纪录片《费马最后的定理》 第25期 痛苦的煎熬

That's where the problem was in the method of Flach and Kolyvagin that I'd extended¹,

这个问题正出在我进行拓展了的弗拉赫和科里瓦金的方法之中，

so once I realised that at the end of September,

因此我在9月末一意识到

that there was really a problem with the way I'd made the construction,

在我搭建架构的的方法当中确实有一个问题时

I spent the fall trying to think what kind of modifications² could be made to the construction.

我用了整个秋天来考虑对于这个架构可以做什么样的修改。

There are lots of simple and rather natural modifications, any one of which might work.

有许多简单而且自然而然的修改方法，其中之一可能行得通。

And every time he would try and fix it in one corner some other difficulty³ would add up in another corner.

而每次当他试着改好一个方面，又会有些难题加在另一个方面上。

It was like he was trying to put a carpet in a room where the carpet had more size than the room,

这就好似他想要给一个房间铺上地毯，而地毯的尺寸要比房间的大，

but he could put it in any corner and then when he ran to the other corner, it would pop up in this corner

但他可以先将任何一个角拉平，但他跑向另一个角时，这个角上的就会翘起来，

and whether you could not put the carpet in the room was not something that he was able to decide.

是否可以将地毯安稳地置入房间之中不是他能够决定的事。

I think he externally⁴ appeared normal but at this point he was keeping a secret from the world

我想从外表来看他一如平常，但在此时他对外守着一个秘密，

and I think he must have been in fact pretty uncomfortable about it.

我认为事实上他一定是对此相当地不舒服

Well you know we were behaving a little bit like Kremlinologists.

要知道，我们的行为就有点像是苏联政体研究者。

Nobody actually liked to come out and ask him how he's getting on with the proof⁵,

没人会愿意出头问他那证明进行得怎么样了，

so somebody would say I saw Andrew this morning.

所以倒会说今天早上我看到安德鲁了。

Did he smile? Well yes, but he didn't look too happy.

他笑了吗？是的，但看不去不怎么高兴。

The first seven years I'd worked on this problem, I loved every minute of it.

我研究这个难题的头七年，每分钟我都喜欢。

However hard it had been there'd been setbacks often, there'd been things that had seemed insurmountable

不管有多么艰难，经常有多少挫折，有多少看来是不可逾越的事情，

but it was a kind of private and very personal battle I was engaged⁶ in.

但那是一种我所进行的隐秘而非常个人的战斗。

And then after there was a problem with it,

而接着出现了一个问题

doing mathematics⁷ in that kind of rather over- exposed way is certainly not my style and I have no wish to repeat it.

在那种相当过度曝光的方式下研究数学肯定不是我的风格，而且我不愿意去重复它。

1 extended   

adj.延伸的；伸展的；延长的；扩大的v.延伸(extend的过去式和过去分词)；伸展；延长

参考例句：

• an extended lunch hour 延长了的午餐时间
• France has greatly extended its influence in world affairs. 在世界事务中，法国的影响已大大地扩大了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 modifications   

n.缓和( modification的名词复数 )；限制；更改；改变

参考例句：

• The engine was pulled apart for modifications and then reassembled. 发动机被拆开改型，然后再组装起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The original plan had undergone fairly extensive modifications. 原计划已经作了相当大的修改。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 difficulty   

n.困难，费劲；难事，难题；麻烦，困境

参考例句：

• If there is any difficulty,please let us know promptly.倘有困难，请迅速通知我们。
• A little difficulty like this is nothing to us.这点困难算不了什么。

4 externally   

adv.在（或从）外部，在（或从）外面，外表上

参考例句：

• The course is externally examined. 这门课程受校外考核。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This medicine is to be applied externally. 这药是用于外敷的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 proof   

adj.防...的，耐...的，能防护；n.校样，证据，证明；vt.检验，给...做防护措施

参考例句：

• He is living proof of the wonders of modern medicine.他是当代医学奇迹的活证明。
• The proof was fished up from some old papers.校样在旧文件中被找到了。

6 engaged   

a.having agree to get married

参考例句：

• They are engaged in talks with the Irish government. 他们正忙着与爱尔兰政府谈判。
• The old lady engaged herself in making clothes for her children. 这位老太太忙着为孩子们做衣服。

7 mathematics   

n.（用作单）数学；（用作单或复）计算(能力）

参考例句：

• He has come out in front in the study of mathematics.他在数学方面已名列前茅。
• She is working at a difficult problem in mathematics.她在做一道数学难题。