Thus a problem might easily need a storage of three million entries, and if each entry was equally likely to be the next required the average journey up the tape would be through a million entries, and this would be intolerable.
一个实际问题，可以很容易地达到300万个存储项，假设它们的排列是随机的，那么每次访问存储器时，就需要移动平均100万次，这是无法忍受的。
One needs some form of memory with which any required entry can be reached at short notice.
我们需要一种存储形式，能够在很短的时间内访问到需要的存储项。
This difficulty presumably used to worry the Egyptians when their books were written on papyrus scrolls.
这个困难，也许常常使古埃及人感到苦恼，因为他们总在沙草纸卷上书写，
It must have been slow work looking up references in them, and the present arrangement of written matter in books which can be opened at any point is greatly to be preferred.
要检索某个特定的内容是非常耗时的。而我们现在使用的书本，可以快速打开其中的一页。
We may say that storage on tape and papyrus scrolls is somewhat inaccessible. It takes a considerable time to find a given entry.
我们可以说，纸带或埃及纸卷这样的存储，是"不可读取的"，因为它们需要消耗大量的时间，才能找到一个特定的项目。
Memory in book form is a good deal better, and is certainly highly suitable when it is to be read by the human eye.
书本这种形式，就是相对更好的方案，更适合人类阅读。
We could even imagine a computing machine that was made to work with a memory based on books.
我们甚至可以想象一台以书本作为存储器的机器，
It would not be very easy but would be immensely preferable to the single long tape.
虽然这种方案存在很多困难，但至少比一条长纸带要好。
Let us for the sake of argument suppose that the difficulties involved in using books as memory were overcome, that is to say that mechanical devices for finding the right book and opening it at the right page, etc. etc. had been developed, imitating the use of human hands and eyes.
为了讨论这个问题，我们不妨假设有一种机器装置，能够模仿人类的眼睛和手，找到正确的书，并翻到正确的那一页。
The information contained in the books would still be rather inaccessible because of the time occupied in the mechanical motions.
但即便如此，书里的信息仍然是不可读取的"，因为翻书所需的机械运动，仍然要消耗很长时间。
One cannot turn a page over very quickly without tearing it, and if one were to do much book transportation, and do it fast, the energy involved would be very great.
翻得太快，会把书撕坏，而且要想快速地移动书本，则要消耗大量的能量。
Thus if we moved one book every millisecond and each were moved ten metres and weighed 200 grams, and if the kinetic energy were wasted each time, we should consume 1010 watts, about half the country's power consumption.
假如我们需要每毫秒将一本200克的书移动10米，而且其动能没有其它作用的话，那么该机器的能耗大约是1010瓦，相当于全国能耗总量的一半。
If we are to have a really fast machine then we must have our information, or at any rate a part of it, in a more accessible form than can be obtained with books.
所以，如果我们想构造一台高速的机器，就必须有一种更合理的存储机制，而不是书本。