????????William James Sidis is perhaps the most intelligent man of all time. His father Boris Sidis is one of the inaugurators of preschool psychology in the 20th?century. Boris and his wife, one of the few women obtained a medical degree and became a doctor after graduation, fled Ukraine for the reason of political and religious persecution and settled in New York. Sidis was their first child. As he inherited the couple's excellent genes, he was born to be a child prodigy and revealed remarkable talent at an early age. You may wonder how smart he is, he could read?New York Times?at 2,?Homer's Epic?in Greek and?the Gallic War?in Latin at 4, learnt anatomy and Aristotle's Logic on his own at 6, passed the entrance examination of MIT and simultaneously not only could speak Latin, Greek, French, Russian, Hebrew and Turkish fluently, but gave birth to a new language called Vendergood at 8, corrected mistakes of the logic manuscript of a Harvard professor at 10, and was formally admitted to Harvard as one of the youngest students of it at 11. At the time, he was very proficient in astrophysics and advanced mathematics, stood on the platform and showed thousands of people in the hall?his research on four dimensional space and everyone drawn?to it had high expectations for this rising star. He had been tipped by professors in MIT to be a great mathematician and the leading figure in the realm. Having graduated with honors from Harvard, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree at 16. Anyway, Sidis' talent is half inherited, half gained through?education.?For his child, Boris was more of a psychologist doing all kinds of experiment on him than a kind father. At the time the child was born, the family spent their savings on books, maps and school supplies and crammed him with preschool curriculum. They hung English alphabet around Sidis' cot and spelled over and over again for him. As they replaced toys with textbooks, Sidis' boyhood was surrounded by all kinds of knowledge consisted of geometry, geography and foreign language. Without a friend to communicate and a single toy to entertain, Sidis was unable to make out the life of his contemporaries. Most of times, he behaved too calm and suppressed to be a child.

????????威廉·詹姆斯·席德斯或許是有史以來最聰明的人墓猎，他父親鮑里斯·席德斯是20世紀(jì)幼教心理學(xué)的創(chuàng)始人之一谆构，鮑里斯和他的妻子，一位極少數(shù)能拿到醫(yī)學(xué)學(xué)位并在畢業(yè)后從事醫(yī)生職業(yè)的女性陆蟆，因?yàn)檎魏妥诮唐群Ρ黄忍与x烏克蘭并定居在紐約。席德斯是他們的第一個(gè)孩子贯溅，因?yàn)檫z傳了父母優(yōu)秀的基因净赴，他剛出生就是個(gè)神童并且很早就展露出驚人的天賦，你可能會(huì)好奇他究竟有多聰明：2歲時(shí)他就能閱讀紐約時(shí)報(bào)平项，4歲閱讀希臘文的荷馬史詩和拉丁文的高盧戰(zhàn)爭，6歲時(shí)自學(xué)了解剖學(xué)和亞里士多德的邏輯學(xué)悍及，8歲時(shí)通過了MIT的入學(xué)考試闽瓢，同時(shí)不僅能流利使用拉丁語、希臘語心赶、法語扣讼、俄語、希伯來語和土耳其語缨叫，還自創(chuàng)了一門Vendergood語言椭符，10歲時(shí)修正了哈佛教授邏輯學(xué)書稿中的錯(cuò)誤，11歲時(shí)被哈佛正式錄取并成為該校最年輕的學(xué)生之一耻姥。當(dāng)時(shí)的他精通天體物理和高等數(shù)學(xué)销钝，站在講臺(tái)上向禮堂里數(shù)以千計(jì)的人展示他對于四維空間的研究，臺(tái)下所有為之著迷的聽眾都對這位明日之星充滿了期待琐簇，他被麻省理工的教授預(yù)言能成為一個(gè)偉大的數(shù)學(xué)家和這個(gè)領(lǐng)域的領(lǐng)軍人物蒸健，16歲時(shí)他以優(yōu)異的成績從哈佛畢業(yè)并拿到了文科學(xué)士學(xué)位座享。不管怎么說，席德斯的天賦一半是遺傳的似忧，一半是教育出來的渣叛，他的父親鮑里斯對待這位孩子更像是一個(gè)在他身上做各種實(shí)驗(yàn)的心理學(xué)家而不是一位慈祥的父親，孩子剛出生家里就把積蓄拿出來花在買書盯捌、買地圖和學(xué)習(xí)用具上面淳衙，并為他排滿了各種早教課程，他們在席德斯的小床周圍掛滿了英語字母并一遍又一遍地拼給他聽饺著，他們用教科書代替玩具箫攀，使席德斯的童年被各種諸如幾何學(xué)、地理學(xué)和語言的知識(shí)所包圍瓶籽。在沒有一個(gè)可以交心的朋友和一件可供娛樂的玩具的情況下匠童，席德斯根本就搞不懂同齡人的生活，絕大多數(shù)時(shí)候塑顺，他表現(xiàn)得過于冷靜和壓抑而不像個(gè)孩子汤求。

