? ? ????Suddenly Hans appeared to me, he said reassuringly, “You need to have the courage to dream. One who is not afraid of doing so and works out plans to materialize it step by step is like the only person opening his eyes, while everybody around him has not been wakened from a dead sleep. Before one's dream coming true, one needs to be bold enough to dream first, especially to have those seemingly impossible dreams: to become a genius, a giant or a first-rate scientist. It is impossible for someone to realize his full potential if he dares not to do so. Most of people would have had a completely different life if they struggled a little bit further. As to myself, it is just the abandonment of many important things that kept myself from being even better. I don't want you to repeat my mistake.”

? ? ????突然漢斯出現(xiàn)在我跟前，他安慰我說(shuō)：“你要有敢于做夢(mèng)的勇氣，不怕做夢(mèng)并制定計(jì)劃一步一步實(shí)現(xiàn)夢(mèng)想的人就是那個(gè)當(dāng)所有人都在沉睡中，他卻唯獨(dú)睜開了眼睛的那個(gè)人，一個(gè)人首先要敢于做夢(mèng)，尤其是那些看上去不太可能的夢(mèng)想：成為天才、成為偉人、成為一流科學(xué)家，其次他的夢(mèng)想才能談得上實(shí)現(xiàn)，如果一個(gè)人不敢做夢(mèng)，即便他再有潛力也不可能兌現(xiàn)出來(lái)，絕大多人只要再努力那么一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)就會(huì)有一個(gè)完全不一樣的人生，就拿我自己說(shuō)吧，就是因?yàn)楫?dāng)初放棄很多重要的事情我的人生才沒能更上一層樓，我不希望你重蹈我的覆轍?！?/p>

? ? ????Since then I became a lonely warrior. I tried to convince myself that I was engaging in a lofty undertaking that would bring change to the world and accepted the old Chinese saying "everyone is filthy whereas I am pure, everybody is drunk whereas I am sober" as my motto whenever people's ridicule caused stir in my heart. Their malevolence, to some extent, had been converted into strength in my heart: the more they jeered at me, the more I took pains to improve myself. I devoured the biographies of giants and tried to persuade myself that success always comes at a cost and only after rain can I see the rainbow when I felt isolated and hopeless and searched every university for lectures when the monographs were too boring and esoteric with me. Within 3 or 4 years, I had already become a man of encyclopedic mind and had that kind of independent thinking Hans took pains to instill in me. Still, it was at my wit's end to excel in all kinds of examinations. Sometimes I even had the bold, crazy idea that the reason why I was unsociable and alienated by my peers is that I was born in a wrong age, and it was not me but modern Chinese education system to take the blame: teachers always make good use of all kinds of odd question types to create difficulties for students and in this way to show their authorities. Everybody in the education system had a deformed faith that the abler one is to deal with exams, the better he is as a student. I really wanted to tell them that "you are wrong", but who would listen to me?

? ? ????從那時(shí)起我就成了一個(gè)孤獨(dú)的戰(zhàn)士，每當(dāng)周圍人的嘲笑在我內(nèi)心泛起波瀾的時(shí)候，我就試圖在內(nèi)心說(shuō)服自己我正在從事一項(xiàng)即將改變世界的偉大事業(yè)，并將中國(guó)的古話“舉世混濁予獨(dú)清、眾人皆醉予獨(dú)醒”當(dāng)作自己的座右銘，他們的惡意在某種程度上轉(zhuǎn)化為我內(nèi)心的力量：他們?cè)绞浅靶ξ?，我就越是煞費(fèi)苦心地提升自己，每當(dāng)我感到孤獨(dú)和無(wú)助的時(shí)候，我就如饑似渴地翻閱著偉人的傳記并努力告誡自己成功是總有代價(jià)的、不經(jīng)歷風(fēng)雨哪能見彩虹，每當(dāng)我感到那些大部頭太枯燥、太深?yuàn)W難懂的時(shí)候我就跑遍各大高校聽講座。三四年下來(lái)我已經(jīng)成了一個(gè)滿腹經(jīng)綸的人并且掌握了漢斯費(fèi)盡苦心培養(yǎng)我的那種獨(dú)立思考的能力，可盡管如此，我還是窮于應(yīng)付大大小小各種門類的考試，有時(shí)候我甚至瘋狂大膽地認(rèn)為我之所以不合群、被我的同齡人孤立是因?yàn)槲页錾谝粋€(gè)錯(cuò)誤的時(shí)代，不是我反倒是當(dāng)代中國(guó)的教育體系應(yīng)該為此承擔(dān)責(zé)任：老師們總是利用各種稀奇古怪的題型來(lái)刁難學(xué)生并借此顯示出他們的權(quán)威，教育系統(tǒng)內(nèi)的每個(gè)人都畸形地認(rèn)為一個(gè)人應(yīng)試的能力越強(qiáng)，他就是越優(yōu)秀的學(xué)生，我真想告訴他們“你們錯(cuò)了”，但是誰(shuí)會(huì)聽我的話呢？

