異類之不一樣的成功啟示錄 第170期:成功就是堅持不懈地鉆研

If, on the other hand, you start working the day I give you the midterm, you'll be frustrated.

或者，另一方面，如果你只是在我們期中考試那天才開始復(fù)習，那么你一定會感到很失落。

You'll come to me and say, 'It's impossible.' I'll tell you to keep working and by week two, you'll find you'll make significant progress."

你將跑過來跟我說‘這不可能。’我想告訴你們，持續(xù)努力，到了第二周你就會發(fā)現(xiàn)你將取得重大進步。”

We sometimes think of being good at mathematics as an innate ability. You either have it, or you don't.

有些時候我們將優(yōu)秀的數(shù)學(xué)能力看作一種內(nèi)在的能力?；蛘吣憔邆?，或者你不具備。

But to Schoenfeld, it's not so much ability as attitude. You master mathematics if you are willing to try.

但是對于肖恩菲爾德來說，什么能力都不如態(tài)度重要。如果你有意愿去嘗試，你就會掌握數(shù)學(xué)，

That's what Schoenfeld attempts to teach his students.

這就是他想傳授給學(xué)生的。

Success is a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard for twenty-two minutes

成功就是堅持不懈地鉆研，

To make sense of something that most people would give up on after thirty seconds.

比如，帶有強烈的意愿花22分鐘去解決一個大多數(shù)人只花30秒就放棄的問題，

Put a bunch of Renees in a classroom, and give them the space and time to explore mathematics with themselves, and you could go a long way.

如果一個班里都是雷妮這樣的人，只要給她們足夠的空間和時間讓她們自己解決問題，那么一定會取得很好的成績。

Or imagine a country where Renee's doggedness is not the exception, but a cultural trait,

或者想象一下，如果在某個國家，雷妮的這種堅持不是特例，而是一種文化特征，

Embedded as deeply as the culture of honor in the Cumberland Plateau.Now that would be a country good at math.

那么深植在這種文化中的榮譽感將會毫無疑問地致使這個國家具備卓越的數(shù)學(xué)能力。

Every four years, an international group of educators administers a comprehensive mathematics and science test to elementary and junior high school students around the world.

每四年，一個由許多學(xué)者組成的國際組織都會組織一次高難度的數(shù)學(xué)競賽，競賽的選手大多都來自世界各國的初中生或高中生。

It's called the TIMSS (the same test we discussed earlier when looking at differences between forth grader born near the beginning of a school cutoff date and those born near the end of the date),

這個數(shù)學(xué)競賽就是TIMSS（這與我們在第一章中討論的競賽是同一個競賽）。

And the point of the TIMSS is to allow us to compare the educational achievement of one country with another.

設(shè)立TIMSS競賽的目的就在于比較不同國家之間的教育成果。

When students sit down to TIMSS exam, they also have to fill out a questionnaire.

當學(xué)生們坐下來參加TIMSS競賽時，他們同時還必須填寫一份問卷。

It asks them all kinds of things, such as what their parent's level of education is, or what their views about math are, or what their friends are like.

這份問卷包括很多內(nèi)容，如父母的教育程度，對數(shù)學(xué)的看法，以及對朋友的描述。

It's not a trivial exercise. It's about 120 questions long.

這并非是毫無意義的測試。這是個長達120道題的問卷，

In fact, it is so tedious and demanding that many students leave as many as ten or twenty questions blank.

因此很多學(xué)生都留下了10道到20道題未能填寫。