????????On the pretext of his immature mentality, Harvard turned Sidis down in spite of the fact that he passed the entrance examination at the age of 9. Still, this prestigious university was pressed to accept him when he was 11. Sidis' parents wanted more than this little kid could endure. Although little Sidis was head and shoulders above his contemporaries in IQ, he was a child psychologically and emotionally and thus couldn't become a part of his surroundings. Gradually, this child prodigy was found?abnormal by people around him. His frequent eccentric laughter narrowly turned him into the asylum. He was a ridicule in Harvard and sized up viciously by everyone. Every minute in it was a torture to him, he did everything to flee this hostile academia and lead a normal life. His trauma led to his abandonment of his master degree. Then, to evade public view, he moved from one city to another, changed dozens of jobs. Having left his parents, Sidis made up his mind for a break from the past and applied himself to manual occupations. Although he was gifted in math, he managed to avert it when he was grown up and did writing under all kinds of assumed names. It is more like a revolt against his genius childhood?experiences.

????????盡管席德斯9歲時(shí)通過了哈佛的入學(xué)考試，哈佛卻以他心智不成熟為借口將他拒之門外严拒，然而這所最負(fù)盛名的大學(xué)卻迫于壓力在11歲時(shí)不得不接納他為學(xué)生扬绪。席德斯的父母想在孩子身上得到的早已超出了他所能承受的極限，盡管小席德斯在智力上遠(yuǎn)超同齡人裤唠，可在心理和情感上他還是個(gè)孩子挤牛，因此很難融入周圍的環(huán)境。漸漸地种蘸，周圍的所有人發(fā)現(xiàn)這位小神童并不正常墓赴，他頻繁地怪笑險(xiǎn)些就讓眾人把他送進(jìn)了精神病院，在哈佛他成了笑柄并被所有人惡意的打量航瞭，呆在那里的每一秒鐘對他來說都是個(gè)折磨诫硕，他千方百計(jì)想要逃離這個(gè)充滿敵意的學(xué)術(shù)圈并過一個(gè)正常人的生活。他的心理創(chuàng)傷使他放棄了碩士學(xué)位刊侯，之后為了逃離公眾視野章办，他從一個(gè)城市搬到了另一個(gè)，從一份工作換到了另一份滨彻，離開父母以后藕届，席德斯下決心跟過去一刀兩斷并因而從此干起了體力活，盡管他在數(shù)學(xué)上頗有天賦亭饵，卻在長大成人后竭力避免數(shù)學(xué)休偶，他用各種化名寫作，更像是對童年天才經(jīng)歷的一種反叛辜羊。

????????He hated his father, for he was more of a inculcating machine and a pressing dictator than a reliable and amiable elder. He grasped a good deal of knowledge in his childhood at the cost of?being deprived of its happiness. In the subsequent long years, he stayed incognito and wrote a good deal of books, although none of them had been published widely?and no one knows how many he had composed in obscurity. Writing and ordinary life brought happiness to him. When he was grown up, it was freedom which gave him a break. However, this kind of life didn't last long. In a summer day in 1944, he was found in a coma as a result of serious stroke. Since then he never regained consciousness. Thus a meteor streaked across the sky and left everybody endless regret.

