PBS高端访谈:团队协作的重要性（在线收听）

JUDY WOODRUFF: You could say that John Urschel has made it to the top of his profession, except he had two professions, and they appeared to have nothing to do with the other. Urschel played pro football for the Baltimore Ravens. He then began a Ph.D. program at MIT in mathematics, where he has published several peer-reviewed articles. Urschel retired from football in 2017 and tonight shares His Humble Opinion on how what he learned on the field now helps him in the classroom.

JOHN URSCHEL, Author, Mind and Matter: A Life in Math and Football: When I was a kid growing up in Buffalo, I spent a lot of time alone. It wasn't easy for me to make friends. I was awkward, bigger than everyone else, and I didn't know how to talk to the other kids. I was happiest by myself, doing math puzzles or playing video games. Then, when I got to middle school, I joined lacrosse and soccer teams. I wanted to play football, but we couldn't find a helmet that fit. I didn't do it because I was some great athletic talent. In fact, I wasn't. I was overweight and out of shape. But I was seriously competitive, and I loved playing games. I loved winning, and, even more than that, I hated losing. That had been true when I was a child playing Monopoly with my mother, but it became especially clear when I was playing sports.

What I hadn't expected, though, was how much I loved being part of a team and how much I learned from it, especially when I joined the football team in high school. I had to learn how to communicate better. I had to learn when to take the lead on the field and in the locker room, and when to step back and give my support. I had to learn how to accept instruction and criticism from coaches. And there was a lot of it. I had to work hard, because, if I didn't, I wouldn't be letting my teammates down.

Don't get me wrong. I didn't always like the guys I was playing with. That didn't matter, though. We were in it together. I am convinced that every kid would benefit from being part of a team, not because of what playing team sports did for me as a football player, but because of what it did for me as a mathematician. It might seem like being a mathematician is a solitary pursuit. It's true, I spend a lot of time in a room by myself. But what I didn't expect is that I would also spend a lot of time working with other mathematicians, in other words, being on a team. It may sound crazy, but playing football helped me write my first research paper on the Sun-Jupiter-asteroid three-body problem. It took diligence and learning how to deal with feedback. People spend years in classrooms trying to gain the skills that will help them succeed, but some of the most important skills, I believe, are best learned on a field.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：说约翰·尤索将事业做的风生水起并不为过，不过，他其实有两项事业，只是这两项事业的领域大不相同。尤索是一名橄榄球运动员，为巴尔的摩乌鸦队效力。后来，他在麻省理工读数学专业的博士后。在校期间，他曾发表过多篇经过同行评议的文章。尤索2017年退役。今晚，他将分享自己在赛场上学到的东西是如何帮助自己推进学业的。

约翰·尤索，《物质与精神：关于数学与橄榄球的一生》作者：我小时候在布法罗长大，我经常自己待着。对我来说，交朋友很难。我很笨拙，个头比同龄人要大，所以我不知道要如何与其他小孩子聊天。我独处的时候是最开心的时候，我可以做数学题或者玩儿视频游戏。后来，我上了中学，加入了曲棍球队和橄榄球队。我想玩儿橄榄球，但我没有合适的头盔。我玩儿橄榄球并非因为我是运动健将。实际上，恰好相反——我体重超标，个头庞大。但我竞争力很强，我喜欢玩游戏。我喜欢获胜的感觉，不止于此，我讨厌输。回头看，我当初跟妈妈玩儿大富翁的时候，就已经体现出这一点。只是后来我从事体育运动后，这一点才变得更加明晰。我没想到的是：我很喜欢团队协作的感觉，也没想到团队协作让我受益良多，尤其是我高中加入橄榄球队后。我必须要学会如何更好地跟人交流，以及如何在赛场上和衣帽间里发挥领头作用，如何要退后一步，为队友提供支持。我必须要学会如何听从教练的指导和批评，等等。我必须足够努力，因为如果不努力，队友就会失望。

不过，别误解我的意思哦，有时候，队友也有自己的缺点。但这并不重要，因为我们是一个团队。我深信一点：每个孩子都能从团队协作中受益。但这并不是因为团队协作对我的比赛有益，而是因为团队协作对于我研究数学有益。做一名数学家更像是孤独的探索。确实如此，因为我会花很长时间在房间里独处。但我没想到的是：我会花很多时间与其他数学家共处，那也是一种团队协作。这听起来可能很疯狂，但玩儿橄榄球帮助我完成了第一篇论文，这篇论文的主题是太阳-木星-小行星三者的问题。应对反馈是需要勤奋和学习的。人们会花数年时间在课堂上学习可以帮助自己成功的技能，但我们认为，有一些最为重要的技能是赛场上的团队协作才能教会的。