? ? ????The most horrible scene for me is the announcement of the results. The teacher came into the classroom with a pile of test papers in hands. After everything was ready, he cleared his throat to declare the beginning of the process. "Bill, the first, 98 points, very good; Tony, the second, 93 points, I'm glad for your efforts, since you are not so excellent last time; Neil, the third, 90 points, not bad, you need to try even harder next time." It is always my turn when everyone's name had been pronounced, "Peter, the last one, 30 points, I've never seen a boy as incorrigible as you are. You worthless, when can you take off your 'bottom one' hat?" His words caused a roar of laughter by the whole class, and took my already self-abased mentality a turn for the worse. My grandfather dissuaded Hans now and then from the crazy idea of moulding me into a genius. "Be realistic and stopping having your head in the clouds. Chinese soil is not fit for genius, while middle course is the golden rule in China. Have you seen a genius ending well in recent history? Ning Bo broke from the secular world and became a monk; Wei Yong Kang fell from the altar and became a laughing-stock. Lin Jia Wen jumped to his death. Geniuses may be extraordinary in most people's eyes, the vast majority of them are nonetheless too unsociable to lead happy lives. To bring Peter down to an ordinary man, to send him to an average university, find an ordinary job and get married with an average partner is the only right way forward!" Notwithstanding his well-meant words, Hans always argued with him until both of them are blue in the face. "You are gambling! It may be satisfactory if you win, but what if you lose? Even if you are a good sport, can you trifle with Peter's future?" Grandpa snarled when he was driven mad.

? ? ????對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)最恐怖的時(shí)刻莫過(guò)于公布成績(jī)的時(shí)候，老師捧著一大摞卷子走進(jìn)教室，當(dāng)一切準(zhǔn)備就緒，他清了清嗓子預(yù)示著這一過(guò)程的開端?！氨葼?，第一名，98分，非常棒；托尼，第二名，93分，你上次考得可沒這么好，為你的努力感到高興；尼爾，第三名，90分，也不賴，再接再厲。”我總是當(dāng)所有同學(xué)的名字都被念完、最后輪到的那個(gè)：“彼得，最后一名，30分，我從未見過(guò)像你這般不可救藥的孩子，你這個(gè)沒用的家伙，你啥時(shí)候能摘掉‘成績(jī)墊底’的帽子啊？”他的話引起了全班的一陣哄笑，讓我原本就自卑的心理再次自卑到了一個(gè)新的高度。爺爺時(shí)不時(shí)地勸阻爸爸放棄將我塑造成一個(gè)天才的瘋狂想法，“別做夢(mèng)了，現(xiàn)實(shí)點(diǎn)吧，中國(guó)的土壤就不可能誕生天才，中庸之道才是中國(guó)人奉行金科玉律，你見過(guò)近代史上有善終的天才嗎？寧鉑看破紅塵、剃度為僧；魏永康跌落神壇，成了所有人的笑柄；林嘉文跳樓身亡，天才或許在絕大多數(shù)人眼里非同尋常，但是他們中的絕大多數(shù)人因?yàn)樘缓先阂灾劣诓荒軗碛行腋５娜松^(guò)個(gè)正常人的生活、考個(gè)普通的大學(xué)、找一份普通的工作、再娶一個(gè)普通的老婆才是王道！”盡管他出于善意才說(shuō)這些話，但是爸爸總是跟他爭(zhēng)得面紅耳赤，爺爺惱羞成怒后，只能氣急敗壞地說(shuō)：“你這是在賭博！如果贏了當(dāng)然皆大歡喜，可如果你輸了呢？即便你愿賭服輸，可你能拿彼得的前途開玩笑嗎？”

