我现在在大学里的计算机科学系大楼
I’m in the Computer Science building at the University.
你们可能会疑惑一个化学教授来这里干什么
You might wonder what’s a chemistry professor doing here.
答案是 30年前
And the answer is that 30 years ago,
我有过一个疯狂的想法
I had a mad idea.
我的孩子们那时刚开始玩电脑游戏
My children had just started playing computer games
我突然想到
And I suddenly thought
我们为什么不制作有关化学的电脑游戏呢
why don’t we make computer games for chemistry.
我在暑假雇佣了两位学生
I hired two schoolboys during the summer.
他们制作了一张软盘
They made a floppy disk
里面存着这个游戏
with the games on it.
在那之后
Just after that,
有一场科学教师的会议在诺丁汉举行
there was a conference of science teachers at Nottingham.
于是我开了一家小商店
So I set up a little store,
卖这些软盘
selling the computer disks.
我的孩子们坐在我的办公室
My children were sitting in my office,
以他们最快的速度复制磁盘
duplicating the disks as fast as they could.
我以每个2英镑的价钱卖出去
And I was selling them for two pounds each
我赚了很多钱
and I got so much money in my pockets
口袋都撑爆了
that the pockets gave way.
钱币从我裤管里滑下
Money poured out down my trouser legs.
这是我唯一一次为大学赚进真金白银
It’s the only time I’ve owned real cash for the University.
30年来
And for 30 years,
我一直把磁盘放在我的档案柜里
I had the disks in my filing cabinet.
我常常怀念地看着磁盘
And every so often, I looked at it nostalgically,
以为我不会再见到这个游戏了
convinced I would never see the games again.
几周前
And then a few weeks ago,
计算机科学系的史蒂夫·巴格利
Steve Bagley from the Computer Science
来到了我的办公室
came to my office.
我给他看了这个磁盘
And I showed him this disk.
他说 “我也许可以把游戏打开
And he said, “I might be able to make it work.
我有一台旧电脑”
I have an old computer.”
所以我现在来到了计算机科学系
So now I’m here, in Computer Science,
我要去史蒂夫的办公室
to go to Steve’s office,
看看能不能在电脑上玩磁盘里的游戏
to see if I can play the games from this disk on the computer.
现在我在史蒂夫·巴格利的办公室里
I‘m now in Steve Begley’s office,
就在我们的计算机科学系
in our Computer Science department,
这是一架BBC Micro电脑
here is a BBC Micro,
它也叫BBC Master
or BBC Master.
为买了这架电脑 我在eBay上花了很多钱
I got this computer I spend too much money on the eBay?
这可能是保存得最好的电脑
Probably is… the best of it.
我喜欢收集旧电脑
Now I like collecting old computers
Computerphile 频道的观众
those of you who’ve seen me on Computerphile
或许曾看过我的收藏
will probably see in my collection.
我问一下
I can say so.
用BBC电脑是非常罕见
Are these like a rarity, like hen’s teeth,
还是仍然很常见？
or are operating BBCs pretty common still?
我觉得BBC Micro电脑还很常见
So I think most BBC Micros are pretty common.
很多学校现在还在使用它
These… still these days they’re in a lot of schools.
很多架被保存了下来 还有人会收集的
So still a lot that survived, people collect them.
直到几年前 英国火车站还在用这些电脑
They were still in use controlling that sort of timetable displays
控制火车时刻表显示板
on British railway stations until a few years ago.
史蒂夫 有人给你一张旧磁盘的时候
Steve, when someone gives you an old disk,
你会怎么想？还有没有可能……
what were you thinking like? You’ve got no chance.
像这样一张磁盘 要看它的储存环境
Well the disk like this, it depends how it’s been stored.
我看了马丁给我的那张照片
The photo that Martin gave me looking pretty……
磁盘好像保存如新
Pristine condition.
虽然放在档案柜 但也没关系
But it’s in his filing cabinets. It’s all right.
我希望它还能运作
I’m pretty hopeful that it would work.
风险是 它可能已经遇到磁场
The dangers really are that it’s been too hard to spit in a magnetic field
信息可能已经被抹除掉
or something that is wiped, the information.
有时候磁盘已经变质 或者已经发霉
Sometimes the disk degraded, or you get mold growing on them,
但一般来说 只要磁盘还在
but generally as long as you still got the media
你又找到操作正常的驱动器
and can find a drive that still works to play it in
你可以尝试读取磁碟资料
you can usually try and get something off
不行的话 你也可以看看损坏的程度
for ease you will be able to see the damage if not.
