异类之不一样的成功启示录 第65期:为自己的谋杀判辩护

 Would Oppenheimer have lost his scholarship at Reed?

那么，如果把兰根换成奥本海默，奥本海默是否也可能失去里德学院的奖学金？

Would he had been unable to convince his professors to move his classes to the afternoon?

他是否也无法劝说他的老师把早上的课程调到下午？

Of course not, and that's not because he was smarter than Chris Langan.

当然不会。这并不是他比兰根聪明，

It's because he possessed¹ the kind of savvy² that allowed him to get what he wanted from the world.

而是因为他有另外一种悟性，这种悟性能让他从世人手里如愿得到自己想要的东西。

"They required that everyone take introductory calculus³," Langan said of his brief stay at Montana State.

“他们给每个人都讲微积分的初步知识，”兰根说到他在蒙大纳州立大学的经历，

And I happened to got a guy who taught it in a very dry, very trivial way.

“我就遇到过一个讲微积分初步的家伙，他讲课不仅罗嗦而且枯燥无味。

I didn't understand why he was teaching at this way. So I ask him questions.

我不明白他为什么用这样的方法讲课，所以我就向他提出疑问，

Actually, I had to chase him down to his office, I asked him, 'Why are you teaching this way? Why do you consider this practice to be relevant to calculus?'

我甚至跟着追到了他的办公室，我问他，‘你为什么这样教呢？为什么你认为这种处理方法会和微积分相关？’

And this guy, this tall, lanky⁴ guy, always had sweat stains under his arms, he turned and looked at me and said, ‘You know, there is something probably you should get straight.

这个家伙，这个瘦长的家伙，他的两个衣袖都被汗水浸湿了，他转过头来，看着我说，‘你知道，有些方面是你必须要承认的，

Some people just don't have the intellectual fire power to be mathematicians⁵.'"

并不是每一个人都有数学家那样的智商。

There they are, the professor and the prodigy⁶, and what the prodigy clearly wants is to be engaged, at long last, with a mind that loves mathematics as much as he does.

这就是一个教授和一个天才，从始至终，这个天才希望表达的，无非是自己对数学的热爱，

But he fails. In fact, and this is the most heartbreaking part of all, he manages to have an entire conversation with his calculus professor without ever communicating the one fact most likely to appeal to a calculus professor.

但是他却未能如愿。事实上——这是整个故事最令人伤心的一部分——他也希望和微积分教授说清楚一切，但却始终没能在微积分教授面前说出自己的真实想法。

The professor never realizes that Chris Langan is good at calculus.

这位教授决不可能意识到克里斯.兰根在数学方面的才华。

The particular skill that allows you to talk your way out of a murder rap, or convince your professor to move you from the morning to the afternoon section is what the psychologist Robert Sternberg calls "practical intelligence."

为自己的谋杀判决辩护，或者劝说老师把自己早上的课程调到下午，这些特别的技巧，心理学家罗伯特.斯腾伯格（RobertSternberg）称之为“实用智商”。

To Sternberg, practical intelligence includes things like "knowing what to say whom, knowing when to say it and knowing how to say it for maximum effect."

在斯腾伯格看来，“为了达到最佳效果，知道自己应该在什么时候，应该怎样和他人说出自己应该说的话”，是实用智商的一个方面。

It is procedure. It's about knowing how to do something without necessarily knowing why you know it or being able to explain it.

这更像是一个程序上的概念：它指的是你应该怎样去做一件事情，和你是否清楚自己为什么要这样做或者能否提供这种行为的合理解释并无必然联系。

It's practical in nature: that is, it's not knowledge for its own sake.

它的本质是实践性的：它不是解释自我的能力，

It's knowledge that helps you read situations correctly and get what you want.

它是一种让你正确认识自身处境，并且达到自己目的的能力。

And critically, it is a kind of intelligence separate from the sort of analytical⁷ ability measured by IQ.

并且，更为关键的是，它是一种有别于IQ测试中，一个人的分析能力之外的智商。

To use a technical term, general intelligence and practical intelligence are orthogonal, the presence of one doesn't imply the presence of the other.

在运用这个术语的时候，一个人的一般智商和实用智商常常是“两两不相交”的：一种智商的存在并不意味着另一种智商就必定存在。

1 possessed   

adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的

参考例句：

• He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
• He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。

2 savvy   

v.知道，了解；n.理解能力，机智，悟性；adj.有见识的，懂实际知识的，通情达理的

参考例句：

• She was a pretty savvy woman.她是个见过世面的漂亮女人。
• Where's your savvy?你的常识到哪里去了？

3 calculus   

n.微积分；结石

参考例句：

• This is a problem where calculus won't help at all.对于这一题，微积分一点也用不上。
• After studying differential calculus you will be able to solve these mathematical problems.学了微积分之后，你们就能够解这些数学题了。

4 lanky   

adj.瘦长的

参考例句：

• He was six feet four,all lanky and leggy.他身高6英尺4英寸，瘦高个儿，大长腿。
• Tom was a lanky boy with long skinny legs.汤姆是一个腿很细的瘦高个儿。

5 mathematicians   

数学家( mathematician的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Do you suppose our mathematicians are unequal to that? 你以为我们的数学家做不到这一点吗？ 来自英汉文学
• Mathematicians can solve problems with two variables. 数学家们可以用两个变数来解决问题。 来自哲学部分

6 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。

7 analytical   

adj.分析的；用分析法的

参考例句：

• I have an analytical approach to every survey.对每项调查我都采用分析方法。
• As a result,analytical data obtained by analysts were often in disagreement.结果各个分析家所得的分析数据常常不一致。