? ? ????Mary was the only one counted as my friend. Although she was as perfunctory as an idler in my eyes, she kept in the top three and was the darling for her head teacher. Perhaps for the reason that she held the belief that one is a good girl only if she did well in the exam, she made deliberate attempts towards it, and having inherited the smart genes from her mother, she could get twice the result with half the effort. She was a girl with mature looks, her face was as exquisite as the movie star Yang Mi and her figure slim Angelababy when she was grown a little older. These reasons combined made her the one of every boy's dreams and the envy of each of her kind. Even if she had already attained the position of an "empress", she was not to my taste. Probably because the values Hans fostered are deeply rooted in my heart and her "fatal weakness" against them revolted me: without any creativity and imagination, the only thing she can do was to read without thinking and conform to what teacher said. So what? A student is sure to have a promising career as long as he keeps his sharpness in exams. In spite of the fact that Mary had already been spoiled like a princess by people around her, she was amiable and friendly to an outcast like me. As there had a small park in the neighborhood and both of us were keen on the slide and parallel bars in it, we run into each other at least once a week. Although I had already been labelled a future scavenger and a bricklayer, she never hit me with harsh words. On the contrary, she used to inspire me like this:

? ? ????瑪麗可以算作我唯一的朋友，盡管在我眼里她只是一個(gè)敷衍了事、百無(wú)聊賴的人，她卻能保持在前三名并成為班主任眼里的寵兒，或許是因?yàn)樗е挥性趯W(xué)習(xí)上出彩才能算得上是個(gè)好孩子的信念，她有意識(shí)地朝這方面努力，同時(shí)因?yàn)樗^承了她媽媽聰明的基因，所以她只需要付出一丁點(diǎn)努力就能取得高于普通人的成就。當(dāng)她長(zhǎng)大一點(diǎn)后，她的外表看上去很成熟，她的臉蛋就像電影明星楊冪的一樣精致，身材宛如楊穎，所有這些原因加起來(lái)讓她成了每一個(gè)男孩的夢(mèng)中情人和每一個(gè)女生為之羨慕嫉妒恨的對(duì)象。即便她已經(jīng)登上了“女王”的寶座，她卻不是我的菜，或許是漢斯培養(yǎng)的價(jià)值觀已經(jīng)在我內(nèi)心根深蒂固的緣故，我對(duì)她那種違背價(jià)值標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的“致命的弱點(diǎn)”尤為反感：缺乏獨(dú)創(chuàng)性和想象力的她只會(huì)死記硬背并亦步亦趨地跟在老師屁股后面，可那又怎樣？只要一個(gè)人能在考試中保持鋒芒他就必定會(huì)前途無(wú)量。盡管瑪麗已經(jīng)被周圍人寵得像個(gè)公主一樣，她卻對(duì)我這個(gè)社會(huì)棄兒十分友好與和善，因?yàn)槲覀冃^(qū)內(nèi)有一個(gè)小公園，我們兩個(gè)都熱衷于其中的滑梯和雙杠，所以我們至少一周能碰一次面，盡管我已被貼上未來(lái)拾荒者和砌磚工的標(biāo)簽，她卻從未用尖刻的言語(yǔ)刺激我，相反，她總是這樣開導(dǎo)我：

? ? ????“You are not stupid, why don't you make some effort to prepare for exams?”

? ? ????“What is the point of doing so? Is Einstein known for high grades? Did Edison spend one second on it? Is it because Faraday is a hero on the test paper that he laid the foundation of electromagnetics?” Being disgusted with her platitudes, I asked in reply with a silver tongue.

? ? ????“Einstein, Edison or Faraday, none of them exist in a vacuum. They are, first and foremost, men in realty. They need to bring home the bacon. They are eager to be recognized by the mainstream world. The achievement and success aside, what I know is that you will be knocked out from the current community if you don't learn to deal with exams and follow the crowd.” Mary did her best to convince me, as if I was her child.

? ? ????“Ok, Ok, you prepare for your exams and I'm willing to be eliminated.” I said in a fit of pique.

? ? ????“You are too young to know what you are doing. It will be too late to understand everything when you are grown up, but it is not too late now to change yourself and adapt to the environment.” She put on the airs of an adult and talked down to me.

? ? ????“Don't preach at me like my father and mother! Don't forget you are only 1 year older than I am. Who are you to teach me like this?” I sulked.

? ? ????“All I said is for your own good. Don't take it to heart if you are wounded by any of my words.” Feeling I was immovable against her words, Mary made a face, concluded the talk in haste and ran all the way back to her home.

