异类之不一样的成功启示录 第49期:IQ高潜力就大？

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　　现在，特曼的许多观点依旧左右着我们对成功的判断。

　　Schools have programs for the "gifted."

　　学校存在很多专为“天才”设计的科目，

　　Elite¹ universities require that students take an intelligence test, like, say the American Scholastic² Aptitude³ Test, for admission.

　　名牌大学经常要求考生进行智力测试（就像美国大学本科标准入学考试一样）。

　　High-tech⁴ companies like Google or Microsoft carefully measure cognitive⁵ abilities of perspective employees out of the same belief:

　　出于同样的观念，Google或者微软这样的高端技术公司也会对应聘者的认知能力认真地进行测试：

　　they are convinced that those at the very top of the IQ scale have the greatest potential.

　　他们深信IQ值较高的人具有更大的潜力。

　　(At Microsoft, famously, job applicants⁶ are asked a battery of questions designed to test their smarts,

　　(著名的例子是微软，他们要求应聘者回答一系列的问题，从而确定其是否聪明，

　　including the classic "Why are manhole covers round?

　　该类问题包括这样的杰作：“为什么检修孔的盖子都是圆的？ ”

　　If you don't know the answer to that question, you are not smart enough to work at Microsoft.)

　　如果你的回答不准确，那你就不够聪明，你无法胜任微软的工作。)

　　If I had magic powers and offered to raise your IQ by 30 points, you'd say yes- right?

　　假如我具有某种魔力，能让你的IQ提升30个点，那么你一定会不胜感激——对吗？

　　You'd assume that would help you get further ahead in the world.

　　可以预见，这能帮助你在社会上走得更远。

　　And when we hear about someone like Chris Langan,

　　我们一听到有一个像克里斯.兰根这样的人，

　　our instinct response is the same as Terman's instinctive⁷ response when he met Henry Cowell almost a century ago.

　　我们的本能反应就会像差不多一个世纪以前的特曼遇见亨利.考埃尔的本能反应一样。

　　We feel awe⁸. Geniuses are the ultimate outliers.

　　他们让我们敬畏，这些天才拥有睿智的头脑，

　　Surely there is nothing that can hold someone like that back.

　　我们不敢相信世界上还有什么东西能比拥有睿智的头脑更好的了

　　But is that true?

　　但事实果真如此？

　　So far in Outliers, we've seen that extraordinary achievement is less about talent than it is about opportunity.

　　迄今为止，我们在《异类》一书中看到那些成就非凡业绩的奇才异类，他们更多的是依靠机遇，而不是个人的天赋。

　　In this Chapter, I want to try and dig deeper into why that's the case by looking at the outlier in its purest and most distilled⁹ form- geniuses.

　　在这一章，我希望从那些更为纯粹、经过精挑细选的非凡之人一那些天才们的角度，深入地剖析其中的原因。

　　For years, we've taken our cues from people like Terman when it comes to understanding the significance of high intelligence.

　　多年以来，一旦我们希望了解高智商的意义时，常常受着特曼这类人的观念的影响。

　　But, as we shall see, Terman made an error.

　　但是，正如我们即将看到的，特曼犯了—个错误。

　　He was wrong about his Termites¹⁰,

　　亊实证明他对那些“特曼人”的想法是错误的，

　　and had he happened on the young Chris Langan working his way through Principia Mathematica at the age of sixteen,

　　假如他遇到了年轻的克里斯.兰根——个能在工作期间阅读《数学原理》的16岁少年

　　he would have been wrong about him for the same reason.

　　出于同样的原因，他也会犯同样的错误。

　　Terman didn't understand what a real outlier was, and that's a mistake we continue to make to this day.

　　特曼不了解那些出类拔萃的人成功的真正秘诀在哪里，直到现在，我们还在犯这个错误。

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