????????他恨父親椅贱，因?yàn)楦赣H對他來說與其說是一個(gè)信賴可靠懂算、和藹可親的長輩倒不如說是一個(gè)灌輸知識(shí)的機(jī)器和壓迫人的獨(dú)裁暴君，他童年掌握大量知識(shí)的代價(jià)是被剝奪了身處其中的樂趣庇麦，在隨后的漫長歲月中，他隱姓埋名并寫了一大堆書喜德，盡管其中沒有任何一本被廣泛出版山橄，也沒人知道他在默默無聞中究竟創(chuàng)作了多少作品，寫作和平凡的生活帶給他快樂舍悯，當(dāng)他成年后航棱，是自由給了他喘息的余地，然而這種日子并沒有維持多久萌衬。1944年的一個(gè)夏日饮醇，他被發(fā)現(xiàn)因?yàn)橹酗L(fēng)而昏迷不醒，自此以后再也沒有清醒過來秕豫，就這樣一顆流星從天際劃過朴艰，留給世人無限的遺憾。

????????Lin Jiawen (Lin for short) was born into an intellectual family in 1998. His mother is a primary school teacher and his father holds a post in a law college. There had a fashion to read and tell history and his family members was watching?Lecture Room?when Lin was at primary school. He not only joined their company, but buried himself in?monographs such as?History as a Mirror?and?The Spring and Autumn Annals. As time goes by, he became increasingly knowledgeable and his skills became more and more mature. He had already had the ability to probe into ethnic history and go through first-hand literature of history of Song when he was in junior middle school. In the meantime, he learnt Tangut, philology, bibliography and knowledge concerning academic norms on his own, and communicated and discussed history with predecessors on social media. Although he impressed everyone as a boy wet behind the ears and was nothing but a middle school student, he was already the author of two monographs:?When Taoists rule China: The Political Practice of Taoist Thinking and The Rapid Rise of Han Empire, a book of 300,000 words reinterpreted the reigns of Emperors Wen and Jing from the perspective of Taoist politics and?Sadness and Happiness to the world:?Fan Zhong Yan and Qingli Reforms, A book to which Li Yumin, the giant of history of Song, made an exception to preface and praised him as "the youngest author with academic research ability after liberation". The two influential monographs made Lin a new star of the realm of history of Song. He was also hailed as "a genius of historical research".

????????林嘉文（簡稱林）在1998年出生在一個(gè)知識(shí)分子家庭混移，他的母親是一名小學(xué)教師祠墅，父親在一所法律院校任職，在他讀小學(xué)的那陣子有一種讀史歌径、說史的風(fēng)尚毁嗦，家里人看百家講壇的時(shí)候他也亦步亦趨地緊隨其后，同時(shí)他埋頭苦讀了諸如《資治通鑒》和《呂氏春秋》一類的大部頭專著回铛，隨著時(shí)間的流逝狗准，他積累的知識(shí)越來越多，他的技巧也日趨成熟茵肃，讀初中的時(shí)候他已經(jīng)具備了深究民族史和翻閱一手宋史資料的能力腔长，同時(shí)他自學(xué)了西夏文、文獻(xiàn)學(xué)免姿、目錄學(xué)和學(xué)術(shù)規(guī)范的知識(shí)饼酿，并在社交媒體上跟史學(xué)界的前輩們交流和探討歷史。盡管他在絕大多數(shù)人眼里只不過是個(gè)乳臭未干的小孩子和一個(gè)中學(xué)生而已胚膊，他已經(jīng)是兩部學(xué)術(shù)專著的作者了：《當(dāng)?shù)兰医y(tǒng)治中國：道家思想的政治實(shí)踐與漢帝國的迅速崛起》故俐，一部洋洋灑灑三十萬字從道家政治的視角重新解讀文景之治的書和《憂樂為天下：范仲淹與慶歷新政》，一本宋史巨擘李裕民破例為其作序并稱贊其為“自解放以來最年輕的具有學(xué)術(shù)研究能力的作者”紊婉，這兩本頗有影響力的書使林嘉文成了宋史領(lǐng)域冉冉升起的一顆新星药版，并使其被媒體譽(yù)為“史學(xué)研究天才”。