? ? ????“你又不笨，為什么不在考試上下點(diǎn)功夫呢？”

? ? ????“這么做有意義嗎？愛因斯坦是因?yàn)榉謹(jǐn)?shù)高而名聲在外的嗎？愛迪生花過(guò)一秒鐘在考試上嗎？法拉第奠定了電磁學(xué)的基礎(chǔ)乃是因?yàn)樗且粋€(gè)試卷上的英雄嗎？”對(duì)她的陳詞濫調(diào)討厭至極的我口齒伶俐地反問(wèn)道。

? ? ????“愛因斯坦也好、愛迪生也好、法拉第也好，他們都不是生活在真空中的人，他們首先是現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中的大活人，他們也需要掙錢養(yǎng)家，他們也渴望得到主流世界的認(rèn)可，撇開成就不談，我只知道如果你學(xué)不會(huì)隨大流和應(yīng)付考試，你就不得不面對(duì)從這個(gè)圈子中淘汰出局的命運(yùn)。”瑪麗苦口婆心地勸說(shuō)我，把我當(dāng)成了她的孩子。

? ? ????“好吧，好吧，你去準(zhǔn)備你的考試，我心甘情愿地淘汰出局。”我賭氣地說(shuō)。

? ? ????“你太小了還不知道你在干什么，等你長(zhǎng)大了就算明白一切也為時(shí)已晚，可是如果你從現(xiàn)在開始改變自己、適應(yīng)環(huán)境還不算太晚?！彼龜[出一副大人的架子居高臨下地對(duì)我說(shuō)。

? ? ????“別像我爸媽一樣教訓(xùn)我！別忘了你僅僅比我大一歲而已，你憑什么這么教訓(xùn)我？”我慍怒地說(shuō)。

? ? ????“我說(shuō)的這一切都是在為你好，如果我的言語(yǔ)刺傷了你，你可別往心里去?！备杏X我油鹽不進(jìn)的瑪麗做了一個(gè)鬼臉，草草結(jié)束了談話，并徑直朝家走去。

? ? ????Seeing that I was a dead wood and was unable to climb up to an advantageous position even if someone gave me a hand, when the high school entrance examination came, it took me a great deal of efforts to bring my points up to the cut-off point of a low-ranking one. As a Chinese saying goings: Birds of a feather flock together. I felt much relaxed than before, as most of my fellow students were by no means any better than me. On the other hand, with years of accumulation I had already had the ability to probe into the front problems of mathematics and physics. It is my boast that when everyone was cramming for the simplest exams, I was eligible for the toughest subjects impossible even to experts and professors. The new environment, compared to the previous one within which everybody turned against me, was not a bit better. As if it verified that old Chinese saying: in every country dogs bite. One day I was probing into my quantum mechanics in Chinese class as usual. It is a convention that teachers struck a pose on the platform, and students did whatever they wanted in their seats, but today an exception occurred. I was too absorbed in my study to realize the teacher Jack had already noticed and sneaked behind me. Having spent 2 or 3 minutes examining what I was doing, he gave a little cough to attract my attention, put on airs and said:

? ? ????鑒于我是一塊不可雕的朽木、即便有人拉我一把我都不可能爬上一個(gè)稍稍有利的位置，中考來(lái)臨之際，我費(fèi)了好大的勁才夠上一所蹩腳高中的分?jǐn)?shù)線，正如古話說(shuō)得好：物以類聚、人以群分，因?yàn)橥瑢W(xué)中絕大多數(shù)都是跟我半斤八兩的那種，所以我感到學(xué)習(xí)壓力比之前要小多了。在另一方面，由于多年的積累我已經(jīng)具備了研究數(shù)學(xué)和物理中最前沿問(wèn)題的能力，我甚至可以拍著胸脯大言不慚地說(shuō)，當(dāng)時(shí)有人在應(yīng)付低級(jí)的不能再低級(jí)的考試的時(shí)候，我已經(jīng)有資格深究那些即便是專家和教授都無(wú)能為力的艱深問(wèn)題，相較于人人都站在立面上跟我作對(duì)的舊環(huán)境，新環(huán)境也好不到哪里去，這或許應(yīng)驗(yàn)了中國(guó)的那句古話：天下烏鴉一般黑。一天我像往常一樣在語(yǔ)文課上研究我的量子力學(xué)，照慣例老師在講臺(tái)上做做樣子，我們學(xué)生坐在座位上想干什么就干什么，但今天卻出了一個(gè)例外，我太專注于自己的研究，以至于沒有察覺到老師杰克已經(jīng)注意到我并溜到了我身后一探究竟，兩三分鐘后他輕輕咳了一聲引起我的注意，并裝腔作勢(shì)地說(shuō)：

? ? ????“It is an amazement that there exists a physicist in this little place! Is our teachers' work not good enough? We ignored such a child prodigy, a future great man!”

