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Dreading the thought of having to talk to an audience of adults, Robert begged his father to explain that they had invited a twelve-year-old.
由于擔心自己的聽眾都是一些成年人，羅伯特請求他的父母去解釋一下，畢竟自己只是一個12歲的孩子。
Greatly amused, Julius encouraged his son to accept this honor.
趣的是，朱利葉斯鼓勵他的兒子接受這份榮耀。
On the designated evening, Robert showed up at the club with his parents, who proudly introduced their son as J. Robert Oppenheimer.
演講的那個晚上，羅伯特在父母的陪同下出現在俱樂部，他的父母驕傲地向人們介紹自己的兒子：J·羅伯特·奧本海默。
The startled audience of geologists and amateur rock collectors burst out laughing when he stepped up to the podium:
當他走上演講臺的時候，臺下起初驚呆了的地質學者和巖石收集愛好者們不禁笑了起來：
a wooden box had to be found for him to stand on so that the audience could see him more than the shock of his wiry black hair sticking up above the lectern.
在他的腳底下放了一個木箱，這樣臺下的聽眾們才能更清楚地看到他，而不是只能透過演講臺看到他細長又蓬亂的黑頭發。
Shy and awkward, Robert nevertheless read his prepared remarks and was given a hardy round of applause.
雖然略微有點害羞有點笨拙，但羅伯特還是堅持念完了準備好的演講稿，在場的聽眾給了他熱烈的掌聲。
Is it any wonder Oppenheimer handled the challenges of his life so brilliantly?
在奧本海默輝煌的一生中，他應對挑戰的能力是不是讓我們覺得不可思議？
If you are someone whose father has made his way up in the business world, then you've seen, firsthand, what it means to negotiate your way out of a tight spot.
假如你是一個商人的兒子，你的父親用商業世界的規則啟發你，那么你很容易就能明白，為了應對緊張的場合，你最應該做的應該是什么。
If you're someone who was sent to the Ethical Culture School, then you aren't going to be intimidated by a row of Cambridge dons arrayed in judgement against you.
假如你是一個曾在道德文化學校念書的學生，那么你就不會害怕劍橋的老師列出的一系列對你不利的證詞。
If you studied physics at Harvard, then you know how to talk to an army general who did engineering just down the road at MIT.
假如你曾在哈佛大學學習物理學，那么你就知道該怎樣和一位曾在麻省理工研究工程學的將軍交談。
Chris Langan, by contrast, had only the bleakness of Bozeman, and a home dominated by an angry, drunken stepfather.
與他相反，克里斯卻生活在缺少友愛的波茲曼，生活在一個被暴怒的、酗酒的繼父支配的家庭。
"Langan did this to all of us," said Mark. "We all have a true resentment of authority."
“蘭根（杰克·蘭根）對我們都是這樣，”馬克說，“我們一直非常憤恨那些所謂的權威。”
That was the lesson Langan learned from his childhood: distrust authority, be independent.
這就是蘭根從小受到的教育：不相信權威和喜歡獨來獨往。
He never had a parent teach him on the way to the doctor how to speak up for himself, and reason and negotiate with those in positions of authority.
他的父母不能在看病的路上告訴他應該準備什么問題問醫生，他沒有這樣的父母，他的父母也不會告訴他應該怎樣說服那些權威人士，怎樣和他們磋商。
He didn't learn entitlement. He learned distress, distance and constraint.
他不理解權利的概念。
It may seem like a small thing, but it was a crippling handicap in navigating the world beyond Bozeman.
這看起來沒什么了不起，但這卻是他逃離波茲曼，能否自由行走于世界的最大障礙。
"I couldn't get any financial aid either," Mark went on. "We had just zero knowledge, less than zero knowledge, of the process.
“我也得不到一丁點的經濟支助，”馬克繼續說道，“我們對這方面一無所知，對那些程序，我們可以說得上是白癡。
How to apply. The forms. Checkbooks. It was not our environment."
怎樣申請，表格、支票薄是怎么回事，這些都不屬于我們的世界。”
"If Christopher had been born into a wealthy family, if he was a son of a doctor who is well connected in some major market,
“如果克里斯托弗出生在一個富裕家庭，或者他的父親是一個在行業內很有實力的醫生，
I guarantee you he would have been one of those guys who you read about, knocking back PhDs at seventeen," his brother Jeff says.
我敢說他17歲就獲得博士學位，就像你經常在報紙上看到的那些男孩一樣，”他弟弟杰夫說。
"It's the culture you find yourself in that determines that.
這就是能對你起決定性作用的文化。
The issue with Chris is that he was always too bored to actually sit there and listen to his teachers.
克里斯面臨的問題就是他總覺得老師的講課很無聊，以至于無法安心坐下來聽課。
If someone had recognized his intelligence and if he was from a family where there was some kind of value on education, they would have made sure he wasn't bored."
如果他的才智被人賞識，或者他來自那種富有教養的家庭，那么，他們就有可能讓他意識到很多事情其實并非那么無聊。
When the termites were into their adulthood, Terman looked at the records of 730 of the men and divided them into three groups.
那些特曼人長大成人之后，特曼收集到了其中730個人的記錄，他把這些人分成三個組。
One hundred and fifty, the top 20 percent, fell into what Terman called the A group.
較為突出的150個人——占全部的20％——被分進了A組。
These were the true success stories, the stars -the lawyers and physicians and engineers and academics.
他們都可以說得上是真正的成功者，他們是各行各業的名角——有律師、醫生、工程師和學者。
Ninety percent of the As graduated from college and between them had earned 98 graduate degrees.
A組中，90％的人都從大學順利畢業，其中又有98％的人擁有研究生學歷。
The middle 60 percent were the B group, those who were doing "satisfactorily."
有60％的人被劃入了B組，他們的表現算是“令人滿意”。
The bottom 150 were the Cs, the one who Terman judged to have done the least with their superior mental ability.
表現最差的150個人劃入了C組，特曼覺得這一群人擁有過人的智商，卻沒創造多少與智商相配的價值。
They were the postal workers and the struggling book keepers and the men lying on their couches at home without any job at all.
他們有郵局的工人和做苦力活的薄記員，還包括一些成天躺在家里的睡椅上無所事事的人。
One third of the Cs were college dropouts. A quarter had only a high school diploma,
C組中，三分之一的人曾有大學輟學的經歷，四分之一的人只有高中學歷。
and all 150 the Cs, each of whom, at one point in their life, had been dubbed a genius, had together earned a grand total of eight graduate degrees.
C組中的150個人——其中不管是誰，在他的生命中，都曾被人們稱為天才——最終卻只有8個人真正說得上擁有研究生學歷。
