It would be a great convenience to say the least if the notation chosen were intelligible as mathematics when printed by the output ...

如果我们使用的语言能像数学语言那样清晰，就会容易许多……

once the suitable notation is decided, all that would be necessary would be to type more or less ordinary mathematics and a special routine called, say, 'Programme' would convert this into the necessary instructions to make the machine carry out the operations indicated.

只要选好了适当的语言，接下来就只需要数学，以及一个特殊的程序，这个程序能把这种语言转换成机器能够识别的指令。

This may sound rather Utopian, but I think it, or something like it, should be possible, and I think it would open the way to making a simple learning programme.

这听起来有点天方夜谭，但我相信这是可能的，而且这是实现机器学习的一个基础。

I have not thought very seriously about this for long, but as soon as I have finished the Draughts programme I intend to have a shot at it.

我的想法还不是很严格，等我做完手头的工作，我会认真研究一下。

He had been thinking about the learning process, not only in the classrooms of Harrow School, but by playing the logical game of Nim with a non-mathematical friend.

斯特拉齐对学习过程的思考，并不只在哈罗公学的教室里，还在他与朋友玩取子游戏注的时候。

Most mathematicians would know from Rouse Ball's old Mathematical Recreations that there was an infallible rule for a winning strategy, based on expressing the number of matches in each heap in binary notation.

大部分数学家都知道，在《数学之乐》中，劳斯·鲍尔利用二进制来表示每堆火柴的数量，从而给出了一个必胜策略。

Few people were likely to spot this rule through play, but Strachey's friend did notice a special case of it, namely that a player who could achieve the position (n,n,0) had won, for thereafter it was only necessary to copy the opponent's moves to reduce the heaps down to (0,0,0).

没有多少人能在游戏时总结出这样的策略，不过斯特拉齐的朋友却发现了一个特殊情况，即只要能够达到（n, n，0）这样的局面，就肯定能赢，因为在这之后，只需要一直模仿对手的取法，就能在最后使局面变成（0, 0，0）。

It was the element of abstraction achieved by a human learner that interested Strachey.

这是人类学习者得到的抽象想法，斯特拉齐觉得很有意思。

He had worked out a program which could keep a record of winning positions, and so improve its play by experience, but it could only store them individually, as (1,1,0), (2,2,0) and so on.

他编写了一个程序，把所有的必胜局面记下来，从而根据经验来提高胜率，但它只能离散而独立地存储这些局面，比如（1, 1，0）（2, 2，0）等。

This limitation soon allowed his novice friend to beat the program. Strachey wrote:

因为这个局限，他的朋友很快就击败了这个程序。斯特拉齐写道：

This shows very clearly, I think, that one of the most important features of thinking is the ability to spot new relationships when presented with unfamiliar material...

我认为这清楚地表明，思维的一个最重要的特征，就是能在独立的元素之间，找到新的联系……

and his Utopian 'Programme' was explained as one of his 'glimmerings of an idea as to how a machine might be made to do it.'

而他认为他之前所说的那种程序，正是使机器能够做到这一点的一个希望。

Alan's interests were by now centred on biology but he was still keen to develop such speculative ideas about mechanical thinking.

虽然图灵现在主要的兴趣是生物学，但他仍然喜欢琢磨关于机器学习的问题。