? ? ????“Sorry, Jack, I... I... I have taken out a wrong book by mistake.” Jack's sudden appearance startled me and I made up an excuse in a flurry. “There are a lot of things in my schoolbag, and it is not easy to find the right one.”

? ? ????“Stand up and talk to me!” Jack raised his voice and became fierce to me, “I have been watching you for a long time. What I saw is that you entirely ignored me and focused on some bullshit irrelevant to the college entrance examination!” As if Jack had never been taken seriously before, he made an example of me in front of the whole class.

? ? ????“What's the point of examination?” Perhaps his words touch me to the quick, I nerved myself to challenge him in full view of the public, “Why there never existed an Einsteinian, Nietzschean and Freudian figure in China through the ages? Why scarcely any of them was excellent enough to be awarded the Noble Prize? It is the problem of the education system. It is because teachers trained students to get high grades without developing their abilities, because everybody racks his brains to be a hero on the test paper!”

? ? ????“Are you teaching me? Do I need your teaching?” Jack glanced at me and clucked in disdain, as if a bottom student was far less qualified for such a big problem, “Now I will tell you how to be a good boy. Bring your schoolbag and stand in the doorway. You will be allowed to return to your seat whenever you can recite the text.”

? ? ????“沒想到我們這個(gè)小地方居然出了一個(gè)物理學(xué)家，是我們老師的工作做得不夠好嗎？我們竟然埋沒了這么一位大天才、一個(gè)將來(lái)的偉人！”

? ? ????“對(duì)不起，杰克，我...我...我拿錯(cuò)書了?！苯芸说耐蝗怀霈F(xiàn)嚇了我一跳，慌忙中我編造了一個(gè)借口，“我書包里的東西太多了，想要找點(diǎn)東西真不容易?！?/p>

? ? ????“站起來(lái)跟我說(shuō)話！”杰克提高了嗓門，態(tài)度也變得惡劣起來(lái)，“我已經(jīng)注意了你很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間，我看到的是你完全無(wú)視我的存在，專注于一些跟高考一毛錢關(guān)系都沒有的狗屁玩意兒！”似乎之前從未有人拿杰克當(dāng)回事，因此他當(dāng)著全班同學(xué)的面拿我開刀、殺雞給猴看。

? ? ????“考試有什么用？”或許是他的話觸到了我的痛點(diǎn)，我鼓起勇氣當(dāng)著所有人的面挑戰(zhàn)他，“為什么中國(guó)古往今來(lái)都沒出過(guò)一個(gè)愛因斯坦、尼采、弗洛伊德式的人物？為什么中國(guó)人鮮有能拿諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)的？這是教育體制的問(wèn)題，是因?yàn)閷W(xué)生被老師訓(xùn)練得高分低能，是因?yàn)樗腥私g盡腦汁成為試卷上的英雄！”

? ? ????“你是在教我嗎？我用得著你教嗎？”杰克瞥了我一眼，不屑地咂了咂嘴，似乎一個(gè)成績(jī)墊底的學(xué)生根本不配談?wù)撨@些大問(wèn)題，“現(xiàn)在就讓我告訴你如何做一個(gè)好孩子，拿起你的書包站到門口去，你什么時(shí)候能把課文背下來(lái)，我什么時(shí)候放你回你的座位?！?/p>

? ? ????It is not until the class was over and Jack left the classroom as if nothing had happened that I venture to drag myself back to my seat. One clever, enthusiastic lad came and tried to talk some sense into me,

? ? ????“Why do you seek trouble for yourself? I know the lesson is boring and the content is too difficult to penetrate. You are not the only one, most of us lack interest in it. What the teacher needed is not the intelligence to follow what he said, but a kind of 'pretending to know'. What is the least favorite thing for them is that you put on a wrong attitude and stand up to them! So, you should learn to be a coward, act as a yes-man, and nod to whatever they said.”

? ? ????“So what are we here for?” I was still immovable as before, “It is better to devote ourselves to something more important than to misspend youth here to 'pretend to know' and act as lackeys.”

