2017-02-18

【Aiden in English】

        MathCounts is probably one of the last places in school where being the know-it-all student is actually beneficial. Being smart no longer means being liked, so it’s good to feel free to blab out random bits of knowledge. Nevertheless, Pennbrook MS is not famous for having the smartest Mathletes. Although last year there was a rare case of holding one of the top ten at the Valley Forge Chapter Regional Competition, it was quite the surprise. This year, because of the experience and the past year’s gained intelligence, I believe I have a legit shot at something here.

        MathCounts, if you don’t already know, is a math competition between the 6^th and 8^th graders. In other words, the people who sign up for MathCounts are agreeing to grueling tests to determine winners and losers. Math problems, to a normal student, are nothing fun. But for those who like a good challenge, MathCounts can certainly provide it. Granted, you should be good at math to try.

        Today was the regional competition. What it means is that the winners will move onto the Pennsylvania State later. It is an enormous jump, but when you get older, the difficulty increases as well. To be the best, you must prove it in front of the audience. There is a countdown round after both sprint and target testing sessions, which is the true determining of who advances to the next round. But the challenge comes before that. I know I’m quite fast at doing the countdown problems. Yet give me time and a hard problem and I struggle greatly. Although I have speed, MathCounts always takes correctness over speed. Therefore, it is a slight disadvantage to me. The sprint, target, and team rounds were pretty much all the same as last year, just easier. The difficulty of the test bounces around a bit, the questions change every year, and so this year, it was quite easy. Well, at least compared to the latter year. However, this means the best mathletes with be all grouped together, the only differences will be determined by the hardest problems. Those are always at the back of the sprint rounds and end of team rounds. The target questions are just generally hard. It takes around two hours to complete the entire written competition. So by the end, my brain is dead.

        And guess what? I didn’t make the countdown round. It’s quite depressing, really, that I, as a Chinese boy, am not smart, but I think I tried my best. However, there is always that nagging feeling which you could’ve gotten one more correct problem; one more to put you in the top ten. In fact, I immediately knew two problems I got wrong on the target round because of what my friends had. This feeling was the worst.

        However, I cannot be mad at the results. My final place will be revealed later by my teacher, and hopefully, I’ve improved. Last year’s score was terrible, so I guess I should see great progress.

【紅霞譯文】

        學校活躍分子並非能從初中數學競賽中真正受益，畢竟聰明的學生未必愛好數學，充其量把它當成茶餘飯後的調侃談資。不管怎樣，賓溪中學十分罕見出色的數學尖子，雖說去年偶有一位選手鶴立雞群，獨自闖入福吉谷分區初中數學競賽前十名，但那是千年鐵樹開的花。話至今年，無論從經驗和實力上來看，我相信本人確有長足進步。

        也許你有所不知，初中數學競賽是針對初中一至三年級的學生，換句話說，參賽者願意經歷幾輪拼殺決出勝負輸贏。對於常人而言，數學題有失生活情趣；但對於奇才來講，數學競賽無疑能夠激發高昂的鬥志，當然前提是你有能耐接受挑戰。

        今天是分區賽，優勝者將晉級參加全賓州角逐，考題水平參差不齊，但年級越高難度越大，要想摘取桂冠，你必須勇於向現場觀眾展示過硬本領。經過速算題和思考題兩輪筆試之後，口頭搶答題將排出地區名次進而定奪州級參賽資格，可見自始自終挑戰從未間斷過。我搶答速度很快，短時間內即能摸出解題思路，不過初中數學競賽筆試成績主控搶答入場卷，因此本人優勢並不能充分發揮出來。廣度速算和深度思考以及四人組成的團體競爭形式與去年類似，只是今年考題比較容易，難度係數略顯差異，每年題目稍有變化，總之本次試卷非常簡單，當然這僅僅同上一年度相比。這麼說來，頂級數學尖子分散在各支代表隊伍當中，直到關鍵時刻方顯英雄本色，他們要麼是個人速算部分的大拿，要麼是團體賽上負責突擊後面幾道分量較重考題的行家，堪稱高精專能手。整個筆試前後持續兩個鐘頭之久，末了我腦袋瓜早已僵得不聽使喚。

        你猜怎麼着？我無緣口試搶答比賽，着實讓人失望，身為華人子弟，我算不上聰明之輩，好在自己已經付出最大努力，但事後人們難免會為考場誤失一題甚感惋惜，而這道題恰好對你擠進前十名至關重要。其實在與朋友互對答案時，我驟然意識到思考題中有兩道題出糗，心情一落千丈。

        然而我沒啥好抓狂的，老師很快就會公布個人名次，屆時但願結果有所改觀。去年成績慘不忍睹，想必今年進步相當顯著。

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2015: Chinese New Year Eve @ Lai Lai Garden(來來花園春節年夜飯)

Crosslinks(相關博文):

Sixth Grade Reading Olympics(初一閱讀奧林匹克賽)

MontCo Sci Research Contest(蒙哥馬利郡科研競賽)

Academic Challenge(學術知識競賽)