They were only just in time and, had they fallen behind by a few months, might never have caught up. In the spring of 1940 it was particularly precarious,
他们的打孔卡片及时赶上了，如果他们落后几个月，线索链就会断开，他们就永远无法追上了。1940年春天的情况尤其危险，
as they held on with a mixture of ingenuity and intuition—or as the military were likely to call it, sheer bloody guesswork.
而他们凭借智力和直觉，坚强地挺过来了。
Guessing and hoping were entirely characteristic of current British operations.
现在，英方行动的主要特点，就是猜测和希望。
The government had little more idea of how a war could be won, or even of what was happening, than did the public.
对于战争如何才能胜利，政府也完全没有主意。
It seemed that the British and German armed forces had, after all, agreed to have a battle again,
英国和德国，就像《爱丽丝镜中奇遇》里的叮当哥和叮当弟，他们都同意要打一架，
but the British Tweedledee was decidedly reluctant to be the one to start, and the German Tweedledum expected it all to be over by six o'clock.
但叮当弟英国却不愿意先动手，而叮当哥德国则希望打到六点就去吃饭。
Tweedledee's weaponry was still concealed behind Chamberlain's umbrella.
叮当弟的武器就是张伯伦的雨伞。
The Red King was snoring on the square to the east, and no one (not even at Bletchley) knew what he was dreaming of.
红国王在东边打鼾，没有人知道他在做什么梦（连布莱切利庄园的人也不知道）。
The blockade was supposed to bring an already 'stretched' Germany to crack from within, if only Britain could 'hold out'.
只要英国顶住，似乎扩张了的德国的封锁就会从内部崩溃。
Half desired, half dreaded by the British rulers, was the reappearance of the Monstrous Crow, currently flapping ambiguously on the other side of the Atlantic.
而英国即渴望又害怕"大乌鸦"飞过来，而眼下它正在大西洋的另一边，雄心勃勃地振翅。