? ? ????“How silly you are! You spend 3 years here and you will get the diploma.” He justified, “With it you can sit in the office and get paid easily and without it the only way prepared for you is to be a nightman or a mason. Do you want to be down and out?”

? ? ????直到下課，杰克像個(gè)沒事人似的離開了教室，我才敢拖著疲憊的身軀回到座位上，一位機(jī)靈熱心的小伙子走過(guò)來(lái)試圖開導(dǎo)我說(shuō)：

? ? ????“你這么做何苦呢？我知道課講得很枯燥，內(nèi)容太深?yuàn)W難懂，不僅僅是你，我們中的絕大多數(shù)都對(duì)此缺少興趣，老師要的不是你有多聰明，而是需要一種‘不懂裝懂’，他們最不喜歡的就是態(tài)度不端正、跟他們頂著干的那種人！所以你要學(xué)會(huì)裝慫、做一個(gè)應(yīng)聲蟲，不管他們說(shuō)什么你只要答‘是’就可以了?！?/p>

? ? ????“那我們干嘛來(lái)這里呢？”我還是如以前那般冥頑不化，“與其在這里浪費(fèi)青春地‘不懂裝懂’和做老師的哈巴狗，倒不如去干一些更重要的事了?！?/p>

? ? ????“你傻啊！你在這里混三年就能拿到文憑了?！彼谜摀?jù)來(lái)佐證他的論點(diǎn)，“拿到文憑你就能坐辦公室輕松賺錢了，但是如果沒有文憑你只能去做挑糞工和泥瓦匠，難道你想淪落社會(huì)底層嗎？”

? ? ????Sometimes I made attempts to keep the crowd at a distance, yet a kind of “centripetal force” drew me to them and I constantly had a feeling that I was to be consumed by the massive black hole if I was not cautious enough to be on guard against it. Fortunately, Hans prepared a pair of wings for me to leave the mediocre ground and soar high into the sky. With more than 10 years of assiduous research into math and physics, I successfully proved the Riemann Hypothesis—a difficult problem over centuries and with the achievement I had a skyrocketing rise onto the summit of learning. My contribution to foreign top journals made a stir in the academic community. No one expected a middle school student couldn't be any ordinary was on a par with top scientists in the world, let alone in a nation of rigid education like China. Immediately I became the object sought after by the media and scrambled for by top universities. When reporters interviewed students and teachers for my growth experience and history of struggle, everybody chorused the praise and compliment of me such as "Peter revealed his talent from an early age", "I have long said he will make a difference", "we are too mediocre to keep up with him". When it comes to Simon, he expressed hypocritically "how much he appreciated me from the first day I came to his class" and never mention even one syllable of his quarrel with my father and the bleak future he expected me to get.

? ? ????有時(shí)盡管我刻意跟人群保持距離，但是總有一種“向心力”把我吸引過(guò)去，我經(jīng)常有一種只要自己一不稍加提防就會(huì)被巨大的黑洞吞噬掉的感覺，幸虧漢斯給了我一雙脫離平庸地面展翅高飛的翅膀。經(jīng)過(guò)十多年對(duì)數(shù)學(xué)和物理兢兢業(yè)業(yè)的鉆研，我成功證明了黎曼猜想——一個(gè)世紀(jì)難題，憑借這個(gè)成就我一步登天地登上了學(xué)術(shù)的巔峰，我在國(guó)外頂級(jí)期刊上的攥稿引起了學(xué)術(shù)界的轟動(dòng)，沒人料想到一位普通得不能再普通的中學(xué)生居然達(dá)到了世界頂級(jí)科學(xué)家的水平，更何況是在中國(guó)這個(gè)教育僵化死板的國(guó)家，我立馬就成了媒體爭(zhēng)相追捧和重點(diǎn)高校奮力搶奪的對(duì)象，當(dāng)記者采訪我的老師和同學(xué)以獲得我成長(zhǎng)經(jīng)歷和奮斗史的時(shí)候，每個(gè)人異口同聲地夸贊和恭維我，比如說(shuō)“彼得很小就顯露出驚人的天賦了”、“我早就說(shuō)過(guò)他將改變世界”、“我們太平庸了根本跟不上他的思維”，當(dāng)記者問(wèn)道西蒙的時(shí)候，他假惺惺地聲稱“自從我入學(xué)的第一天起，他就如何欣賞我”并只字不提他跟我爸爸吵架的內(nèi)容和他預(yù)料我將會(huì)前途一片黯淡的事情。