我忘了 怎么运行磁盘呢？
How do you… I’ve forgotten, how to start it?
好的 首先要把磁盘插入驱动器
Ok, so um… the first is to put it into the disk drive,
把它插入0号驱动器就行了
which is… just put it in drive 0.
– 把它推进去……- 然后用小按钮关上
-So you push it in….-And then close with the little flap.
好像这样子 你要长按Shift键
Ok, something like this. The usual way is you hold down shift and
按下Break键后放开
press the break key and then let go break.
– 哇- 它启动了
-Wow!-And it starts up.
– 太令人兴奋了- 听听它的声音
-This is really exciting.-That sound.
当时的电脑会让人感动得多
Computer was a lot more visceral in those days.
它会发出声音 你会听到它在操作
They made noises and they sort of you heard them going.
屏幕的画面偏了
So it’s not quite centered on the screen.
是的 BBC Micro 的显示屏坏了
Yeah… They… the monitor for the BBC Micro died,
我还得弄个电路 连接我那架Atari显示屏
so I had to wire up a little circuit to plug into my Atari one put in.
所以画面才会偏
So it isn’t quite centered.
这是我们电子游戏的欢迎画面
This is the welcome screen from our video games.
我这张磁盘
The disk that you’ve actually got
是由制药公司赞助的
was they’ve got here was sponsored by the pharmaceutical company.
这家制药公司是葛兰素
That pharmaceutical company’s Glaxo
他们生产了很多张磁盘
who made enough disks,
足以给英国每一所学校各寄一张
so that we could send one to every school in the country.
画面上有大学校园的风格化图片
And the picture shows a stylized picture of the University campus.
化学系在这里
This is meant to be the chemistry department
湖面上有人在划船
and some people boating on the lake,
电脑科学系以前就在这栋楼
and this is the tower where the Computer Science used to be.
但是制作这套游戏的时候
Though when this was written
电脑科学系还不存在
there wasn’t a Computer Science department.
电脑科学当时是由数学系授课的
It was still taught in maths.
马丁 你的……
Martyn, what was your…
你很久没看到它了 看到它出现在屏幕上 你有什么感觉？
you haven’t seen this for a while, what was the feel like seeing it pop up the screen?
太棒了！
Wonderful!
好像回到了青少年时期那样
I mean it’s like going back to my youth.
快要30年了
Nearly 30 years.
史蒂夫 来个更严肃的看法吧
Steve, more critical eye.
– 这个……- 第一印象是？
-Well, that’s…-First… first impressions?
我想我也回到了青少年时期
I think I was going back to my youth
回到了学生时代 能够玩到这类软件一样
as being a school kid and getting software like this to play.
读A水准化学时 我应该不会玩这个
I don’t think I would use this when I was doing my chemistry a-level.
但是我确实看过类似的软件
But I certainly saw things similar to this,
所以 它也给我带来了回忆
so yeah, it brought back memories for me as well.
你要随便按个键
You have to press the any key.
这里有三个游戏
So we have three games here,
周期表 选择题 诺丁汉大学化学系
Periodic Table, Multiple Choice and Chemistry at Nottingham.
也就是课程信息
The information on the courses.
我想我们现在不必看诺丁汉大学化学系了
I don’t think we need to look at the Chemistry at Nottingham at the moment.
你知道我要的是什么了
You know what one I want.
选择题？
Multiple Choice?
– 不是！是周期表- 哈哈哈……
-No! Periodic Table.-Hahaha…
好的 我们开始吧
Okay. Let’s go.
该试试哪个呢？
Which should we try?
我们先显示完整的周期表吧
Perhaps we begin by displaying the full Periodic Table,
看看会发生什么事
just to see what happens.
超怀念的
Those were the days.
– 要不要进去看看？- 好啊
-So should we try and see it?-Yeah.
我们来看看硅吧
Let’s have a look at silicon.
硅 好的
Silicon, okay.
是的 当然了
Yeah, of course.
然后按问号键
And then hit the question mark.
哇 你看看
Oh, yeah, look at that.
技术性好强呀 对吧
Well, it’s quite technical, isn’t it?
– 还有……- 再看看金吧
-And……-Let’s check up the gold.
里头的信息是可以改的 是吧
You can set information in this, don’t you?
