【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.
【红霞译文】
身为华夏子孙，唯一叫你力不从心的就是要争当下一位爱因斯坦。诚然，自盘古开天以来，中国文化一直领导世界文明新潮流，即使在日新月异的今天，仍不失为国际舞台上不容忽视的中坚力量之一。国人聪颖敏捷，而我却深感遗憾，因为本人与之相去甚远。
针对初中一至三年级学生而设立的数学竞赛难度相当可观，记得本年度赛季刚刚开始的时候，我曾问老师比赛所涉及的内容，可以说艾伦先生的回答令人不寒而栗，“考题都很简单基本”，我满脸茫然，它岂止让丈二摸不着头脑，分明就是成心刁难比书呆子还书呆子的学究之辈。历经过五关斩六将，我只身夺取本校初二和初三年级选拔赛第四名，名次……并不突出，但至少赢得了进军分区角逐资格。比赛形式说来简单，其实本该如此，我们不想在表格和数字计算上让学生绞尽脑汁，对吧？比赛依次分成三轮进行，第一轮速算比赛，需要在四十分钟内完成卅道考题；第二轮深度比赛，共有四组八道题目，每组解题时间六分钟；最后第三轮为团体赛，各队分别由四人组成。尽管我名列第四，但出乎意料地未能入选校队参加团体比赛。依我看，本人之所以取得全校第四名，完全因为在一对一抢答比赛上发挥了优势。按照淘汰制度，第十名选手挑战第九名选手，胜者与第八名选手交锋，接着与第七名相遇……以此类推，我就是后来者居上，一步一步走到前列，这应归功于小学“数学廿四点口算竞赛”，它既强化阅读速度又提高心算能力。在速算题和思考题上，我反应快的特长发挥不出来，这年头反正吹牛不花钱，不过我抢答速度确实要比今天决赛出场的一些选手快得多，这也是为什么我能咸鱼翻身，在校级比赛中一跃从第八名闯入前四名，但像我这样的人若进不了前十名，哪怕再有能耐也是白搭。没错，我无缘地区前十名，甚至排名在25%开外。鉴于有些中学尚未结束比赛，在这里我不便公布抢答题具体内容，不过有一点我想奉劝各位，为了在初中数学竞赛上出人头地，光靠你自己的实力远远不够。
这次所有进入前十名的选手无一不是天才。相形之下，我所在的学校并不重视初中数学竞赛，多数学生根本没把它当回事，连妈妈都在纳闷为何有些学校如此推崇这项活动，他们不光在学校集训，而且回家后还强化练习，我也想这么做，然而妈妈从来没有坐下来花上个把钟头指导我哪个计算环节出了问题。
我深知自己也许永远进不了前十名，但经过今天角逐之后，我已经了解比赛套路。既然明年仍属于规定的参赛年级，我将有备而来，绝不再打无准备之仗。
