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(dāng)然不可能啦！人的大腦怎么可能在這么短的時間內(nèi)記住這么多信息！即使是每天經(jīng)過的街道，我們也不一定能記住其中的細(xì)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(zhuǎn)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 didnt 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， were testing “The Living Camera” in Rome. Stephen has never seen “the Eternal City” from above before. After only a 45-minute helicopter flight， well 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 Romes major sites， from the Pantheon to St. Peters 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. Peters. But he doesnt do any sketches nor roughing out of the space for the drawing. Its 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， hes finally reached the ruins of the Forum Romanum. Stephens sister， Annette， is rejoicing with him. Hes made it. Obviously hes pleased with his work.

Yet our vexing question still remains： how precise was Stephens 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 Stephens version of

St. Peters 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 Stephens 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， its 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(zhǔn)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(xì)節(jié)，比如數(shù)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。

斯蒂芬從未受過任何特殊的訓(xùn)練來掌握這種魔法般的技藝。奇跡發(fā)生在他第一次畫畫的時候。然而，沒有人敢肯定斯蒂芬可以僅憑記憶畫出羅馬，那張5.5碼的紙可能會空白得可怕。神奇的是，斯蒂芬也像我們一樣首先從圣彼得大教堂畫起。但他沒有先打草稿，也沒有粗略地構(gòu)圖分區(qū)，就好像這幅全景圖已然存在于他的頭腦里——所有的比例、所有的道路和細(xì)節(jié)都已“胸有成竹”。確實是一個小小的奇跡。

第二天快結(jié)束時，斯蒂芬的創(chuàng)作已經(jīng)完成近一半。在三天的馬拉松式作畫后，連斯蒂芬·威爾特希爾也開始覺得累了。此時他已經(jīng)用精細(xì)的鉛筆填滿了五碼多的紙面。他接連描畫著一個接一個的窗戶、一幢接一幢的房子，因為斯蒂芬喜歡別人贊賞他的作品。最后，在左邊的角落，他終于畫到古羅馬廣場的遺址。斯蒂芬的妹妹安妮特和他一起慶祝起來——他做到了。他顯然對自己的作品很滿意。

然而，那個讓我們糾結(jié)的問題仍然存在：斯蒂芬的記憶力到底有多準(zhǔn)確？你真的能從上空看到臺伯河一個小小的彎曲嗎？

我們開始用實物來對比畫作的準(zhǔn)確度。斯蒂芬是不是把圣彼得大教堂的圓頂畫得太突出了呢？但是像臺伯河的小拐彎那樣，斯蒂芬的畫準(zhǔn)確得驚人。

我們認(rèn)為著名的羅馬七座山丘在斯蒂芬的全景圖里應(yīng)該畫得再高聳一點，但是斯蒂芬又一次（比我們）看得更清楚。在一千英尺（304米）的上空俯瞰，這些山看起來便幾乎是平的。在對比萬神殿時，我們倒是發(fā)現(xiàn)屋頂上有一些細(xì)微的誤差，但是大門的柱子數(shù)目再次吻合。雖然我們一度滿腹狐疑，但斯蒂芬還是精確地畫出了羅馬其中一處最復(fù)雜的建筑——競技場，而且精確得簡直就像實景藍(lán)圖。

我們檢查了其他無名建筑和小巷，斯蒂芬仍然是那么精準(zhǔn)。他的妹妹安妮特相信，如果給他更多時間，他還會畫出更多細(xì)節(jié)。

斯蒂芬·威爾特希爾1974年4月24日生于英國倫敦。他從小就不愿和其他人交流，在3歲時被診斷患有自閉癥，直到7歲才開口說話。他甚至不能與母親進(jìn)行眼神交流，認(rèn)為自己無法進(jìn)行一切正常人的交往。斯蒂芬3歲生日前，他的父親死于一場摩托車事故，從那以后，其自閉癥的表現(xiàn)日趨嚴(yán)重。

他長時間坐在角落里，前后不停地晃動椅子，還時不時地尖叫。唯一能使斯蒂芬平靜下來的就是紙和筆。

5歲時，斯蒂芬被送到倫敦一所兒童特殊教育學(xué)校就讀。老師發(fā)現(xiàn)斯蒂芬特別喜歡畫畫，他和世界唯一的交流方法就是畫畫。他愛畫動物、倫敦公交車、建筑和都市風(fēng)景。

斯蒂芬筆下的風(fēng)景和真實景色的細(xì)節(jié)相似度竟高達(dá)90%。這種神奇的記憶力讓全世界的科學(xué)界和藝術(shù)界專家都深感震驚。

2006年，斯蒂芬因為在繪畫方面的成就被授予英帝國勛章。他在倫敦?fù)碛凶约旱漠嬂?，他最初的作品每幅已?jīng)賣到數(shù)千英鎊。