All these questions remained to be explored, for the exigencies of the German cipher machines had barely scratched the surface of what could be done.
这些问题还都有待于研究，因为德国密码机只触及了问题的皮毛。
It was yet to be seen how much could be achieved by writing 'instruction notes', and yet to be seen whether a machine could behave like a brain in developing 'thinking spots' for itself.
他们没有看到"指令便条"的真正威力，也没有看到机器能否像大脑一样自动建立思维区。
As he had stressed in his discussions with Donald Michie, it had to be shown that a machine could learn.
正如他在与唐纳德·米奇讨论时强调的，机器肯定是可以自动学习的。
To explore these questions it would be necessary to have machines on which to experiment.
为了探索这些问题，必须要有机器来做实验，
But the almost incredible fact was that it would require only one machine, for the performance of any and all such experiments.
而惊人的事实是，只需要一台机器，就能运行所有的实验。
For a universal Turing machine could imitate the behaviour of any Turing machine whatever.
因为通用图灵机可以模拟任何图灵机的行为。
In 1936 the Universal Turing Machine had played a purely theoretical part in his attack upon the Hilbert Entscheidungs problem.
1936年，当图灵解决希尔伯特的可判定性问题时，通用图灵机是一个纯理论角色。
But in 1945 it had a very much more practical potential.
但是在1945年，它具有了更大的实用潜力。
For the Bombes and Colossi and all the other machines and mechanical processes were parasitic beasts, dependent upon the whims and blindness of the German cryptographers.
因为炸弹机、巨人机，还有其它机器和机械过程，它们都是寄生物，都依赖于德国密码人员的异想天开和粗心大意。
A change of mind on the other side of the Channel would mean that all the engineering that had been required to construct them would suddenly become useless.
海峡那边稍有一点变化，就意味着他们一切作废，从头再来。
It had happened right from the start, with the Polish 'fingerprint' file, their perforated sheets and their simple Bombe, and it had nearly led to catastrophe in the blackout of 1942.
这种困难从一开始就在发生，波兰人的"指印"文件、他们的打孔卡片和初级炸弹机，还有1942年情报中断期时差点发生的大灾难。