????????Nevertheless, like most geniuses, Lin had difficulty in dealing with people around him. He always put on airs of superiority when he got along with his classmates and gave them a feeling that he was talented without a equal. He always sneered at those top students, "you can only study, you have no ability to?do research". His praise of one of the few close friends of himself goes like this, "all of you know nothing, even if Zhang (his friend's name) knows something, it is very superficial." So, you can easily infer he was an antipathy to everybody. "He was generally disliked because of his loftiness, his habit of keeping himself from doing the cleaning and his unsociability." One of his classmates recalled. Half a year earlier, he was diagnosed with depression and had to take medicine. "The side effect of it, as the instruction says, is gaining weight, yet I feel pain and sleepy everyday after taking it……" He wrote on his Wechat moments. On the evening of January 26th, he let his friends see another one, "I become more and more confused why I try such hard, if it is for myself, it could only be said trying hard is for itself." On the night of February 23rd, Lin jumped to his death and in this way said farewell to the world. (From his words I presume he was unable to concentrate on his study after taking medicine. As he was no more hard-working than before, he must lag behind his classmates. Those who had been humiliated by him must take revenge and do everything to embarrass him. As he couldn't let go of his pride and bow to them, he had no other choice but commit suicide and only in this way could him get rid of competition.)

????????然而就像絕大多數(shù)天才那樣喻犁，林在跟周圍人相處時(shí)遇到了很大的困難槽片，他總是在同學(xué)面前擺出一副高高在上的姿態(tài)何缓，給他們一種舍我其誰的感覺，他總是語帶譏諷地對那些優(yōu)等生說：“你們只會(huì)學(xué)習(xí)还栓，你們不會(huì)做研究碌廓。”他是這樣褒揚(yáng)某個(gè)身邊極少數(shù)跟他要好的朋友的：“你們什么都不懂剩盒，即便張（他朋友的名字）懂一點(diǎn)谷婆，那也僅僅是皮毛而已×闪模”僅憑這點(diǎn)你就能推斷出所有人有多反感他纪挎，“大家都不喜歡他，不喜歡他的高傲跟匆，不喜歡他不打掃衛(wèi)生异袄，不喜歡他的不合群，”他的某個(gè)同班同學(xué)回憶道玛臂。半年前烤蜕，他被診斷患有抑郁癥并不得不服藥，“說明書上說它的副作用是增加體重垢揩，可我吃了藥后卻感覺渾身疼痛玖绿，每天想睡覺……”他在微信朋友圈中說道，1月16日傍晚叁巨，他又寫了一條“我越來越搞不懂自己為什么這么拼斑匪，如果是為了我自己，只能說我為了拼而拼锋勺∈慈常”2月23日子夜，林跳樓身亡并以這種方式告別了世界庶橱。（從他的話我推測吃了藥以后他就沒法專心學(xué)習(xí)了贮勃，一旦他不如以前那般用功就必定會(huì)落后于他的同學(xué)們，那些之前被他羞辱過的必定會(huì)反過來報(bào)復(fù)他讓他感到難堪苏章，既然他放不下自尊在同學(xué)面前認(rèn)慫寂嘉，也只能選擇自殺并以這種方式擺脫競爭。）