? ? ????Finally, I spent 3 months preparing for IELTS and was successfully admitted by MIT with full scholarship. My decision to go on with my study abroad was partly out of a psychology to get rid of the current spoon-fed learning environment of China, by which I was deeply wounded, partly because I felt it would be a good opportunity for me to expand my horizon and improve my body of knowledge in an advanced western country. My father and mother took out all their savings to back me, and I was well aware of an important mission put on my shoulder as I perceived their grey hair and staggering steps at the time when they saw me off and bade goodbye in a reluctant tone. It is as if a kind of fetters had been thrown off when I left the environment imprisoned me for more than 18 years, and I could do whatever I like and pursue any aims when I regained liberty. Having integrated into the relaxed and free academic atmosphere of MIT, I really had the feeling of "a duck in water". The professors were tolerant and the fellow students were very kind to me. The former tried their best to answer and the latter discussed earnestly every detail with me whenever I interrogated them with all kinds of curious questions. Instead of taking examination as the only yardstick to measure me, what they gave priority to is how original and imaginative my new ideas were. My times there spanned 10 years, during which my gift and talent had been recognized and I gradually held my ground in the international academia. At the age of 40, I was awarded the Fields Medal for my achievements in mathematics and invited to give a lecture about the tricks of my success in the Awards Night.

? ? ????最終我花了三個(gè)月準(zhǔn)備雅思并成功以全額獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金進(jìn)入麻省理工學(xué)院，我選擇去國(guó)外深造一半是出于逃避當(dāng)下中國(guó)填鴨式教育環(huán)境的心理，因?yàn)樵谄渲形疑钍芷浜Γ硪话胧俏腋杏X在一個(gè)先進(jìn)的西方國(guó)家讀書不僅可以開闊我的眼界，也可以進(jìn)一步完善自己的知識(shí)體系，我的父母拿出了他們所有的積蓄來(lái)支持我，當(dāng)他們送別我、依依不舍地跟我說(shuō)再見時(shí)，我注意到他們的滿頭白發(fā)和蹣跚的步伐并因而感覺到自己肩上擔(dān)負(fù)著沉重的使命，當(dāng)我離開了禁錮我將近18年之久的環(huán)境時(shí)我感覺自己似乎甩掉了一副腳鐐，重獲自由的我想做什么就做什么、只要有目標(biāo)就可以盡力去追。當(dāng)我融入了麻省理工寬松自由的環(huán)境以后，我找到了一種如魚得水的感覺，教授們對(duì)我很寬容、同學(xué)們也對(duì)我很友好，每當(dāng)我用各式各樣稀奇古怪的問(wèn)題去拷問(wèn)他們的時(shí)候，老師們總是盡力解答，同學(xué)們認(rèn)真跟我探討其中的每一個(gè)細(xì)節(jié)，他們從不用考試作為衡量我的唯一準(zhǔn)繩，相反，他們看重的是我新觀點(diǎn)的獨(dú)創(chuàng)性和想象力，我在那里呆了10多年，期間我的天賦和才能得到了認(rèn)可，我也逐漸在國(guó)際學(xué)術(shù)界站穩(wěn)了腳跟，在我四十歲那年，因?yàn)閿?shù)學(xué)上的成就我被授予菲爾茲獎(jiǎng)，并被邀請(qǐng)?jiān)陬C獎(jiǎng)晚會(huì)上談?wù)勛约撼晒Φ拿卦E。

? ? ????“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It is a great honor to be here and awarded such an important prize. The endeavor and efforts apart, my success today can't be divorced from the people I met in my life. I have to appreciate everyone around me: the professors in MIT for they introduced me into the magic mathematic world; my fellow students for their trains of thought inspired me into many novel, interesting ideas. I have even to be grateful to those ones in my childhood who looked down upon me, rode on me and 'beat the pants out of me', because it is just their evil intents and hostilities that urged my on to study hard. But in particular, I must thank my father and mother for the reason that they granted me the space for dream in an age no one dared to do so. Before one's dream coming true, one needs to be bold enough to dream first, especially to have those seemingly impossible ones. It is impossible for someone to realize his full potential if he dares not to dream. So, I will not be here today if my parents are not farsighted enough to teach me to dream. Thank you, Hans and Linda!”