我想他们偷懒了
I think, I think they’ve cheated.
几个元素的信息好像都一样
I think they’ve got the same thing for quite a few elements here.
他们可能是磁盘空间快用完了
Perhaps they were running out of storage space.
我要看看钫的资料
I want to see what it says for francium.
钫的资料不多 但资料是有的
Doesn’t have very much on francium, but it has something.
里面有个周期表填充游戏
There’s a game where you get to fill in the blanks on the periodic table.
我们来看2号吧
Maybe number two, I think.
用户定义周期表有三个
So, three User Defined Tables
还有随机填充周期表
we’d have a randomly blank table.
按4号吧
Go on four.
你认为该输入多少百分比呢？
what percentage do you think?
如果百分比太高
Well, I think we’ve got too high,
我们永远也……
we’ll take forever to……
-是的- 这样视频会比戴夫·布雷斯福德的还长
-Yes. -So in the video we’ll go on longer than Dave Brailsford.
– 是的- 我们来尝试大概5%吧
-Yeah.-So let’s get for about five percent or so.
– 6%会有点难度- 好的
-Six would be adventurous.-Okay.
6%的空格
Six percent with blank.
– 多少……- 120秒 也就是2分钟
-And what…-120 seconds that’s given 2 minutes.
第一行有个空格
Well there’s a blank in the first row.
让我先找到光标
If I can find the cursor,
这个应该很容易 是碳
so that should be quite easy. That’s carbon.
好 答对一个了
Alright, you got one.
锡的下面是铅
And then under tin is lead,
锑的下面是铋
antimony is bismuth,
锝的旁边是钌
to technetium, ruthenium,
就是来自俄罗斯的元素
the Russian element,
这个是锇
and then osmium and then…
– 这个是……- 这个有点难
-This is…-That’s hard.
钚……
Plutonium…
这个好像是?
I think that one is rutherfordium.
那个是?吗？
Was it rutherfordium there?
嗯……
And um..
那里是不是有个Lw？是不是？
There’ve got a Lw there, isn’t that? Is that?
– 铹- 我以为那个是Lr
-Lawrencium.-I thought that was Lr.
符号可能已经换了
It may have changed since then.
那个是几号？锿是什么号码
What number is that? What number’s einsteinium?
– 是99 对吧？- 99
-That’s at 99, isn’t it? -99.
– 100 102- 还有30秒
-100, 102.-There’s 30 seconds left.
不是锔
It’s not curium.
好像是?
Seaborgium, I think.
不是啊 发生了什么事？
No. What happened?
你在111秒内答对7题中的5题
You’ve got five out of seven in 111 seconds.
得分是232
You scored 232.
名人堂 请按空格键
Hit for the Hall of Fame.
最好玩的是这个
This is the best part.
[音乐]
[Music]
波德瑞克 好名字……
Baldrick. Hahaha…
所以我没能上榜
So I didn’t, I didn’t make it.
教授 你与周期表名人堂无缘啊
You’re not in the Periodicity Hall of Fame, professor.
– 真是无缘- 是啊
-No.-Ok.
连你都进不了 那还会有谁能上榜呢？
If you are not in the Periodicity Hall of Fame, who is?
我不知道
I don’t know.
我之所以有机会玩这些游戏
The reason I’ve had this chance to play these games
是因为我与史蒂夫交谈
is because I was talking to Steve,
他是我们另一个频道的明星
who is a star of one of our other channels,
名称叫Computerphile 是关于电脑的
Computerphile, about computing.
他有电脑
And he had the computer.
我有磁盘 就有幸再次玩这个游戏
I had the disk and bingo.
但他不能玩这个游戏
But he can’t do the games.
如果要观看Computerphile
And if you want to watch Computerphile
屏幕上有链接
there’ll be links on screen
视频简介中也有链接
and there are links in the video description as well.
你还有机会
And there are opportunities
尝试在线上玩这个游戏
to try and play this game online as well,
如果你真的想玩的话
if you really want to.
我后来用磁盘把游戏复制到了我的Mac上
I then copied them via a floppy disk onto my Mac,
用的是这个磁盘驱动器
using the floppy drive over here.
接着我可以用BBC模拟器
And then, I can use a BBC emulator.
电脑一次可以运行几个模拟器呢？
How many emulators can be run at the same time?
嗯 很多个 其实……
Em… quite a lot, in fact that…