斯蒂芬·威爾特希爾難以置信的“活相機”

如果讓你搭乘直升飛機繞城觀看一圈，你能記下所有建筑物并把它們畫出來嗎？當然不可能啦！人的大腦怎么可能在這么短的時間內記住這么多信息！即使是每天經過的街道，我們也不一定能記住其中的細節(jié)。但來自英國的斯蒂芬·威爾特希爾卻擁有這種非凡的能力。這位英國畫家從小患有自閉癥，卻具有驚人的記憶力。在一個陌生的城市，他只要轉一圈，就可以像電腦一樣把街景建筑全都儲存在腦中，再用畫筆還原出來。自2005年以來，斯蒂芬·威爾特希爾畫過東京、羅馬、香港、紐約、迪拜、倫敦等城市。下面就讓我們一起見證這一奇跡的誕生吧。

Stephen Wiltshire， from London， is a star among savants. His nickname is “The Living Camera.” Stephen is autistic. He lives in a world of his own. Communication is difficult for him. He didn’t speak his first words， “pencil” and “paper，” until he was five. Yet when he was 11， he drew a perfect aerial view of London after only one helicopter ride. Even the number of windows in all the major buildings in his drawing was correct.

For this film， we’re testing “The Living Camera” in Rome. Stephen has never seen “the Eternal City” from above before. After only a 45-minute helicopter flight， we’ll ask him to draw a five and a half yard panoramic picture of the historic city centre without having a second glance at it. Stephen has three days. In these three days， Stephen will have to keep thousands of details in his head： the innumerable cupolas， the tiny winding streets， all the balconies and windows of the endless array of houses， and each and every column and window arch of Rome’s major sites， from the Pantheon to St. Peter’s to the Coliseum.

Stephen has never trained for this feat of magic； the miracle simply happened when he first started to draw. Yet none of us would have bet that Stephen would be able to draw Rome just from memory. Five and a half yards of paper can look scarily empty. The amazing thing， Stephen starts the drawing as we would， with the Church of St. Peter’s. But he doesn’t do any sketches nor roughing out of the space for the drawing. It’s as if the panorama already existed within his head with all the proportions， all the roads， all the details. A little miracle.

At the end of the second day， Stephen is a good halfway through his creation. After three days of his drawing marathon， even Stephen Wiltshire starts to tire. He has filled in more than five yards of paper in fine pencil. He has been restlessly aligning window to window and house to house， because Stephen loves to be applauded for his art. In the left corner， he’s finally reached the ruins of the Forum Romanum. Stephen’s sister， Annette， is rejoicing with him. He’s made it. Obviously he’s pleased with his work.

Yet our vexing question still remains： how precise was Stephen’s ability to memorize？ Is it really true that you could only see a single curve of the Tiber from above？

We started to compare the accuracy of the drawing with the real thing. Is Stephen’s version of

St. Peter’s cupola too dominant？ Yet here again， like with the curve of the Tiber， Stephen is frighteningly right.

We wondered if the famous Roman hills should properly stand out more in Stephen’s panorama. But again， Stephen had seen it better. From a thousand feet up， the hills are optically almost level. Checking the Pantheon， we did discover some minor inaccuracies on the roof. But the number of columns of the portal is again absolutely correct. And， despite our doubts， Stephen has drawn one of the most complex buildings， the Coliseum， so precisely， it’s practically a blueprint of reality.

Stephen was also accurate in the instances we checked of nameless buildings and side streets. Had he had more time， his sister， Annette， believes， he would have put in even more detail.

來自倫敦的斯蒂芬·威爾特希爾是專家中的明星。他有個外號叫做“活相機”。斯蒂芬患有自閉癥，總是生活在自己的世界里，溝通對他來說是一件難事。直到五歲，他才開口說出人生中最早的幾個詞語——“鉛筆”和“紙”。但是在11歲時，只乘坐過一次直升飛機的他卻畫出了完美的倫敦鳥瞰圖，畫中甚至連所有主要建筑物上有多少扇窗都準確無誤。

在這個節(jié)目里，我們要在羅馬考驗這位“活相機”。斯蒂芬從來沒有從空中俯瞰過這座“永恒之城”。在乘坐了短短45分鐘的直升機之后，我們將要求他不再看第二眼，為這座歷史名城的市中心畫下一幅5.5碼（5米）長的全景圖。斯蒂芬有三天時間。在這三天里，他要在腦中記下繁多的細節(jié)，比如數不盡的圓頂、蜿蜒的羊腸小道、一排排綿延無盡的房屋上的露臺和窗戶，還有萬神殿、圣彼得大教堂和古羅馬競技場等各大羅馬主要場所的每根柱子和每個拱窗。……