2021年经济学人 黑客秘史--撬开一堆17世纪的信件

Hacking¹ history

黑客史

Origami in reverse

逆向折纸

Cracking the security on a trove² of 17th-century letters

撬开一堆17世纪的信件

A modern correspondent wanting to communicate privately³ can use computerised encryption. Three hundred years ago, origami would have been a better bet.

想要私下沟通的现代通讯记者可以使用计算机加密。三百年前，折纸可能是个更好的选择。

Before gummed envelopes became common in the 1800s, letters were posted with no security wrapper. Privacy-minded writers relied instead on cunning combinations of folds, tucks, slits⁴ and seals, a practice Jana Dambrogio at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has dubbed⁵ "letterlocking".

在19世纪涂胶信封普及之前，信在投递时并没有安全性包装。注重隐私的作家们转而依靠巧妙的折叠、褶子、缝和封条的组合，麻省理工学院的让娜·丹布罗吉欧称之为“信锁”。

Some, like the "chapel⁶ fold", in which the letteris turned into its own envelope and sealed, were the equivalent of simple padlocks. Others were subtler. The "dagger⁷ trap"relied on a concealed⁸ wax seal that would leave a telltale rip once a letter had been opened.

有些就像“教堂褶”，把信放进信封并密封起来，就像简单的挂锁一样。“匕首陷阱”依赖于一个隐藏的蜡封，一旦信被打开，就会留下一个泄密的裂口。

But information about the practice is scarce. Most historical letters survive in their opened form, leaving aficionados⁹ like Ms Dambrogio with little to go on but crease-marks and tears. The few that remain unopened present a different problem: how to read them without permanently¹⁰ damaging the letterlock. Now, in research published in Nature Communications, Ms Dambrogio and her colleagues have come up with a solution.

但是有关这种做法的信息很少。大多数历史文献以公开形式保存下来，这让像丹布罗吉奥这样的爱好者除了折痕和裂缝外几乎没有任何进展。少数未开封的信件则呈现出另一个问题：如何在不损坏信锁的情况下读信。目前，在《自然通讯》上发表的一项研究中，丹布罗吉奥女士和她的同事们想出了一个解决方案。

The letters in question are part of the Brienne Collection, a trove of thousands of undelivered 17th-century letters bequeathed to posterity¹¹ by Dutch postmasters. The collection includes 577 unopened, letterlocked missives. To get at their letters' contents while preserving the integrity of the locks, the team turned to X-rays and computers.

这些信件属于布蕾妮的藏品，这些藏品是荷兰邮政局长留给后人的数千封17世纪未投递的信件。藏品中包涵577封未开封的信件。为了在保持信锁的完整性的同时读取信件的内容，该团队使用了X光和电脑。

The key lay in knowing that the inks used at the time often contained iron. This meant that an X-ray microtomography scanner, of the kind usually reserved for distinguishing teeth or bone from soft tissue, could reliably distinguish the metallic¹² letters from the paper background. Once the scan had also revealed the topography of the sheet, with the location of folds and creases¹³ mapped, the resulting model could be virtually unfolded by a computer to reveal the hidden text.

关键在于知道当时使用的墨水中通常含有铁。这意味着，通常用于区分牙齿、骨头和软组织的X光显微断层扫描仪能可靠地从纸张背景中分辨出金属字母。扫描一旦显示出纸张的的形态，并标出褶皱和折痕的位置，那么可以通过计算机将得到的模型展开来揭示隐藏的文本。

Though some imperfections remain—a hole left by a burrowing¹⁴ worm, for example, or the dry scratch of an ink-free nib—the legibility of the scans rivalled anything one would find in a research library, says Dr Starza Smith, a researcher at King's College London. And although no spectacular secrets have yet emerged from the Brienne Collection, the technique seems to hold plenty of promise for future research into a fascinating historical practice.

伦敦国王学院的研究人员斯塔扎·史密斯博士说，尽管还存在一些缺陷——例如，穴居虫留下的洞，或者无墨水笔尖上的干划痕——但扫描结果的易读性比得上在研究图书馆里找到的任何东西。虽然还没有从布蕾妮的藏品中发现什么惊人的秘密，但这项技术似乎为未来研究这一迷人的历史实践提供了很多希望。

1 hacking   

n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动

参考例句：

• The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
• We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。

2 trove   

n.被发现的东西，收藏的东西

参考例句：

• He assembled a rich trove of Chinese porcelain.他收集了一批中国瓷器。
• The gallery is a treasure trove of medieval art.这个画廊是中世纪艺术的宝库。

3 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

4 slits   

n.狭长的口子，裂缝( slit的名词复数 )v.切开，撕开( slit的第三人称单数 )；在…上开狭长口子

参考例句：

• He appears to have two slits for eyes. 他眯着两眼。
• "You go to--Halifax,'she said tensely, her green eyes slits of rage. "你给我滚----滚到远远的地方去！" 她恶狠狠地说，那双绿眼睛冒出了怒火。

5 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

7 dagger   

n.匕首，短剑，剑号

参考例句：

• The bad news is a dagger to his heart.这条坏消息刺痛了他的心。
• The murderer thrust a dagger into her heart.凶手将匕首刺进她的心脏。

8 concealed   

a.隐藏的，隐蔽的

参考例句：

• The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster. 那些画被隐藏在厚厚的灰泥层下面。
• I think he had a gun concealed about his person. 我认为他当时身上藏有一支枪。

9 aficionados   

n.酷爱…者，…迷( aficionado的名词复数 )； 爱看斗牛的人

参考例句：

• West Coast aficionados of postwar coffee-shop architecture(Karal Ann Marling) 西海岸战后咖啡店式建筑的狂热追随者（卡拉尔安马林） 来自互联网
• Clay developed a radical style which appalled boxing aficionados. 克莱发展出一种震惊拳击迷的全新风格。 来自互联网

10 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

11 posterity   

n.后裔，子孙，后代

参考例句：

• Few of his works will go down to posterity.他的作品没有几件会流传到后世。
• The names of those who died are recorded for posterity on a tablet at the back of the church.死者姓名都刻在教堂后面的一块石匾上以便后人铭记。

12 metallic   

adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的

参考例句：

• A sharp metallic note coming from the outside frightened me.外面传来尖锐铿锵的声音吓了我一跳。
• He picked up a metallic ring last night.昨夜他捡了一个金属戒指。

13 creases   

（使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的第三人称单数 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹

参考例句：

• She smoothed the creases out of her skirt. 她把裙子上的皱褶弄平。
• She ironed out all the creases in the shirt. 她熨平了衬衣上的所有皱褶。

14 burrowing   

v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞( burrow的现在分词 )；翻寻

参考例句：

• What are you burrowing around in my drawer for? 你在我抽屉里乱翻什么？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The forepaws are also used for burrowing and for dragging heavier logs. 它们的前爪还可以用来打洞和拖拽较重的树干。 来自辞典例句