【Aiden in English】
One thing bad about being Chinese is that you have to be the next Einstein. Chinese culture has always been advanced since the beginning of civilization, and it is still one of the most powerful today. The people are smart and learn quickly. I’m sorry to say, though, because I am not one of those people.
MathCounts® is a great competition for math for a grade of 6-8th in middle school. At the beginning of the season, I asked my teacher, Mr. Allen, what the questions were all about, and his answer kind of scared me. It’s just straight-forward, hard-core math. Gulp. Turns out it isn’t only for nerds, but for nerdy-nerds. I had already been crowned fourth place in the 7th and 8th-grade division in the school, which is……not too good. It did guarantee a spot on the team to the Chapter Competition, though, which was basically the region. The format was fairly simple, as it should be. We don’t want students using all their brainpower on the schedule and point values, now do we? The competition was based upon three rounds; the first round contained a thirty question test, known as the Sprint Round, with a time limit of forty minutes. Then was the second round of eight questions, known as the Target Round, spaced out into two on a paper, and handed out separately. Each pair of two questions had to be completed within six minutes. The final round was a team round of four people. I, surprisingly, I was not selected to the team, even though I did get fourth. I do have a theory about it. Although I advanced in the school tournament, it was in the countdown round, where the 10th seed plays the 9th seed, in which the winner plays the 8th seed, in which plays the 7th etc…, and it pushed me up. Being good at Math 24 helped a lot, giving me the advantage of reading quickly and making fast mental calculations. The Sprint and Target Rounds didn’t catch up with my skill at speed. They put me in the 8th seed, and it was only because of my speed that helped me to move up. People like me, well, kind of suck, since only the top ten can show off their speed, and I was actually a lot faster than some of those who made it up there. Yes, I wasn’t in the top ten. Actually, I wasn’t even in the top 25%. Now, I’m not really going to talk much about the Countdown Round, since the information is classified until all schools are finished. All I can say is to those that are prepping for their own fight, you’re not good enough.
Those who made the top ten are geniuses. I mean, my school isn’t that big into MathCounts®, and so most people weren’t serious. But mom later said how some middle schools took this competition rather rigorously. They would practice not only at school but at home. So do I. However, mom never sits down with me and spends an hour pointing out how I write my equations wrong.
I know I’ll probably never become one of those top ten. But after today, I’ve seen what the competition looks like. I’ll be ready next year since I’m still going to be in the qualifying grades. With that said and done, all I can do is to try my best next year.
【紅霞譯文】
身為華夏子孫，唯一叫你力不從心的就是要爭當下一位愛因斯坦。誠然，自盤古開天以來，中國文化一直領導世界文明新潮流，即使在日新月異的今天，仍不失為國際舞台上不容忽視的中堅力量之一。國人聰穎敏捷，而我卻深感遺憾，因為本人與之相去甚遠。
針對初中一至三年級學生而設立的數學競賽難度相當可觀，記得本年度賽季剛剛開始的時候，我曾問老師比賽所涉及的內容，可以說艾倫先生的回答令人不寒而慄，“考題都很簡單基本”，我滿臉茫然，它豈止讓丈二摸不着頭腦，分明就是成心刁難比書呆子還書呆子的學究之輩。歷經過五關斬六將，我隻身奪取本校初二和初三年級選拔賽第四名，名次……並不突出，但至少贏得了進軍分區角逐資格。比賽形式說來簡單，其實本該如此，我們不想在表格和數字計算上讓學生絞盡腦汁，對吧？比賽依次分成三輪進行，第一輪速算比賽，需要在四十分鐘內完成卅道考題；第二輪深度比賽，共有四組八道題目，每組解題時間六分鐘；最後第三輪為團體賽，各隊分別由四人組成。儘管我名列第四，但出乎意料地未能入選校隊參加團體比賽。依我看，本人之所以取得全校第四名，完全因為在一對一搶答比賽上發揮了優勢。按照淘汰制度，第十名選手挑戰第九名選手，勝者與第八名選手交鋒，接着與第七名相遇……以此類推，我就是後來者居上，一步一步走到前列，這應歸功於小學“數學廿四點口算競賽”，它既強化閱讀速度又提高心算能力。在速算題和思考題上，我反應快的特長發揮不出來，這年頭反正吹牛不花錢，不過我搶答速度確實要比今天決賽出場的一些選手快得多，這也是為什麼我能鹹魚翻身，在校級比賽中一躍從第八名闖入前四名，但像我這樣的人若進不了前十名，哪怕再有能耐也是白搭。沒錯，我無緣地區前十名，甚至排名在25%開外。鑑於有些中學尚未結束比賽，在這裡我不便公布搶答題具體內容，不過有一點我想奉勸各位，為了在初中數學競賽上出人頭地，光靠你自己的實力遠遠不夠。
這次所有進入前十名的選手無一不是天才。相形之下，我所在的學校並不重視初中數學競賽，多數學生根本沒把它當回事，連媽媽都在納悶為何有些學校如此推崇這項活動，他們不光在學校集訓，而且回家後還強化練習，我也想這麼做，然而媽媽從來沒有坐下來花上個把鐘頭指導我哪個計算環節出了問題。
我深知自己也許永遠進不了前十名，但經過今天角逐之後，我已經了解比賽套路。既然明年仍屬於規定的參賽年級，我將有備而來，絕不再打無準備之仗。
