Meanwhile Alan's work on the RCA cipher seemed to show that his method would not work.
与此同时，艾伦发现，他之前关于打乱时间顺序的加密系统的想法，似乎不具有可行性。
He joined in the work of the 'cell' on another approach to the problem.
于是他又加入另一个隔间，研究针对该问题的另一种方案。
Despite the great technical secrecy, there were enough straws in the wind for his colleagues to realise that he was doing other, top-level, work.
尽管有严格的保密制度，但他的同事还是发现，他正在进行最高级别的研究，因此发生了一个小故事。
Thus it was noted that while speaking with H. Nyquist, one of the top Bell consultants working on the X-system, Alan had met William Friedman, who was the chief American cryptanalyst. It got back to the 'cell' that Alan was 'the top cryptanalyst in England'.
有一次，艾伦见了美国首席密码分析员威廉姆·弗雷德曼，于是隔间的同事就知道了，原来艾伦是英国最高级别的密码分析员。
One of his colleagues there, Alex Fowler, heard this and saying, 'Oh, you can help me,' produced a newspaper puzzle.
有一位同事名叫亚历克斯·弗洛，他听说这件事后，对艾伦说："哎，你帮我一个忙。
'That's one of those Herald Tribune cryptograms,' replied Alan, 'I've never been able to do those.'
"然后他拿出一份报纸，上面有个解谜游戏。艾伦看后回答说："我从来不做这类东西。"
He sometimes mentioned his previous period in America, and his connection with Church, and some of the mathematicians at Bell were aware of the Turing machine.
艾伦有时会讲起他曾经的故事，还有他与丘奇的关系，贝尔有些数学家知道图灵机。
But he still found it difficult to adjust to American civilities.
但是，艾伦仍然觉得很难适应美国的风土人情。
New acquaintances at Bell Labs complained of Alan giving no sign of recognition or greeting when he passed them in the halls; instead, he seemed to 'look straight through them'.
这里的同事抱怨说，艾伦在走廊里遇见他们时，从来没有一点认识或问候的迹象，他似乎总是把别人当成透明，视线直直地穿过他们。
Alex Fowler, who was an older man of just over forty, was able to take Alan to task.
亚历克斯·弗洛当时已经40多岁，比艾伦年长，他为此曾经责备过艾伦。
He was abject, but made an explanation hinting at why he found so many aspects of life difficult.
艾伦解释他为什么很难适应这里的习俗：
'You know at Cambridge,' he said, 'you come out in the morning and it's redundant to keep saying hallo, hallo, hallo.'
"你知道吗，在剑桥，你早上出门，用不着一直说你好，你好，你好。"
He was too conscious of what he was doing, to slip into conventions without thinking. But he promised to do better.
他的全部精力都在工作上，没有闲心学习这些新传统，不过他答应会尽量做得好一点。