The United States last week ended a 21-year drought when its team took home first place in the annual International Mathematical Olympiad. The U.S. win broke a long stretch dominated by China, which placed lower than second only once during that period (China took second this year). China has been participating since only 1985, which makes its record all the more impressive: It has won almost two-thirds of the Olympiads it has competed in.
上周,美國(guó)隊(duì)終于結(jié)束在一年一度的國(guó)際數(shù)學(xué)奧林匹克競(jìng)賽上連續(xù)21年顆粒無(wú)收的慘況——迎來(lái)了他們的第一座冠軍獎(jiǎng)杯。美國(guó)隊(duì)的這次獲勝打破了長(zhǎng)久以來(lái)由中國(guó)隊(duì)占據(jù)的主導(dǎo)地位,在此期間中國(guó)隊(duì)僅有一次位于第二名之后(今年中國(guó)隊(duì)為第二名)。直到1985年中國(guó)隊(duì)才首次參與國(guó)際數(shù)學(xué)奧林匹克競(jìng)賽,所以創(chuàng)下的記錄是令人印象深刻的:中國(guó)隊(duì)幾乎贏了三分之二參加過(guò)的比賽。
The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a competition for high schoolers around the world. The U.S. ranks 36 of 65 countries and economies on math proficiency among 15-year-olds, according to the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment, but those rankings are based on populationwide statistics; the IMO pits countries’ very top tier against one another. The U.S. picks its six-person team through a series of tests. These aren’t the standardized tests students take at the end of the year. U.S. students take three tests: the AMC (multiple choice), the AIME (all answers are integers between 0 and 999) and the USAMO (six questions, all proof-based). Any student in eighth through 12th grade can choose to take the AMC, but to take any subsequent tests, students must score high on the preceding one. The students who do best on the USAMO are invited to a summer camp for training, and the final squad is chosen from among the attendees.
國(guó)際數(shù)學(xué)奧林匹克競(jìng)賽(IMO)是一個(gè)面向全世界中學(xué)生的競(jìng)賽。根據(jù)2012年的國(guó)際學(xué)生能力評(píng)估項(xiàng)目可知,美國(guó)15歲中學(xué)生的數(shù)學(xué)能力在65個(gè)國(guó)家和地區(qū)中排名第36,但是這些排名是基于群體范圍的統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)的;國(guó)際數(shù)學(xué)奧林匹克競(jìng)賽使得國(guó)家之間為了排名而激烈競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。美國(guó)隊(duì)的六名隊(duì)員經(jīng)過(guò)了一系列的測(cè)驗(yàn)。這可不是一般學(xué)生們年末的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化測(cè)試。美國(guó)學(xué)生總共參加三次考試:美國(guó)數(shù)學(xué)競(jìng)賽(多種選擇)、美國(guó)數(shù)學(xué)邀請(qǐng)賽(所有答案都是0到999之間的整數(shù))和美國(guó)數(shù)學(xué)奧林匹克(六道都是證明題)。任何八到十二年級(jí)的學(xué)生都可以選擇參加AMC,但是只有在這場(chǎng)考試中獲得高分才能有資格參加后兩場(chǎng)考試。在USAMO考試中表現(xiàn)最為優(yōu)異的學(xué)生們將會(huì)受邀參加一個(gè)暑期訓(xùn)練營(yíng),而最后參加競(jìng)賽的隊(duì)員就是在這些參與者中選出。
More and more countries are participating in the IMO — 104 this year — but top places are dominated by a small number of countries. While formerly competitive countries such as Hungary and Romania have fallen behind, China, Russia and the U.S. have held the top three slots in a third of the competitions since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
越來(lái)越多的國(guó)家正前來(lái)參加國(guó)際數(shù)學(xué)奧林匹克競(jìng)賽——今年已經(jīng)達(dá)到了104個(gè)國(guó)家——但是前幾名往往是被一小部分的國(guó)家所占領(lǐng)。但是以前那些極具競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力的國(guó)家:比如匈牙利和羅馬尼亞現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)落后,而在蘇聯(lián)解體之后,中國(guó)、俄羅斯和美國(guó)已經(jīng)在三分之一的比賽中占據(jù)了前三名的寶座。
Although the U.S. had been mostly shut out from the top prize, the Americans have put up incredible individual results. The IMO awards gold medals to contestants whose scores place them in approximately the top 8 percent of competitors.3 Since the U.S. began competing in 1974, it has won 109 gold medals, putting it in second place overall. The U.S. ties the USSR for the third-highest rate of gold medals won per competition participated in (2.7 medals), behind China (4.6) and Russia (3.6).
雖然美國(guó)幾乎一直在冠軍門(mén)外徘徊,但是美國(guó)人有著令人難以置信的個(gè)人成果。國(guó)際數(shù)學(xué)奧林匹克競(jìng)賽將金牌頒給那些成績(jī)能夠進(jìn)入大約前8%的參賽選手。美國(guó)自1974年開(kāi)始參加國(guó)際數(shù)學(xué)奧林匹克競(jìng)賽,如今已經(jīng)獲得109塊金牌,總數(shù)而言位居第二。美國(guó)與蘇聯(lián)并列為獲得金牌第三多的國(guó)家——每場(chǎng)比賽獲得2.7塊金牌——位于每場(chǎng)比賽獲得4.6塊金牌的中國(guó)和3.6塊的俄羅斯之后。
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