斯蒂芬·威尔特希尔难以置信的“活相机”

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如果让你搭乘直升飞机绕城观看一圈，你能记下所有建筑物并把它们画出来吗？当然不可能啦！人的大脑怎么可能在这么短的时间内记住这么多信息！即使是每天经过的街道，我们也不一定能记住其中的细节。但来自英国的斯蒂芬·威尔特希尔却拥有这种非凡的能力。这位英国画家从小患有自闭症，却具有惊人的记忆力。在一个陌生的城市，他只要转一圈，就可以像电脑一样把街景建筑全都储存在脑中，再用画笔还原出来。自2005年以来，斯蒂芬·威尔特希尔画过东京、罗马、香港、纽约、迪拜、伦敦等城市。下面就让我们一起见证这一奇迹的诞生吧。

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.

来自伦敦的斯蒂芬·威尔特希尔是专家中的明星。他有个外号叫做“活相机”。斯蒂芬患有自闭症，总是生活在自己的世界里，沟通对他来说是一件难事。直到五岁，他才开口说出人生中最早的几个词语——“铅笔”和“纸”。但是在11岁时，只乘坐过一次直升飞机的他却画出了完美的伦敦鸟瞰图，画中甚至连所有主要建筑物上有多少扇窗都准确无误。

在这个节目里，我们要在罗马考验这位“活相机”。斯蒂芬从来没有从空中俯瞰过这座“永恒之城”。在乘坐了短短45分钟的直升机之后，我们将要求他不再看第二眼，为这座历史名城的市中心画下一幅5.5码（5米）长的全景图。斯蒂芬有三天时间。在这三天里，他要在脑中记下繁多的细节，比如数不尽的圆顶、蜿蜒的羊肠小道、一排排绵延无尽的房屋上的露台和窗户，还有万神殿、圣彼得大教堂和古罗马竞技场等各大罗马主要场所的每根柱子和每个拱窗。

斯蒂芬从未受过任何特殊的训练来掌握这种魔法般的技艺。奇迹发生在他第一次画画的时候。然而，没有人敢肯定斯蒂芬可以仅凭记忆画出罗马，那张5.5码的纸可能会空白得可怕。神奇的是，斯蒂芬也像我们一样首先从圣彼得大教堂画起。但他没有先打草稿，也没有粗略地构图分区，就好像这幅全景图已然存在于他的头脑里——所有的比例、所有的道路和细节都已“胸有成竹”。确实是一个小小的奇迹。

第二天快结束时，斯蒂芬的创作已经完成近一半。在三天的马拉松式作画后，连斯蒂芬·威尔特希尔也开始觉得累了。此时他已经用精细的铅笔填满了五码多的纸面。他接连描画着一个接一个的窗户、一幢接一幢的房子，因为斯蒂芬喜欢别人赞赏他的作品。最后，在左边的角落，他终于画到古罗马广场的遗址。斯蒂芬的妹妹安妮特和他一起庆祝起来——他做到了。他显然对自己的作品很满意。

然而，那个让我们纠结的问题仍然存在：斯蒂芬的记忆力到底有多准确？你真的能从上空看到台伯河一个小小的弯曲吗？

我们开始用实物来对比画作的准确度。斯蒂芬是不是把圣彼得大教堂的圆顶画得太突出了呢？但是像台伯河的小拐弯那样，斯蒂芬的画准确得惊人。

我们认为著名的罗马七座山丘在斯蒂芬的全景图里应该画得再高耸一点，但是斯蒂芬又一次（比我们）看得更清楚。在一千英尺（304米）的上空俯瞰，这些山看起来便几乎是平的。在对比万神殿时，我们倒是发现屋顶上有一些细微的误差，但是大门的柱子数目再次吻合。虽然我们一度满腹狐疑，但斯蒂芬还是精确地画出了罗马其中一处最复杂的建筑——竞技场，而且精确得简直就像实景蓝图。

我们检查了其他无名建筑和小巷，斯蒂芬仍然是那么精准。他的妹妹安妮特相信，如果给他更多时间，他还会画出更多细节。

斯蒂芬·威尔特希尔1974年4月24日生于英国伦敦。他从小就不愿和其他人交流，在3岁时被诊断患有自闭症，直到7岁才开口说话。他甚至不能与母亲进行眼神交流，认为自己无法进行一切正常人的交往。斯蒂芬3岁生日前，他的父亲死于一场摩托车事故，从那以后，其自闭症的表现日趋严重。

他长时间坐在角落里，前后不停地晃动椅子，还时不时地尖叫。唯一能使斯蒂芬平静下来的就是纸和笔。

5岁时，斯蒂芬被送到伦敦一所儿童特殊教育学校就读。老师发现斯蒂芬特别喜欢画画，他和世界唯一的交流方法就是画画。他爱画动物、伦敦公交车、建筑和都市风景。

斯蒂芬笔下的风景和真实景色的细节相似度竟高达90%。这种神奇的记忆力让全世界的科学界和艺术界专家都深感震惊。

2006年，斯蒂芬因为在绘画方面的成就被授予英帝国勋章。他在伦敦拥有自己的画廊，他最初的作品每幅已经卖到数千英镑。