异类之不一样的成功启示录 第62期:没能申请到奖学金

 　　What does the story of Chris Langan tell us?

　　里斯.兰根的故事说明了什么？

　　His explanations, as heartbreaking as they are, are also a little strange.

　　和那些悲伤的往事一样，他述说的一切令人伤感，但又令人觉得惊异。

　　His mother forgets to sign his financial aid form and, just like that, no scholarship.

　　他的母亲忘记了填写他的经济资助表，结果——正如已经回顾的——他没能申请到奖学金。

　　He tries to move from a morning to an afternoon class, something students do everyday, and gets stopped cold.

　　为了回避严寒，他希望把早上的课调整到下午——这并不为过，很多学生都这样做过。

　　And why were Langan's teachers at Reed and Montana State so indifferent to his plight¹?

　　为什么兰根在里德学院和蒙大纳州立大学的老师们对学生的窘境却视而不见？

　　Teachers typically delight in minds as brilliant as his.

　　在老师的心中，像兰根这样聪明的学生应该非常受欢迎。

　　Langan talks about dealing² with Reed and Montana State as if there were some kind of vast and unyielding government bureaucracy.

　　但在兰根的眼中，里德学院和蒙大纳州立大学仿佛成为了一个结构庞大、体制僵硬的官僚机构。

　　But colleges, particularly small liberal arts colleges like Reed, tend not to be rigid³ bureaucracies.

　　按理来说，像里德学院这种比较小的文理学院，往往不可能成为死板的官僚机构。

　　Making allowances in the name of helping⁴ someone stay in school is what professors do all the time.

　　为帮助学生在学校的生活而提供资助，也一直是教师们在做的事情。

　　Even in this discussion of Harvard, it's as if Langan has no concept of the culture and particulars of the institution he's talking about.

　　即便说到哈佛大学，看起来兰根也没有了解他所谈机构的文化和特点。

　　When you accept a paycheck from these people,“如果你想从他们手中领取薪水，

　　it's going to come down to what you want to do and what you feel is right那还得看你想怎样做，看你的想法是否正确，

　　versus⁵ what the man says you can do to recieve another paycheck.

　　否则，他们会说你可以做自己的事情，但必须到别人那里领取薪水。”

　　What? One of the main reasons college professors accept a lower paycheck than they could get in private industry什么意思？大学的教授们愿意接受比其他私人企业更低的工资，选择教师生涯，is that university life gives them the freedom to do what they want to do and what they feel is right.

　　最重要的原因就是大学能给他们想怎么做就怎么做，有什么就说什么的自由。

　　Langan has Harvard backwards⁶.

　　兰根对哈佛的观点显然有些落伍。

　　When Langan told me his life story, I couldn't help thinking the life of Robert Oppenheimer,当兰根向我谈起他的生活经历时，我不由得想起物理学家罗伯特.奥本海默（RobertOppenheimer）的一生，the physicist⁷ who famously headed the American effort to develop the nuclear bomb during world war II.

　　奥本海默是美国二战期间发展核武器的著名带头人。

　　Oppenheimer, by all accounts, was a child with a mind very much like Chris Langan's.

　　据说孩童时期的奥本海默也像克里斯.兰根一样拥有过人的智商，His parents considered him a genius.

　　他的父母认为他是一个天才，

　　One of his teachers recalled that "he recieved every new idea as perfectly⁸ beautiful."他的一个老师回忆“他能够极其透彻地理解各种思想”。

　　He was doing lab experiments by the third grade and studying physics and chemistry by the fifth grade.

　　小学三年级的时候，他就开始做各种实验，到了五年级，他开始学习物理学和化学。

 

1 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

2 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

3 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

6 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

7 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。

8 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。