????????What does these two instances indicate? Genius,?by and large, doesn't end well. Although they left other runners far behind at the start, most of them retired before finishing the race and left infinite regret to those backing them up. Most of my friends regarded me as a child prodigy, because within 2 years of training, I emerged as the most important disciple in master Zhao's eyes; 2 years of self-study, the brand of Pulei campus of Aptech. To live up to their expectations and become a real genius, I devoted the first 20 years of my life to assimilate all kinds of knowledge: martial arts, computer science, humanities and music. The fact that I felt myself considerably learned and?there was neither a rival to compete nor an equal to communicate bewildered me and kept me from finding a direction for myself: I was already the most excellent man in the world, what to do next? How could I make progress when there is no progress to make? In the meanwhile, the common fault of genius—arrogance and being too big for my boots showed by me caused wide antipathy, those misunderstanding me became increasingly aggressive and hostile to this good-for-nothing in their eyes: who the hell do you think you are? Open your eyes, you are just a shortsighted man and there were hundreds of thousands of people better than you! In this respect, nevertheless, piano changed me. When I learnt it from scratch at the age of 20, began to practice Chopin after a few months and aspired to be a maestro, I was "slapped hard on the cheek" by teachers and students in the humblest piano company. Since I was reduced to a public enemy and a homeless dog, I began to be suspicious of that self-satisfied Claudio Huang who was narrowly to quit the race halfway: am I not that best one in the world? Were they blind, and couldn't see a big talent here? Where is my future? Were?I going to be another "Pity Zhong Yong"?

????????這兩個(gè)例子說明了什么枫绅？天才通常都不會(huì)有好下場泉孩，盡管他們在起跑線上甩開所有人一大截，他們中的絕大多數(shù)沒跑完全程就退賽了并淋，留給挺他們的那些人無限遺憾寓搬，我的絕大多數(shù)朋友把我看作是一個(gè)天才，因?yàn)槲覂H用了兩年的時(shí)間就成了趙師傅眼里最器重的弟子县耽；額外兩年時(shí)間通過自學(xué)就成了北大青鳥普雷校區(qū)的頭塊牌子句喷，為了不負(fù)眾望做一個(gè)貨真價(jià)實(shí)的天才镣典，我花了自己人生的頭二十年掌握各種知識(shí)：武術(shù)、計(jì)算機(jī)唾琼、人文科學(xué)和音樂兄春。當(dāng)我感覺自己相當(dāng)有學(xué)問、在自己身邊找不到一個(gè)競爭對手和一個(gè)夠資格跟自己交流的人之時(shí)父叙，我就開始困惑且找不到方向了：我已經(jīng)是世界上最厲害的人了神郊，下一步該怎么走？當(dāng)我看不到任何進(jìn)步的余地之后趾唱，我該怎樣才能取得進(jìn)步？同時(shí)蜻懦，我身上暴露出的天才的通病招致了所有人的反感甜癞，那些不理解我的人開始對這個(gè)在他們眼里一文不值的小癟三抱有越來越大的敵意：你以為你是誰啊宛乃？醒醒吧悠咱，你不過就是一個(gè)井底之蛙，比你有本事的人多的去了征炼！然而在這方面析既，鋼琴卻改變了我，當(dāng)我20歲開始學(xué)琴谆奥，練習(xí)幾個(gè)月就開始彈肖邦眼坏，并立志成為一個(gè)音樂大師的時(shí)候，我被一個(gè)最最蹩腳琴行的老師和學(xué)生們“狠狠地扇了一巴掌”酸些，自從我淪落為全民公敵和喪家之犬以后宰译，我就開始對那個(gè)自鳴得意、差一點(diǎn)就中途退賽的黃越青充滿了狐疑：難道我不是那個(gè)世界上最厲害的人嗎魄懂？難道他們都瞎了狗眼沿侈，看不見眼前的這么個(gè)驚世大才子嗎？我的前途在哪里市栗？我會(huì)成為另一個(gè)傷仲永嗎缀拭？