? ? ????“晚上好，女士們先生們，我能站在這里領(lǐng)如此重要的一個(gè)獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)感到萬(wàn)分榮幸，撇開我的努力不談，我能有今天的成功離不開我生命中遇到的所有人，我不得不感謝他們中的每一位：感謝麻省理工的教授，因?yàn)樗麄儗⑽翌I(lǐng)進(jìn)了數(shù)學(xué)的神奇世界；感謝我的同學(xué)，因?yàn)樗麄兊乃悸穯l(fā)了我許多新穎有趣的觀點(diǎn)，我甚至得感謝那些早年瞧不起我、騎在我身上揍得我滿地找牙的那些人，因?yàn)檎撬麄兊膼阂獗薏呶野l(fā)奮學(xué)習(xí)，但是我特別要感謝的是我的父母，因?yàn)樵谝粋€(gè)人人都不敢做夢(mèng)的時(shí)代里，他們給了我做夢(mèng)的空間，一個(gè)人首先要敢于做夢(mèng)，尤其是那些看上去不太可能的夢(mèng)想，其次他的夢(mèng)想才能談得上實(shí)現(xiàn)，如果一個(gè)人都不敢做夢(mèng)，即便他再有潛力也不可能兌現(xiàn)出來(lái)，所以如果不是他們有足夠的遠(yuǎn)見教我做夢(mèng)，我不會(huì)站在這里，謝謝你，漢斯和琳達(dá)！”

? ? ????Followed my speech was a thunderous applause from the audience. And thus my story came to a perfect halt.

? ? ????當(dāng)我演講完畢，臺(tái)下掌聲雷動(dòng)，我的故事也由此畫上了一個(gè)完滿的句號(hào)。

? ? ????(This story is fictional. Any resemblance to actual individuals or events is coincidental.)

? ? ????（本故事純屬虛構(gòu)，如有雷同純屬巧合）

? ? ????Postscript: I was engaged as a tenured professor at Princeton. However, as the price abroad was too high and my homesickness grew stronger and stronger with days, I finally returned to my motherland when I was as old as the hills. After a long separation of 60 years, I met Mary again. She had already been an aged woman with wrinkled face and humpback. In a prolonged conversation with her, I learnt her career was not so smooth as I imagined. Although she had a gift to excel in exams, she soon exposed her weakness and became at a loss when she left that kind of environment and entered the job market. She had very few opportunities to show her strength at work, and, you see, scarcely any leaders favor a subordinate with no special skills, even if he or she used to be a hero on the test paper. Mary had three relationships, but none of them lasted long. As she always tried to maintain her feeling of superiority and expected to be humored by the other side, she couldn't find a man to put up with her. Consequently, she was obliged to face a solitary old age. A previous top student in the education system became a good-for-nothing in real life now, who can tell it is right or wrong?

? ? ????后記：我被普林斯頓聘為終身教授，然而因?yàn)閲?guó)外的物價(jià)太貴、我的思鄉(xiāng)情結(jié)與日俱增，當(dāng)我老態(tài)龍鐘之際我最終回到了我的祖國(guó)，在長(zhǎng)達(dá)60年的分離之后，我再次見到了瑪麗，此時(shí)的她已經(jīng)是一位滿臉皺紋和駝背的耄耋老人，經(jīng)過(guò)了一次促膝長(zhǎng)談，我了解到她的日子過(guò)得并不如我想象般的那么順，盡管她擅長(zhǎng)考試，脫離了那個(gè)環(huán)境進(jìn)入職場(chǎng)后的她很快就暴露出了自己的弱點(diǎn)、并在工作中感到無(wú)所適從，在工作中她極少有展示自己優(yōu)勢(shì)的機(jī)會(huì)，要知道，幾乎沒有哪個(gè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)會(huì)喜歡那種一無(wú)所長(zhǎng)的下屬，即便他曾經(jīng)是一個(gè)試卷上的英雄。瑪麗經(jīng)歷過(guò)三段感情，但是沒有一段持續(xù)了很久，鑒于她總是試圖在對(duì)方面前維持自己的優(yōu)越感、總是希望對(duì)方寵著她，沒有人能受得了她，結(jié)果她不得不面對(duì)一個(gè)孤獨(dú)凄涼的晚年，一個(gè)曾經(jīng)教育體系中的優(yōu)等生變成了現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中的廢柴，孰是孰非誰(shuí)能說(shuō)得清呢？

【完】