which had been invented by the American physicist Henry a hundred years earlier.
電磁繼電器並不新鮮，美國物理學家亨利在幾百年前就已經把它發明出來了，Its physical principle was the same as that of the electric motor, an electric current, passing through a coil, causing a magnetic head to move.
它的物理原理和電動機是一樣的，電流通過線圈，使磁頭髮生移動。However, the point of a relay was that the magnetic head would either open or close another electrical circuit.
總之，繼電器的用途和開關是一樣的，就是用來接通或斷開一個電路。It would act as a switch. The name 'relay' derived from its use in early telegraph systems, to allow an enfeebled electric signal to set off a fresh, clean click.
人們叫它繼電器，是因爲它最早是用於電報系統，一個較弱的信號通過繼電器，就可以觸發一個清楚的信號。It was not well-known in 1937 that the logical properties of combinations of switches could be represented by Boolean algebra, or by binary arithmetic, but this was not hard for a logician to see.
在1937年，人們並不清楚可以用二進制或布爾代數來表示組合開關的邏輯功能，但對於邏輯學家來說，這是很簡單的。Alan's task was to embody the logical design of a Turing machine in a network of relay-operated switches.
艾倫的任務就是，用一系列繼電器開關的組合，來實現圖靈機的邏輯功能。The idea would be that when a number was presented to the machine, presumably by setting up currents at a series of input terminals,
他的想法是，由一個輸入終端，用電流形式將數字表達給機器，the relays would click open and closed, currents would pass through, and emerge at output terminals, thus in effect 'writing' the enciphered number.
繼電器通過開關的方式，讓電流經過，並體現在輸出端，就像把編碼後的數字寫出來。It would not actually use 'tapes' but from a logical point of view it came to the same thing.
這並不使用實際的紙帶，但從邏輯上來看，它們是完全一樣的。
