These wheels were ingeniously arranged in meshing groups, and mounted on a central axis in such a way that the turning of a large handle would set them in simultaneous motion.
这些齿轮精密地组合在一起，只要转动一个大把手，就可以让它们同步转动。
The construction of the machine demanded a great deal of highly accurate gear-cutting to make this possible.
要想制造这台机器，必须有非常精密的齿轮制造工艺。
Donald MacPhail drew up a blueprint of the design,44 dated 17 July 1939.
唐纳德·麦克菲尔绘制了设计图纸，日期是1939年7月17日。
But Alan did not leave the engineering work to him.
但是艾伦并没有把制造工作交给他。
In fact his room, in the summer of 1939, was liable to be found with a sort of jigsaw puzzle of gear wheels across the floor.
实际上，在1939年夏天，艾伦自己的房间变成了一个齿轮迷阵。
Kenneth Harrison, now a Fellow, was invited in for a drink and found it in this state.
现在已是研究员的肯尼斯·哈里森有一次被他邀请去喝酒，并看到了这些。
Alan tried and lamentably failed to explain what it was all for.
艾伦给他解释了，但是没有说清这些到底是什么，
It was certainly far from obvious that the motion of these wheels would say anything about the regularity with which the prime numbers thinned out, in their billions of billions out to infinity.
很难说清这些无言的齿轮，要如何揭示几亿亿直至无穷的素数规律。
Alan made a start on doing the actual gear-cutting, humping the blanks along to the engineering department in a rucksack, and spurning an offer of help from a research student.
艾伦开始制造齿轮，他用帆布背包把原料运到工程系，而且拒绝了一位研究生的帮助。
Champ lent a hand in grinding some of the wheels, which were kept in a suitcase in Alan's room, much impressing Bob when he came down from his school at Hale in August.
晨佩侬也帮他磨了一些齿轮，这些都放在艾伦的房间。8月时鲍勃前来拜访，见到这些，大为惊讶。
Kenneth Harrison had been much amazed, for he well knew from conversations with Alan that a pure mathematician worked in a symbolic world and not with things.
肯尼斯·哈里森也感到非常吃惊，因为他经常与艾伦交谈，他非常了解，这位纯数学家是在符号世界中工作的，而不是与物理实体打交道。