異類之不一樣的成功啟示錄 第74期:落魄天才的日常

What did the Cs lack thought?

那么，C組的特曼人在哪個方面存在缺陷?

Not something expensive or impossible to find; not something encoded in DNA or hardwired into the circuits of their brains.

這個答案并不需要千辛萬苦地尋找，這不是因為他們的DNA編碼或者是大腦神經(jīng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)有什么不同。

They lacked something that we could have given them if we'd only known they needed it: a community around them that prepared them properly for the world.

他們?nèi)鄙俚氖且环N環(huán)境：這種環(huán)境能幫他們養(yǎng)成面對世界的正確態(tài)度，如果我們知道這些天才需要它，我們就應(yīng)該為他們創(chuàng)造這樣的環(huán)境。

The Cs were squandered talent.

C組的特曼人是被浪費的天才，

But they didn't need to be.

事實上他們不應(yīng)該淪落到這一步。

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

如今，克里斯·蘭根生活在密蘇里州鄉(xiāng)下的一個養(yǎng)馬農(nóng)場。

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

多年以前，他在結(jié)婚之后便搬到了這里。

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

雖然已經(jīng)50多歲，但他看起來卻顯得年輕很多。

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

他擁有后衛(wèi)球員那樣的體形，他寬厚胸膛上的筋肉非常強健。

His hair is combed straight back from his forehead.

他的頭發(fā)從額頭一根根地梳到腦后。

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

他留著灰色的胡須，戴著太陽鏡，顯得很優(yōu)雅。

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

透過他的眼睛，你可以看到他眼睛后面隱藏的智慧。

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

“我典型的生活，就是起床之后弄一點咖啡。

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.

然后走到里間坐在電腦前面開始工作，無論怎樣我都會工作到晚上，”他不久之前告訴我，

"I found if I go to bed with a question on my mind,

“我發(fā)現(xiàn)如果我在上床之前想到一個問題，

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.

我只需要在入睡的時候把精力集中在這個問題上，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.

有時我能夢到答案，并且能夠記住答案。

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

有時我只能感覺到答案在哪，我開始把想法輸入電腦，答案很快就能在電腦頁面上顯示出來。”

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

他正好閱讀了語言學(xué)家諾姆·喬姆斯基(NoamChomsky)的作品。

There were piles of books in his study.

他有一大堆的書需要研究。

He ordered books from the library all the time.

他一直都是從圖書館借書來讀。

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

“我一直認為一個人越是接近事物的本質(zhì)，他就越是生活得更好，”他說。

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

蘭根看起來很滿足。他有農(nóng)場的動物需要伺候，有書需要讀，有妻子讓他去愛。

It was a much better life than being a bouncer.

這是比做大人物更加愜意的生活。

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

“我不認為外面有什么人會比我聰明，”他繼續(xù)說道，

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

我從來沒遇到一個比得上我的人，也沒聽說有什么人居然比我擁有更強的理解能力。

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

我從沒見過，我想我也不會見到。

I could, my mind is open to the possibility.

我想我能夠接受挑戰(zhàn)——如果有人向我提出挑戰(zhàn)

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

哦，我想我肯定比你聰明’。我樂于看到各種可能發(fā)生的事情——我想我能戰(zhàn)勝他們。”

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

他說的話聽起來有些張狂，但事實并不是這樣。剛好相反——他的論調(diào)倒像是自我辯解。

He had been working for decades now but almost none of what he had done had ever been published

他幾十年都在為自己的一套說辭努力工作——但是他所做的一切幾乎沒有只言片語出版過，

much less even read by the physicists and philosophers and mathematicians who might be able to judge its value.

即便有一些物理學(xué)家、哲學(xué)家或者是數(shù)學(xué)家能夠正確判斷它的價值，但他們都沒有讀到過它。