Can you solve the cuddly duddly fuddly wuddly riddle? - Dan Finkel

翻译人员: Carol Wang

For your son’s sixth birthday,

你儿子的六岁生日要来了，

you’ve promised to get him the cutest creature in creation:

你承诺要给他一只 世界上最可爱的宠物：

the cuddly.

卡迪。

It’s hard to believe that it’s a cousin of the terrifying duddly

难以置信的是， 卡迪有两个堂兄弟，

or the hideous fuddly.

面目狰狞的杜迪 和丑恶的法迪。

They’re all members of the Wuddly species,

它们都是瓦迪家族成员，

and the process of adopting them is deeply peculiar.

而领养它们的过程也别具一格，

It takes 100 eggs to make a single animal in genus Wuddly.

要融合100枚蛋 才能得到一只瓦迪成员。

When 100 eggs are placed together in an incubator,

把100枚蛋放入孵化器后，

they undergo egg fusion, and combine in the following way.

融合开始，并以下列方式进行组合。

Blue and purple combine to make red eggs.

蓝色和紫色合成红色蛋，

Red and blue combine to make purple eggs,

红色和蓝色合成紫色蛋，

and red and purple combine to make blue eggs.

红色和紫色会合成蓝色蛋。

The most plentiful eggs pair up first,

数量最多的一组会先融合，

and if two piles are even,

如果其中两堆数量相同，

an egg comes from one of them at random.

会随机从中选一枚进行融合。

They keep combining until there’s just one left.

不断两两相融，直至只剩一枚蛋。

If the final egg is blue,

如果最后的蛋是蓝的，

a Cuddly hatches out of it.

会孵出卡迪，

Purple eggs give you Duddlies,

紫色的会是杜迪，

and Red eggs give you Fuddlies.

红色则是法迪。

The incubator currently has 99 eggs in it.

现在，孵化器里有99枚蛋。

23 are blue, 33 are purple, and 43 are red.

23枚蓝蛋、33枚紫蛋、43枚红蛋。

You can begin the process of egg fusion by adding an egg of any color to the room.

你只需再放入一个任意颜色的蛋， 融合过程即可开始。

When all the eggs have combined into a single egg,

当所有的蛋融合成一个，

the creature that hatches will bond with you on sight,

孵化后的动物会对你一见钟情，

which is why getting a Cuddly is so important.

因此，得到卡迪就格外重要。

After all, you made a promise to your son.

毕竟，你承诺过儿子要给他卡迪。

Which color egg should you add to the incubator to get a cuddly?

那么，放哪枚蛋才能得到卡迪呢？

Pause the video to figure it out for yourself.

若想自己解题，可暂停视频

Answer in 3

答案公布倒计时：3

Answer in 2

答案公布倒计时：2

Answer in 1

答案公布倒计时：1

It’s easy to get mixed up with all the cuddlies, duddlies, and fuddlies

不同颜色孵出卡迪、杜迪和法迪，

coming from different colored eggs.

很容易把人弄糊涂，

If we ignore how many total eggs of each color there are,

如果先忽略各自的数量，

and just look at the process of egg fusion,

只看融合过程，

we might notice something that will make this problem simpler.

会发现这让问题简化了。

When two eggs fuse,

当两枚蛋融合时，

the number of eggs of each of those colors decreases by one,

各自数量将分别减一，

and the number of the third color increases by one.

而第三种蛋的数量则加一，

That means they all change parity,

其奇偶性同时发生了改变，

or evenness and oddness, at the same time.

即同时偶变奇，奇变偶。

Right now all three piles are odd, but you get to add an egg to one color,

目前三堆蛋都是奇数 ， 但你要加一枚某个颜色的蛋，

which means that it’ll be even and the other two will be odd.

三堆蛋数量变成一偶、两奇。

Whichever color you choose

无论你选什么颜色，

will always be the opposite parity of the other two piles:

总是一种蛋是偶数， 另两种蛋是奇数：

odd when they’re even and even when they’re odd,

一奇两偶，或一偶两奇，

since every egg fusion flips each pile’s parity simultaneously.

因为每次融合 会同时改变其奇偶性。

We want to end with 1 blue, 0 purple, and 0 red eggs, or odd, even, even.

最终我们想要：1枚蓝蛋、 0枚紫蛋和红蛋，即一奇两偶，

That means we want the blue egg pile to be the opposite parity

也就是说，融合开始前，

of the other two piles at the start as well.

蓝蛋与其它两种奇偶性相反。

So you add a blue egg into the room,

因此，你放入一个蓝蛋，

and 99 egg fusions later,

历经99次蛋融合，

only a single blue egg remains.

最后只剩一个蓝蛋。

The Cuddly that hatches is sure to make your 6-year-old as happy as can be.

孵化出的卡迪 令你六岁的儿子高兴万分。

Just be sure to follow the shopkeeper’s warning,

但千万铭记店主的建议，

and never feed it after midnight.

午夜十二点后请勿喂食。