Wilkes wrote apparently in ignorance of the fact that at the NPL they already had Version VII of a detailed design, for which six months' hard work had been put into writing programs.
很明显，威尔克斯根本不知道，国家物理实验室已经完了7个版本的详细设计，而且已经做了六个月的辛苦的编程工作。
Even to contemplate Wilkes' proposal, as Womersley apparently did, was to undermine his own division's work.
威尔克斯的提议，令沃默斯利困惑了好几天，甚至耽误了手头的工作。
On 10 December he passed the proposal to Alan, whose reaction was understandably brusque:
12月10日，他把这份提议交给图灵，图灵的反应非常直接：
Mr Womersley:
沃默斯利先生：
I have read Wilkes' proposals for a pilot machine, and agree with him as regards the desirability of some such machine somewhere.
我已经看完了威尔克斯关于原型机的提议，我很赞赏他对这项工作的热情，
I also agree with him as regards the suitability of the number of delay lines he suggests.
我也很赞赏他对于延迟线数量及其稳定性的一些想法。
The 'code' which he suggests is however very contrary to the line of development here, and much more in the American tradition of solving one's difficulties by means of much equipment rather than by thought.
但是，他的提议与我们的发展路线完全不同，他与美国那边比较像，他依靠硬件设备来解决问题，而不是依靠思想。
I should imagine that to put his code (which is advertised as 'reduced to the simplest possible form' ) into effect would require a very much more complex control circuit than is proposed in our full-size machine.
我考虑了一下，如果要实现他的原型机，我们就需要大量的电路组件，甚至比我们计划的完整机器还要多。
Furthermore certain operations which we regard as more fundamental than addition and multiplication have been omitted.
而我们认为的一些最基本的运算，比如加法或乘法，他却没有包括。
It might be argued that if one is to have so little memory then it is necessary to have a complex control to make up.
在存储容量有限的情形下，是否必须要开发超级复杂的控制系统，这个是有争议的。
In so far as this is true I would say that it is an argument for either having no pilot model, or for not using it for serious problems.
目前来看确实如此，但是我认为，在我们做出原型并进行充分的实验之前，还不能下定论。
It is clearly rank folly to develop a complex control merely for the sake of the pilot model.
因此，为原型机开发如此复杂的控制系统是很荒唐的。
I favour a model with a control of negligible size which can later be expanded if desired. Only test problems would be worked on the minimal machine.
我更倾向于开发一个最小规模的原型，仅针对我们的测试实验，将来如果有必要，我们可以再逐渐扩展。