Can you solve the giant spider riddle? - Dan Finkel

翻译人员: Ivy Jin 校对人员: Helen Chang

Once every century, the world’s greatest spiders gather to compete

每一百年，世界上所有最厉害的蜘蛛们

会聚集在一起，参加一场 非常严格的比赛。

in a series of grueling games.

The winner will become the next arachnomonarch,

赢家将会成为下一个蜘蛛王，

able to command all the world’s spiders to their will.

它具有根据自己的意愿 指挥世上所有的蜘蛛的权利。

That day is today, and for the first time,

今天就是大赛的日子，

也是你第一次参赛的日子。

you’re casting your name into the ring.

From Anansi to Arachne to Aragog,

从阿南西到阿拉克尼到阿拉戈格，

all of the titans of the spider world are here,

蜘蛛界所有的巨头都来了，

and at first, no one even notices itsy-bitsy you.

而一开始，根本就没有蜘蛛 注意到你这个小透明。

But after wowing the crowd with your web design

但在你织的网惊艳众蜘蛛，

and sticking it to the competition in the long-distance sling,

然后在远距离抛掷项目中表现出色后，

you’ve qualified for the finals.

你获得了进入决赛的资格。

Now all that remains is to face off against the reigning champion,

最后一步就是面对上一届冠军，

Queen Shelob,

尸罗皇后，

on the Whirled Wide Web, and win the title from her.

在国际蜘蛛网上 将蜘蛛王的名号赢到手。

The web stretches over a large chasm,

这个网挂在一个巨大的深渊之上，

with intersecting strands coming to a single point on the other side.

交叉的网在悬崖的另一边 会逐渐汇成一个点。

Moving across each strand requires a careful dash,

在每一根网上行走都要格外小心，

and you must keep going until you stop at the next hub

而且中间不能停下，

直到你到达下一个交叉点。

where two strands cross.

By ancient spider code, only one competitor may traverse the web at a time.

根据古老的蜘蛛法则， 每次只能有一只参赛者在网上行动。

You must take turns, moving from one intersection to an adjacent one.

你们必须轮流行动， 从一个交叉点挪到下一个。

No one may spin new paths into existence or skip turns.

参赛者不可以自己织新的网， 也不能在原地不动。

You begin two spaces from Shelob, and to win,

开始时，你距离尸罗两个交叉点，

想赢的话，你必须在十轮以内抓到她。

you must catch her by your tenth move.

Can you attain the mantle of spider supremacy?

你能成为最至高无上的蜘蛛吗？

Pause here to figure it out for yourself. Answer in 3

在这里暂停，自己思考一下 解决方案，倒计时：三

Answer in 2

二

Answer in 1

一

It’s tempting to trap Shelob in a corner, but doing so is surprisingly tricky.

你想把尸罗困在角落里， 但是比想象中要困难。

The layout of the web is such that every move you make,

蜘蛛网的布局使得你每走一步，

Shelob can get to another intersection two away from you.

尸罗就可以走到 距离你两个交叉点的位置。

So even if you were to drive her into a corner, she’d escape it easily.

所以即使你把她困在角落里， 她也能轻易逃跑。

There are no dead ends,

没有死角，

so there’s never a situation where she’d be forced to move to your space.

所以永远不会出现她必须 挪到你的位置上的情况。

However, there is this point up here where all the strands converge.

不过，这边有一个所有蜘蛛丝 汇集在一起的点。

It's easy to see that it's important,

很显然，这个点很重要，

but the challenge is figuring out exactly what to do with it.

但要怎样利用这个点呢？

There’s a clever way of re-visualizing the problem:

重新审视这个问题有一个巧妙的方法：

try coloring every intersection one of two colors—

先把每一个交叉点都涂上 两种颜色中的一种，

say red and blue—

比如红色和蓝色，

where the same color never borders itself.

而颜色不能出现相邻的情况。

What you get is a checkerboard pattern,

你获得的是一个棋盘一样的图案，

then one space at the point which you can’t make either color.

还有一个点无法涂任何颜色。

At the beginning of the game, every time you move to red,

在游戏开始时，每当你挪到红色的点，

Shelob will be on blue,

尸罗会在蓝色的点上，

and every time you move to blue, Shelob will be on red.

而每当你挪到蓝色的点上， 尸罗就会在红色的点上。

In other words, unless something changes,

简单地说，不出意外的话，

you can never move onto the same intersection as her.

你永远都不可能 和她到达同一个交叉点。

And that’s where the point comes in.

而这个时候，那个最重要的绿点 就要发挥它的作用了。

As indicated by its unique color, it’s the one place you can break the pattern

这个点是你唯一的突破点，

and change the rhythm of moves.

也可以利用这个点来改变 参赛者挪动的规律。

So you should waste no time in getting up there.

所以不要浪费时间，直接去绿点。

Shelob could now be in any one of these red spaces,

尸罗现在可能在任何一个红点上，

and you have at most 6 moves left to catch her.

而你还有六轮时间来抓住她。

But thanks to the colors we've added,

因为我们先前 给每个交叉点上涂了颜色，

we can now focus on the one thing that matters the most:

我们现在只需要专注一件事：

changing the color pattern.

改变你们所落的点的颜色规律。

Shelob is on red, so you should move onto red on the second or fourth strand.

尸罗在红点上，那么你应该 挪到第二根或第四根的红点上。

Now, Shelob can never move to any of the spots neighboring you,

现在，尸罗不能挪到 和你相邻的交叉点上了，

giving you a kind of net to use to catch her.

这也给了你抓住她的路线。

你现在可以试着凭借直觉 选择接下来要走哪步，

You may have luck choosing your moves through intuition at this point.

But if you want to get algorithmic about it,

但如果你想通过计算来解决问题的话，

you could track how far away she is horizontally and vertically,

你可以现在数数她横向和纵向 分别离你有多远，

as two numbers.

获得两个数字。

On your move, shrink the larger of the two,

轮到你时，先把两个数字中 较大的那个数字缩小，

and no matter which direction she runs, she’ll have to hit an edge.

无论她往哪个方向跑， 她都会碰到悬崖的一面。

Eventually, you'll have backed her into one of the two corners

最终，你会将她困在其中一个角落里，

and catch up to her at the last possible moment.

在最后一轮的时候抓住她。

You snatch the ceremonial sash from your opponent

你把冠军腰带从对手手中抢来，

and wrap it around yourself.

挂在了自己身上。

You are now the Spider Supreme,

你现在是蜘蛛中的王者，

leader of all the world’s eight-legged wonders.

世上所有的蜘蛛都听命于你。

你要谨记，得到无上的权利的同时， 也要肩负起相当大的责任。

Just remember— with great spider power comes great spider responsibility.