Can you solve the magical maze riddle? - Alex Rosenthal

翻译人员: Sammi Wang 校对人员: Lexi Ding

Today is the annual Sly Wizard Tournament featuring competitors

今天是一年一度的狡猾巫师锦标赛，

from the wizarding world’s three greatest schools,

参赛选手来自巫师界的 三大魔法学校，

and you’ve been entrusted with an enormous responsibility.

而你被赋予了巨大的责任。

You are to administer the tournament.

你负责组织这场比赛。

First, you and you alone will determine how many events there will be

首先，你一个人要决定举办多少赛项

and their scoring system.

及其对应的计分系统。

Then the three wizards will enter your maze

然后，三位巫师将进入你的迷宫

and compete in your chosen events in utmost secrecy;

极秘密地参与你设定的赛项；

only you and they will see what happens.

只有你和他们自己知道发生的一切。

The competition begins and...

比赛开始了……

Wow, that was one for the record books.

哇，这真是创纪录的一次比赛。

The winner was... wait, you have no idea.

赢家是……等等，你并不知道是谁。

The last thing you remember was a dark wizard showing up

你记得的最后一件事 是一个黑巫师出现

and casting a forgetting curse.

并施了个遗忘诅咒。

The competitors seem even more confused— each is convinced they won.

三位参赛选手似乎更加困惑—— 他们每个人都确信是自己赢了。

This is bad.

太糟糕了。

There can be no do-overs,

比赛没法重来，

and the last failure to declare a winner set off the first Great Wizarding War.

上一场没有成功判定输赢的比赛 可是引发了第一次巫师大战。

You’ve got to figure this out— and fast.

你必须搞定这件事——还得尽快。

But for the life of you, you can’t remember a thing.

但你却怎么都记不起来。

You know you had to follow a few rules:

你知道一些比赛规则：

there had to be three or more events, each with a single winner and loser.

当时有三个以上的赛项， 每项只有一个赢家和一个输家。

Every event used the same scoring system,

所有赛项的计分系统都一样，

where first place received more points than second,

第一名获得的分数比第二名多，

and second more than third.

第二名获得的分数比第三名多。

All points were positive integers.

所有分数均为正整数。

Maybe there’s a record somewhere... oh, of course, your scorecard.

也许某个地方有分数记录…… 哦，对了，你手里的记分卡。

Well, that leaves something to be desired.

嗯，这还不够。

All that you wrote down was that in Calchemy,

你只写下了在炼金术比赛中，

Newt-niz won, Leib-ton took second,

纽特·尼兹获胜， 里伯·顿获得第二名，

and that was the only time Magnificent Marigold’s Magical Macademy

而这也是华丽万寿菊魔法学院

got third all day.

全天唯一一次获得第三名。

Oh, and some final scores:

哦，还有总分：

one school got 22 points, and both of the others got 9.

一所学校获得了 22 分， 其他两所各获得了 9 分。

Why are you so bad at taking notes?!

你怎么这么不擅长记分呢？！

No time for self-recrimination.

没时间自责了。

The wizarding world is waiting.

整个巫师界都在等待。

Who won the tournament?

到底是谁赢了比赛？

Pause here to figure it out yourself. Answer in 3

暂停三秒，尝试自己算清楚。

Answer in 2

还有两秒

Answer in 1

最后一秒

At first, it may seem like there are an overwhelming number

一开始，比赛分数似乎有很多种

of possible scoring systems,

可能的组成形式，

so let's see if we can narrow our options.

所以我们先看看能不能缩小范围。

We can start by looking for clues in the total scores.

我们可以先在总分中寻找线索。

Every event was scored the same way,

每项赛事的计分方式相同，

so the sum of all points in the entire tournament

所以整个比赛中所有积分的总和

must be a multiple of one event’s total.

一定是某项赛事总分的倍数。

In other words, if there were three events that scored 3, 2, 1,

换句话说，如果有三项比赛， 第一到三名得分为 3、2、1，

which adds up to 6, the total points for the day would be 18,

加起来一共 6 分， 那么比赛当天的总分为 18 分，

which is three events times 6 points.

也就是三项赛事乘以 6。

Our total is 40.

已知此次比赛的总分是 40。

So we can make a table of possibilities: one event totaling 40 points,

因此，我们可以列出可能的情况： 只有一项比赛，则该项总分为 40，

two totaling 20, four totaling 10, and so on.

两项则每项比赛总分为 20， 四项则每项 10 分，以此类推。

We know there were at least three events, which eliminates these options,

我们知道至少有三项比赛 因此可以排除这些可能，

and we can also get rid of events with fewer than 6 points,

单项比赛总分小于 6 的也可以排除，

because the smallest possible total is 3 plus 2 plus 1.

因为单项比赛总分 最少为 3 加 2 加 1。

That leaves two prospects.

就剩两个选择了。

Let’s try to narrow those further by breaking down the possible points

我们尝试通过细分 每项赛事中可能的分数组合

earned in each event:

来进一步缩小范围：

if first place received 7 points,

如果第一名得 7 分，

the teams that had totals of 9 couldn’t have won an event

那么总分为 9 的队伍 一项比赛都没赢过，

because their total score would be 10 or more.

否则他们的总分 将达到 10 分以上。

That means the team with 22 would have to have won all four.

这意味着获得 22 分的队伍 赢了全部四场比赛。

But then their total would be 28, so we can eliminate that option.

但这样的话，他们的总分应该是 28， 因此我们可以排除这种可能。

And with four events, these numbers can't be made to add up to 22.

而且如果一共四项比赛， 这些数字加起来都不等于 22。

Finally, if first place got 5 points,

最后，如果第一名得 5 分，

the highest possible score with four events would be 20,

那么四项比赛都赢了 也只能获得 20 分，

getting rid of these two as well.

所以这两种可能也可以排除。

In fact, five events scoring 4 each could only reach 20 as well.

如果有五项比赛，赢一项得 4 分， 那么总分也只有 20 分。

That leaves us with just one possibility:

那么就剩一种可能了：

five events each scored 5, 2, 1.

五项比赛的第一到三名 获得的分数分别为 5、2、1 。

There’s exactly one way to make those scores add up to 22:

只有一种情况下 这些分数加起来为 22 分：

the winner finished first four times and second once.

获胜者获得第一名四次， 获得第二名一次。

The scores of 9 mean one team won once and lost four times,

总分 9 分的一支队伍 赢过一次，输了四次

and the other lost once and took second four times.

另一队输了一次，获得第二名四次。

That must be Marigold’s Macademy,

这支队伍一定是华丽万寿菊，

whose only third place finish was Calchemy based on your note.

根据你的记录，他们唯一一次第三名 是在炼金术比赛中获得的。

And Leib-ton’s second place finish in Calchemy means they scored 22

而里伯·顿在炼金术中获得第二名 意味着他们总分为 22 分，

and won the Sly Wizard Tournament.

赢得了狡猾巫师锦标赛。

You have just enough evidence to prove it, keep your job, and avert war.

你的证据刚好足以证明这一点， 你保住了工作，也避免了一场战争。

Phew!

呼！