TED演讲：试验 排除错误和万能神力(12)

 　　And you sometimes need to be shocked out of that.  而有的时候我们需要把这种感觉抖掉。

　　Now I'm not going to pretend that this is easy. It isn't easy. It's incredibly painful. 现在我不想假装这是件容易的事情。这并不容易。这会是个痛苦的过程。

　　And since I started talking about this subject and researching this subject,  自从我开始谈论这个话题，研究这个话题，

　　I've been really haunted¹ by something a Japanese mathematician² said on the subject.  我的脑海里一直萦绕着，一个日本数学家在这个话题上说过的话。

　　So shortly after the war, this young man, Yutaka Taniyama,  战争一结束，这个年轻人，谷山丰，

　　developed this amazing conjecture³ called the Taniyama-Shimura Conjecture.  提出了惊人的推测，称作“谷山-志村猜想”。

　　It turned out to be absolutely instrumental⁴ many decades later in proving Fermat's Last Theorem.  结果为几十年后证明费马大定理，奠定了基础。

　　In fact, it turns out it's equivalent⁵ to proving Fermat's Last Theorem.  事实上，它和费马大定理是等效的。

　　You prove one, you prove the other. But it was always a conjecture.  你证明了一个，就证明了另一个。但是它只是一个猜想。

　　Taniyama tried and tried and tried and he could never prove that it was true.  谷山丰试了一遍又一遍，但是他无法证明它就是正确的。

　　And shortly before his 30th birthday in 1958, Yutaka Taniyama killed himself.  1958年的他，刚刚过了30岁生日，谷山丰结束了自己的生命。

　　His friend, Goro Shimura -- who worked on the mathematics with him -- many decades later, reflected on Taniyama's life.  他的朋友，和他一起研究数学的志村五郎——几十年后回顾谷山丰的生平时，

　　He said, "He was not a very careful person as a mathematician. He made a lot of mistakes. 他说：“他不是一个很仔细的人，作为一个数学家，他犯了很多错误。”

　　But he made mistakes in a good direction. I tried to emulate⁶ him,  但是他能朝好的方向犯错。我想效仿他，

　　but I realized it is very difficult to make good mistakes." Thank you. 但是我发现能朝好的方向犯错，很难。”谢谢。

1 haunted   

adj.闹鬼的；受到折磨的；令人烦恼的v.“haunt”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• There was a haunted look in his eyes. 他眼中透露出忧虑的神色。
• The country is haunted by the spectre of civil war. 内战仿佛一触即发，举国上下一片恐慌。

2 mathematician   

n.数学家

参考例句：

• The man with his back to the camera is a mathematician.背对着照相机的人是位数学家。
• The mathematician analyzed his figures again.这位数学家再次分析研究了他的这些数字。

3 conjecture   

n./v.推测，猜测

参考例句：

• She felt it no use to conjecture his motives.她觉得猜想他的动机是没有用的。
• This conjecture is not supported by any real evidence.这种推测未被任何确切的证据所证实。

4 instrumental   

adj.仪器的，器械的，乐器的，起作用的，有帮助的

参考例句：

• It is an instrumental work.这是一部可以用乐器演奏的作品。
• He was instrumental in catching the criminal.在捉拿那个罪犯的过程中，他起了作用。

5 equivalent   

adj.（to）相等的，等价的；n.相等物，等值物

参考例句：

• Nodding your head is equivalent to saying "yes".点头就等于说“赞同”。
• You will receive the full equivalent of your money.你将收到与你的款项价值完全同等的物品。

6 emulate   

v.努力赶上或超越，与…竞争；效仿

参考例句：

• You must work hard to emulate your sister.你必须努力工作，赶上你姐姐。
• You must look at the film and try to emulate his behavior.你们必须观看这部电影，并尽力模仿他的动作。