Can you solve the jail break riddle? - Dan Finkel

翻译人员: x Vicky 校对人员: Alex Liu

Your timing made you and your partner

你的时机把控让你和你的搭档

the most infamous bank robbers in the west.

成为了西方最臭名昭著的银行劫匪。

Now, you’ll need to use that timing to help you break out of jail.

现在，你要等待时机越狱。

At the appointed time, you’ll be walking in the yard near the electric fence.

在约定的时间， 你要走到院子的带电栅栏旁。

Your partner will flash you the signal,

你的搭档将会给你发出信号，

and exactly 45 seconds later,

并且在45秒后

short out the fence circuit.

电栅栏将会短路。

It’ll automatically restart after a second or two,

再过一两秒， 电栅栏的电路又会自动重启，

but as long as you move fast,

但是只要你动作迅速，

you’ll be home free.

你就可以越狱成功。

And then you notice,

之后，

to your horror,

你惊恐的发现

that your watch is broken,

你的手表坏了，

and there’s no time to fix it.

也没有时间去修它。

The signal is coming,

但是信号来了，

and if you make even a small mistake in counting off 45 seconds,

如果你在数这45秒的时候 只要犯了一点小小的错误

you’ll get fried.

你将会被电焦。

Searching your pockets,

翻了一下口袋，

you find something that might help:

你发现了一些可能帮助到你的东西：

a lighter and two fuses you made earlier in the prison work program.

你在之前监狱劳改中做的 一个打火机和两条保险丝。

Each fuse is a length of flammable twine,

每一节保险丝都是一段易燃的线，

built to be lit on either end and burn for precisely one minute.

可以在点燃任何一端的情况下燃烧一分钟。

The problem is that even though the fuses look uniform,

但问题是，即使这些保险丝看起来很均匀，

they don’t burn evenly,

但它们并不能均匀地燃烧。

so if you cut one in half, for example,

所以如果你把它剪成两段，

one side might burn longer than the other.

一段可能会比另一段燃烧地时间长。

Your partner is going to give the signal any minute,

你的搭档会在任何时间给你信号，

and you’ll have to make your move.

你不得不行动。

How can you use the fuses and lighter to time exactly 45 seconds?

你怎么能用打火机和 保险丝准确地计算45秒呢？

Pause the video to figure it out yourself.

请先暂停视频， 自己思考一下答案

Answer in 3

答案3秒后出现

Answer in 2

答案2秒后出现

Answer in 1

答案1秒后出现

The length of the fuse may not tell you anything,

保险丝的长度并不会 帮助你解决任何问题，

but you do know the fuses take exactly 60 seconds to burn from end to end.

但你知道保险丝从一段 燃烧到另一段正好是60秒，

Here’s the key insight:

这是解决问题的关键，

If you start a fuse on one side and it burns for 30 seconds,

如果你点燃保险丝的一段并且燃烧了30秒，

there’ll still be 30 seconds of fuse left.

那么剩余的保险丝也会燃烧30秒。

If you had started it from the other end,

如果你从另一段点燃，

it would’ve reached the exact same spot in thirty seconds.

那么在30秒的时候将会到达和刚才一样的点。

That means that if you lit it from both ends simultaneously,

这就意味着如果你 同时点燃保险丝的两端，

it would burn out in precisely 30 seconds.

这条保险丝将会准确地 在30秒的时候燃烧完。

But how will you time the last fifteen?

但是剩下的15秒怎么办？

That’ll have to come from the second fuse.

这就要用到第二条保险丝了，

If it were a 30 second fuse,

如果这是一条30秒就能燃烧完的保险丝，

you’d be able to use that same trick again

你可以用同样的方法，

to double the burning speed and make it last exactly 15 seconds.

两头点燃就是正好地15秒。

And, you realize, you can shorten the second fuse

并且你发现你可以缩短第二条保险丝，

by lighting one end of it at the same time as you light the first.

在你点燃第一条保险丝的时候 就点燃第二条的一端。

At the moment the first burns out,

当第一条燃尽的时候，

you’ll be left with 30 seconds on the second fuse.

你会剩下一条可以在30秒烧完的保险丝。

Just when you’ve got this all figured out,

正好在你解决了问题的时候，

you see the signal from your partner,

你看到了搭档的信号，

and spring into action.

开始行动。

You gather the four ends of the two fuses and light three of them.

你把两条保险丝的三头点燃，

The moment the first burns out,

当第一条烧尽的时候，

you light the other end of the second fuse.

再点燃第二条保险丝的另一头。

When it flickers and dies,

当第二条也烧尽时，

you know that exactly 45 seconds have passed,

正好45秒过去了，

and the electric fence is dead.

此时电栅栏停止供电。

By the time it hiccups back to life,

当它再次通电时，

you’re over the fence and home free.

你已经越过了栅栏并且越狱成功。