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You and your best friend Bill are the greatest bards in the kingdom -- but maybe not the brightest.
你和挚友比尔是王国中最伟大的吟游诗人--但可能不是最聪明的。
The hit song you performed at last night's fair insulted the king, and now your hours are numbered.
昨晚你在集市表演的热门歌曲侮辱了国王，现在，你的死期将至。
Just before your execution, you're approached by the princess, who happens to be a big fan.
在你被处死之前，公主上前来找你，她刚好是铁粉。
She slips you a pouch containing two magic, six-sided dice that can land any way you wish.
她偷偷塞给你一个小袋子，内有两个六面的魔法骰子，可掷出你希望的那一面。
You have no idea how this could possibly help, but you thank her anyways.
你完全不知道这有什么帮助，但你仍然向她致谢。
As everything goes dark, you both suddenly find yourself standing in a deep cavern before a robed figure.
天色变暗后，你们两人突然发现自己站在一个很深的山洞里，前面有个穿长袍的人。
It turns out that Death is a connoisseur of most excellent music.
原来死神竟然是顶级音乐的鉴赏家。
He's decided to give you a chance to escape your fate by beating him at his favorite game: life-sized Snakes and Ladders.
他决定给你一个机会逃离死亡的命运，方法就是在他最喜欢的比赛中打败他：真人大小的蛇梯棋。
The cavern has 100 rooms connected by passageways as well as -- you guessed it -- snakes and ladders.
山洞中有一百个房间以通道相连，以及--你也猜到了--蛇和梯子。
Each turn one of you will roll a die, then advance that many rooms.
每一轮，你们有一人要掷骰子，掷出几点就移动几间房间。
Ending your move at the bottom of a ladder means moving up to the top, while ending on a snake's head will make you slide down to its tail.
如果走到梯子的底端，就得要移动到梯子顶端，如果走到蛇的头上，你就会下滑到它的尾巴。
Each of you must make your way through the cavern and reach the exit in fewer turns than Death himself.
你们两人都得要在山洞中移动，最后抵达出口，且使用的次数不能比死神多。
Before you can think twice, your host starts casting his die, and within 6 rolls he's reached the cavern entrance.
你都还没机会三思，死神就开始掷骰子了，掷了六次之后，他就抵达了洞口。
"Better get moving," he says. "Oh, and by the way, once one of you uses a snake or ladder, it'll disappear and be inaccessible to the other."
他说：“来吧！快！喔，顺道一提，你们当中有人用过的蛇或梯子，用完便会消失，另一人就无法使用了。”
You have no idea how you can possibly get lucky enough to win, but then you remember your magic dice.
你觉得你不可能有运气赢得这场游戏，但接着，你想起了你的魔法骰子。
Can you figure out a sequence of rolls that will get both of you to the exit in 5 or fewer moves each?
你能想出要依序掷出什么数字，才能让你们两人分别都在五轮之内移动到出口吗？
The cavern contains many routes to the exit, and it's natural to gravitate to the ladders that allow you to cover a lot of ground, quickly.
山洞中有许多条路径都能通到出口，你自然会想用梯子来让你能快速移动很长的距离。
Like this one -- on turn 2 you'd be at 75, but without any further ladder boosts, you'd need another 5 rolls to get out.
比如走这座梯子--在第二轮你就会走到75，但没有其他梯子帮忙，你还需要掷五次骰子才能出去。
Or this one -- three ladders get you to 82, but then it would take another 4 rolls to get around the pesky snake at 88.
换这种走法--三座梯子让你抵达82，但接着需要再掷四次骰子才能跳过88上面这条麻烦的蛇。
In fact, there's no path that can get you to the exit in 5 moves using exclusively ladders.
事实上，没有任何路径能让你光靠梯子移动五次就抵达出口。
So where does that leave you? Snakes.
那你剩下什么选择？蛇。
It's counterintuitive to make moves that take you farther away from your target, but snakes open up a surprising amount of opportunities.
直觉上你不会选择带你远离目的地的路径。但蛇所带来的机会比你想象的多。
For instance, these three ladders would put you a single roll from the exit, but cost too many turns to reach by ladders.
比如，这三座梯子能让你只要再掷一次骰子就能抵达出口，但要靠梯子抵达这些梯子需要太多轮。
These two are, however, only 5 and 12 rooms from snake tails, respectively.
然而，这两座梯子距离蛇尾巴分别只有五间和十二间房间的距离。
So could you work backwards from those to find a 5 roll path?
你是否能从那些地方往回推，找到五轮就能走到的路径？
There are exactly two 5-turn routes you might find using these ladders: Ladder snake snake ladder exit, and ladder ladder snake ladder exit.
刚刚好有两条骰五轮的路线，用刚才说的梯子可以办到：梯子、蛇、蛇、梯子、出口，以及，梯子、梯子、蛇、梯子、出口。
So that's it, right? Unfortunately, no -- the two paths share a snake and a ladder, each of which will be unusable after the first of you slides and then climbs.
就这样了，对吧？很不幸，并不是这样--这两条路径共享了一座梯子和一条蛇，先走的人滑下去再爬上去之后，这梯子和蛇就不能再用了。
You won't find 5-turn moves anywhere else, so is one of you doomed?
要用到最后那座梯子，已经没有其他五轮的走法，所以有一人死定了吗？
There's one more possibility to consider: the disappearing ladders and snakes can impede your progress, but could they also help it?
还有一个可能性要考虑：消失的梯子和蛇会妨碍你前进，但是否也会帮你用其他路线？
There are two paths to the 94 ladder that almost work, except for this snake, at exactly the midpoint between the two ladders.
有两条通到94的路径，几乎可以成功，就多了这条蛇，它刚好位在两座梯子间会停留的地方。
If Bill were to take that snake on his route, you could then get past it and up to the exit in just 5 moves.
如果比尔先走的路径包括这条蛇，你就可以通过，只需要五轮就能抵达出口。
And good news -- whichever path you choose, one of the 5-roll paths we found earlier does exactly that without using any of your snakes or ladders.
好消息--不论你选择的是这两条路径中的哪一条，我们先前找到的五轮路径当中就有一条刚好不需要走你用的蛇或梯子就可抵达出口。
So all you need is for Bill to go first and stick to the plan.
所以只要让比尔先走并照着计划前进。
You and Bill both reach the cavern entrance and climb back into the public square, to everyone's surprise.
你和比尔都抵达了洞口，爬回了公共广场，让大家大吃一惊。
Before the guards can seize you again, you wow the crowd -- and king -- with a song about your epic contest with Death.
在守卫能再次抓住你之前，你表演了一首曲子，讲述你和死神之间的英勇竞赛，让群众，也包括了国王，为之惊艳。
