异类之不一样的成功启示录 第28期:机遇决定未来

 　　That late-born prodigy¹ doesn't get chosen for the all-star team as an eight year old because he's too small.

　　那些虽然满了8岁，但出生较晚的天才，之所以没能选进明星球队，是因为他们年龄偏小了。

　　So he doesn't get the extra practice.

　　由于年龄偏小，他们失去了一些额外的练习时间。

　　And without that extra practice, he has no chance at hitting ten thousand hours by the time the professional hockey teams start looking for players.

　　结果便是，在曲棍球职业联赛考察球员的时候，他们没有机会冲击10,000小时的练习纪录。

　　And without ten thousand hours under his belt,

　　在他们的运动生涯中，由于练习时间低于10 000个小时，

　　there is no way he can ever master the skills necessary to play at the top level.

　　他们的技能便无法达到顶尖竞技水平的要求。

　　Even Mozart, the greatest music prodigy of all time, couldn't hit his stride² until he had his ten thousand hours in.

　　即便是莫扎特，历史上最伟大的音乐天才也不能跨过10,000小时这项练习纪录。

　　Practice isn't the thing you do once you are good.

　　练习不是让你一次就把事情做好，

　　It's the thing you do that makes you good.

　　而是帮助你做得越来越好。

　　The other interesting thing about that ten thousand hours number, of course,

　　有意思的是，10,000个小时会是-段非常漫长的时间。

　　is that ten thousand hours is an enormous³ amount of time.

　　如果不是从很小的时候就开始，如果你不坚持，

　　It's all but impossible to reach that number, by the time you're a young adult, all by yourself.

　　就不可能达到10,000 个小时的训练标准。

　　You have to have parents who encourage and support you.

　　你需要父母的鼓励和支持，

　　You can't be poor because if you have to hold down a part-time job on the side to help make ends meet,

　　你不能太贫穷，因为如果你为了达到目标，不得不分出一部分时间去做兼职，

　　there won't be enough time left over in the day to practice.

　　那么一天之中剩下的时间就会很少。

　　In fact, most people can only really reach that number if they get into some kind of special program,

　　事实上，大部分能够达到这个标准的人，他们都需要一些特别的安排，

　　like a hockey all-star squad⁴, or they get some kind of extraordinary opportunity that gives them a chance to put in those hours.

　　例如进入曲棍球联赛的全明星球队,或者是有某种特别的机遇，使得他们能达到10,000个小时的训练标准。

　　So, back to Bill Joy.

　　我们还是回到比尔.乔伊这里。

　　It's 1971. He's tall and gawky and sixteen years old.

　　那是1971年，他高高的身材，略显笨拙，年龄是16岁。

　　He's the math whiz, the kind of student that schools like MIT, or Caltech, or they University of Waterloo attract by the hundreds.

　　他是数学天才，是麻省理工、加利福尼亚理工、沃特卢大学等高校青睐的那种学生。

　　"When Bill was a little boy, he wanted to know everything about everything way before he should have even known what he wanted to know."

　　当比尔还很小的时候，他就非常强烈地想了解他不知道的任何事情的任何方面。

　　his father William says.

　　他的父亲威廉说道。

　　"We answered him when we could, and when we couldn't, we would just give him a book."

　　我们尽自己所能地回答他。当我们也不知道时，我们就让他自己看书。

　　When it came time to apply a college, Joy got a perfect score on the math portion⁵ of the Scholastic⁶ Aptitude⁷ Test.

　　在参加美国大学本科标准入学考试（SAT)那一年，乔伊的数学测试取得了非常优秀的成绩。

　　It wasn't particularly hard,he says matter-of-factly.

　　并不是很难，他平淡地说。

　　"There was plenty of time to check it twice."

　　“时间很充裕，我检查了两遍。”

　　He has talent by the truckload. But that's not the only consideration.

　　他多才多艺，但这不是唯一值得我们考虑的要素。

　　It never is. The key to his development is that he stumbled⁸ across that nondescript building on Beal Avenue.

　　事实上不用考虑。在他的成长过程中，最重要的一步，是他完全被毕尔大道那幢亳不起眼的建筑迷住了。

1 prodigy   

n.惊人的事物，奇迹，神童，天才，预兆

参考例句：

• She was a child prodigy on the violin.她是神童小提琴手。
• He was always a Negro prodigy who played barbarously and wonderfully.他始终是一个黑人的奇才，这种奇才弹奏起来粗野而惊人。

2 stride   

vi.大踏步走，阔步行进；n.大步，步态

参考例句：

• In a big stride he came out of the room.他一个箭步出了房间。
• The boy walked with a confident manly stride.这男孩以自信的男人步伐行走。

3 enormous   

adj.巨大的；庞大的

参考例句：

• An enormous sum of money is injected each year into teaching.每年都有大量资金投入到教学中。
• They wield enormous political power.他们行使巨大的政治权力。

4 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

5 portion   

n.部分，份，命运；v.将...分配，分配

参考例句：

• You are paid your portion not later than a week. 不会晚于一周你就可以得到你那一部分报酬。
• Three thousand dollars is no more than a portion.3000美元只不过是一部分。

6 scholastic   

adj.学校的，学院的，学术上的

参考例句：

• There was a careful avoidance of the sensitive topic in the scholastic circles.学术界小心地避开那个敏感的话题。
• This would do harm to students' scholastic performance in the long run.这将对学生未来的学习成绩有害。

7 aptitude   

n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资

参考例句：

• That student has an aptitude for mathematics.那个学生有数学方面的天赋。
• As a child,he showed an aptitude for the piano.在孩提时代，他显露出对于钢琴的天赋。

8 stumbled   

v.（不顺畅地）说( stumble的过去式和过去分词 )；跌跌撞撞地走；绊脚；（说话、演奏等）出错

参考例句：

• I stumbled and sprained my ankle. 我摔了一跤，把脚脖子扭了。
• The child stumbled and fell. 孩子绊了一下，摔倒了。