????????Somewhat out of competitiveness, somewhat to escape the fate of "Pity Zhong Yong", I walked on with confusion in the darkness for a long time and at length see the light. If it can be said, in any case,?I adopted "competitive thinking"?previously,?(for example, when somebody asked me "how is your wushu study", I was sure to answer "I am the best physically and technically, and I can at least knock down?two bulks"; if he asked "how is you coming along with your computer programming", I was bound to say "I got a first in the latest exam"),?through playing piano, I learnt a kind of "degree thinking": when there is no rival, I can compete with myself. (This creed can also be applied to cultural study: having learnt English for 3 years, I have a grasp of 1 thousand new words, I go much further in the comprehension of sentences and words now, having composed 10 pieces of music this year, there are 10 extra "children" born to me); even if there is no one around to be a match for me, when I keep on my study, my degree deepened and my understanding to some particular knowledge is more penetrating than before. (This mindset is inspired by the observation that with years of practice, a piano player may "ascend to different grades" and thus handle different textbooks for himself. Instead of competitive thinking, most of piano players are prone to improve their skills to?higher degrees and in the course perfect themselves). A highbrow man always feels lonely, while a man accompanied by himself and his pursuit never feels alone. When I changed my thinking mode, I found everything was changed. The door to a new world is opening before me and I can see my future lays inside it. Although the dark thoughts of taking evasive action like Sidis and putting an end to my own life like Lin Jiawen had ever occurred to me, I felt myself, with these two chips in hands, courageous and odds-on enough to win the second half of the race. Having adopted this kind of attitude, I felt motivated and the progress I make now is twice or thrice as much as before. Well, I am ready for the second half of the race, let's begin.

????????或許是出于好勝心，或許是想逃避傷仲永的命運(yùn)填帽，我?guī)еЩ笤诤诎抵凶吡撕荛L一段時(shí)間并最終看到了光蛛淋。如果說我之前采用的是“比較思維”，（比如說盲赊，如果有人問我“你武術(shù)學(xué)得怎么樣”铣鹏，我必定會(huì)答道“無論是身體素質(zhì)還是技巧上我都是最棒的，我至少能放倒兩個(gè)大塊頭”哀蘑；如果他問我“你計(jì)算機(jī)編程搞得怎么樣”诚卸，我必定會(huì)說“在上次考試中我拿到了第一名”）葵第，通過彈鋼琴我學(xué)會(huì)了一種“程度思維”：找不到對手時(shí)我就跟自己比，（這一信條用在文化學(xué)習(xí)上也屢試不爽：三年英語學(xué)下來合溺，我掌握了一千個(gè)新詞匯卒密，我對單詞和句子的理解比之前要更上一層樓了。今年創(chuàng)作了10首音樂棠赛，我又多了10個(gè)“孩子”）哮奇；就算在身邊找不到一個(gè)與自己旗鼓相當(dāng)?shù)娜耍灰依^續(xù)學(xué)下去睛约，我的程度就會(huì)越來越深鼎俘，我對某件學(xué)問的理解就會(huì)越來越透徹，（這種思維模式的靈感來源于我自己觀察到一個(gè)練習(xí)鋼琴的人隨著琴齡的增長辩涝，他會(huì)上升到不同的級別并隨之駕馭不同的教材贸伐，相較于在自己的身邊找對手，絕大多數(shù)彈琴的更加偏向于將自己的技藝提升至更高的程度怔揩，并在這過程中使自己趨于完善）捉邢。一個(gè)曲高和寡的人總會(huì)感到孤獨(dú)，而一個(gè)與自己和自己的追求為伴的人永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)孤單商膊，當(dāng)我改變了思維模式以后伏伐，我發(fā)現(xiàn)身邊的一切都隨之改變了，通往新世界的大門正在向我敞開晕拆，我能看見自己的前途就在其中藐翎，盡管我也曾經(jīng)有過諸如席德斯的逃避念頭、林嘉文結(jié)束自己生命的陰暗想法潦匈，手中握著兩個(gè)籌碼的我感覺自己有足夠的勇氣和勝算打贏人生的下半場阱高，采用了這種人生態(tài)度以后，我感覺動(dòng)力十足茬缩，學(xué)業(yè)上的進(jìn)展是以前的兩三倍之多赤惊，好吧，我已經(jīng)準(zhǔn)備好長跑比賽的后半段了凰锡，我們開始吧未舟。

????????That is my understanding of genius and the planning of my own life.

????????這就是我對天才的理解和對自己人生的規(guī)劃。