异类之不一样的成功启示录 第74期:落魄天才的日常

 Today, Chris Langan lives in rural Missouri on a horse farm.

如今，克里斯·兰根生活在密苏里州乡下的一个养马农场。

He moved there a few years ago, after he got married.

多年以前，他在结婚之后便搬到了这里。

He's in his fifties but looks many years younger.

虽然已经50多岁，但他看起来却显得年轻很多。

He has the build of a linebacker, thick through the chest, with enormous biceps.

他拥有后卫球员那样的体形，他宽厚胸膛上的筋肉非常强健。

His hair is combed straight back from his forehead.

他的头发从额头一根根地梳到脑后。

He has a neat, greying mustache and aviator-glasses.

他留着灰色的胡须，戴着太阳镜，显得很优雅。

If you look into his eyes, you can see the intelligence burning behind them.

透过他的眼睛，你可以看到他眼睛后面隐藏的智慧。

"A typical day is, I get up and make coffee.

“我典型的生活，就是起床之后弄一点咖啡。

I go in and sit in front of the computer and begin working on whatever I was working on the night before," he said not long ago.

然后走到里间坐在电脑前面开始工作，无论怎样我都会工作到晚上，”他不久之前告诉我，

"I found if I go to bed with a question on my mind, all I have to do is concentrate on the question before I go to sleep and I virtually always have the answer in the morning.

“我发现如果我在上床之前想到一个问题，我只需要在入睡的时候把精力集中在这个问题上，每一次都能在第二天早上找出答案。

Sometimes I realize what the answer is because I dreamt the answer and I can remember it.

有时我能梦到答案，并且能够记住答案。

Other times, I just feel the answer, and I start typing and the answer emerges¹ onto the page."

有时我只能感觉到答案在哪，我开始把想法输入电脑，答案很快就能在电脑页面上显示出来。”

He had just been reading the work of the linguist² Noam Chomsky.

他正好阅读了语言学家诺姆·乔姆斯基（NoamChomsky）的作品。

There were piles of books in his study.

他有一大堆的书需要研究。

He ordered books from the library all the time.

他一直都是从图书馆借书来读。

"I always feel that the closer you get to the original sources, the better off you are," he said.

“我一直认为一个人越是接近事物的本质，他就越是生活得更好，”他说。

Langan seemed content. He had farm animals to take care of, and books to read, and a wife he loved.

兰根看起来很满足。他有农场的动物需要伺候，有书需要读，有妻子让他去爱。

It was a much better life than being a bouncer.

这是比做大人物更加惬意的生活。

"I don't think there is anyone smarter than me out there," he went on.

“我不认为外面有什么人会比我聪明，”他继续说道，

"I have never met anyone like me or never seen even an indication that there is someone who actually has better powers of comprehension.

我从来没遇到一个比得上我的人，也没听说有什么人居然比我拥有更强的理解能力。

Never seen it and I don't think I am going to.

我从没见过，我想我也不会见到。

I could, my mind is open to the possibility.

我想我能够接受挑战——如果有人向我提出挑战

But if anyone should challenge me, 'Oh, I think I'm smarter than you are,' I think I could have them."

哦，我想我肯定比你聪明’。我乐于看到各种可能发生的事情——我想我能战胜他们。”

What he said sounded boastful, but it wasn't really. It was the opposite, a touch defensive³.

他说的话听起来有些张狂，但事实并不是这样。刚好相反——他的论调倒像是自我辩解。

He had been working for decades now but almost none of what he had done had ever been published much less even read by the physicists⁴ and philosophers and mathematicians⁵ who might be able to judge its value.

他几十年都在为自己的一套说辞努力工作——但是他所做的一切几乎没有只言片语出版过，即便有一些物理学家、哲学家或者是数学家能够正确判断它的价值，但他们都没有读到过它。

1 emerges   

v.出现( emerge的第三人称单数 )；露头；形成；事实

参考例句：

• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society. 语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The man emerges from water. 那个人露出水面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 linguist   

n.语言学家；精通数种外国语言者

参考例句：

• I used to be a linguist till I become a writer.过去我是个语言学家，后来成了作家。
• Professor Cui has a high reputation as a linguist.崔教授作为语言学家名声很高。

3 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

4 physicists   

物理学家( physicist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• For many particle physicists, however, it was a year of frustration. 对于许多粒子物理学家来说，这是受挫折的一年。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技
• Physicists seek rules or patterns to provide a framework. 物理学家寻求用法则或图式来构成一个框架。

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