美國(guó)在奧數(shù)比賽中擊敗中國(guó)獲得冠軍

Team USA won the first place at this year’sInternational Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) held inChiang Mai, Thailand, reclaiming the crown after 21years.

美國(guó)隊(duì)在泰國(guó)清邁舉行的本年度國(guó)際數(shù)學(xué)奧林匹克競(jìng)賽(奧數(shù))上獲得第一名，這是美國(guó)隊(duì)21年來(lái)首次重獲此項(xiàng)殊榮。

The six US high school students defeated teamsfrom 103 countries, including its strongest rival,China, which has won 14 times over the past 20years.

由6名美國(guó)高中生組成的隊(duì)伍擊敗了來(lái)自世界其他103個(gè)國(guó)家的隊(duì)伍，其中還包括美國(guó)最大的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手中國(guó)隊(duì)，中國(guó)隊(duì)曾在過(guò)去的20年中14次包攬冠軍。

Po-Shen Loh, head coach of team USA, said technology has done the US its biggest favor.

美國(guó)隊(duì)領(lǐng)隊(duì)Po-Shen Loh稱(chēng)，科技給美國(guó)隊(duì)帶來(lái)了巨大的幫助。

"Something has changed very much in the last 10 years that may be contributing to the USAultimately winning this year," said Loh. "Now there is everything you might ever need to learnfor free on the Internet."

Loh介紹道：“過(guò)去10年間發(fā)生了很多變化，也促成了今年美國(guó)隊(duì)最終奪冠的局面?；ヂ?lián)網(wǎng)可以讓人免費(fèi)學(xué)到任何需要的東西。”?

"China and the US are very much ahead of the rest of the countries, which means ourperformance was not bad," said Chinese team coach Li Qiusheng. "Although four pointsbehind the US, China was 20 points ahead of third-place Korea."

“中國(guó)隊(duì)和美國(guó)隊(duì)都遙遙領(lǐng)先于其他國(guó)家，這說(shuō)明我們的表現(xiàn)也不錯(cuò)，”中國(guó)隊(duì)教練Li Qiusheng?稱(chēng)：“雖然落后美國(guó)隊(duì)4分，但是中國(guó)隊(duì)卻比第二名朝向?qū)Χ喑?0分。”

"During recent years, the differences between the strong countries are getting smaller," Li said. "As in international basketball, the American team used to be the winner all the time. But nowother countries are catching up, and sometimes beating the US. This doesn’t mean USbasketball is declining, rather other countries are getting better. I think we can view mathcompetitions the same way."

“近幾年來(lái)，強(qiáng)隊(duì)之間的差距正在減小，”Li說(shuō)：“就像國(guó)際籃球比賽，美國(guó)隊(duì)在過(guò)去是奪冠常客，但現(xiàn)在別的國(guó)家正在追趕，有時(shí)還能擊敗美國(guó)隊(duì)，這并不能說(shuō)明美國(guó)的籃球在衰敗，而是別的國(guó)家正在變得更好。我認(rèn)為我們也可以用這個(gè)來(lái)比喻奧數(shù)競(jìng)賽。”

Unlike regular classroom math problems, competition math goes beyond plugging numbersinto formulas. Instead, the questions focus on using what’s been learned in school to invent,combine and extend. Creativity is far more important than memorization.

同在課堂上的數(shù)學(xué)題不同，奧數(shù)競(jìng)賽不僅僅是將數(shù)字填入方程式中，而是用學(xué)校里學(xué)過(guò)的知識(shí)來(lái)進(jìn)行創(chuàng)新、聯(lián)想和延伸。創(chuàng)新能力遠(yuǎn)比記憶力更為重要。

"You never really know what challenge you will face until you open the test," said Zhuoquan"Alex" Song, a member of the Canadian team who was educated in the US and Canada and theonly contestant to get a perfect score. It’s the hardest kind of competition to prepare for, headded.

“開(kāi)始測(cè)試之前，你永遠(yuǎn)也不知道要接受的挑戰(zhàn)是什么。”加拿大隊(duì)員宋卓群(Alex)介紹道，他同時(shí)接受了美國(guó)和加拿大的教育，是所有參賽選手中唯一一個(gè)獲得滿分的隊(duì)員，還稱(chēng)這是最難準(zhǔn)備的比賽了。

Every year, six middle school students are picked from every country through months ofexams.

每年，各個(gè)國(guó)家都會(huì)經(jīng)過(guò)數(shù)月的考試選拔出6名中學(xué)生來(lái)參加這項(xiàng)賽事。