美国神童11岁大学毕业

 　　11-year-old child prodigy¹ Tanishq Abraham is in the news for graduating from college with not one, not two, but three different degrees. The talented kid from California made headlines last year as well, for completing high school at the age of ten and earning a congratulatory letter from President Barack Obama. And now, just a year later, he’s finished college with three associate degrees.

　　11岁神童塔尼奇·亚拉伯罕成了新闻热点，因为他小小年纪就大学毕业，还拿了不只一个，也不是两个，而是三个学位。这位来自加州的小神童在去年也上了头条，因其10岁就高中毕业，还获得了总统奥巴马的祝贺信。而今，仅仅过了一年，他就拿了三个学位毕业了。

　　Last week’s graduation ceremony at the American River College in Sacramento was attended by Tanishq’s parents – his mother Taji, a vet², and his father Bijou, a software engineer. His sister Tiara, also a child prodigy, was present as well. They cheered for Tanishq as he was awarded associate degrees in math and physical sciences, general science, and language studies. He wore a rainbow colored scarf that his grandmother had knit specially³ for the occasion, and a cap with his favorite Toy Story-quote: ‘To Infinity⁴ and Beyond.”

　　上周在萨克拉门托(Sacramento)美国河流学院 (American River College)举行的毕业典礼上，塔尼奇的父母也来到现场——他的母亲塔吉（Taji）是一位兽医，而父亲比茹（Bijou）是一位软件工程师。他的妹妹提亚娜（Tiara）也是个小神童，她也来了。塔尼奇被授予了数学及物理科学，自然科学，和语言学的副学士学位，家人们都为他鼓掌欢呼。他戴着祖母特地为他织的彩条围巾，帽子上写着他最喜欢的玩具总动员中的名言：“飞向无限。”

　　美国神童11岁大学毕业

　　“The assumption is that he’s the all-time youngest,” said college spokesman Scott Crow. “But we don’t have all the archives to completely confirm. He was definitely the youngest this year.”

　　“据说他是史上年纪最小的毕业生，”学校发言人斯科特·克劳人（Scott Crow）说，“可我们并没有完整的记录来证实这件事，但他绝对是今年毕业生中年纪最小的。”

　　Tanishq said that he wasn’t intimidated⁵ by the fact that his classmates were all twice his age, especially because he was well-received. “A lot were really happy that there was a kid in their class,” he said. And his parents were pretty low-key about the whole affair, being used to all his accomplishments⁶ since a young age. “Even in kindergarten, he was a few years ahead,” Taji said. “It just went from there.”

　　塔尼奇说，他的同学年纪都是他两倍，可他并不感到恐慌，不仅如此，他在班级里还很受欢迎。“许多同学都很高兴班里有个小孩。”他说。他的父母对于他的这些成就也很低调，因为他们早就习惯了。“早在幼儿园，他就超出同龄人不少，”塔吉说，“接下来一直都这样。”

　　“The way my brain works is that when you give me something, information about that topic comes into my mind. ‘I don’t know what it is,” Tanishq revealed.

　　“我的大脑工作方式是这样的，你给我一个话题，有关信息就自动在我脑海里出现。我也不知道怎么回事。”塔尼奇说。

　　Interestingly, Tanishq has been home-schooled by his mother, who put her own career on hold to teach him. He’s also been taking classes at the American River College since he was seven years old. He joined Mensa International – a group of people whose IQ is in the top two percent of the population – at the age of four. His sister also joined Mensa at the age of 4, making them the youngest siblings⁷ to join the high-IQ society.

　　有趣的是，塔尼奇曾有两年是在家上学，他的妈妈把工作放到一边，负责在家教他。自他七岁起，便在美国河流学院旁听。他还加入门萨国际——一个IQ最高的2%人群组成的俱乐部——而这是在他四岁的时候。他的妹妹也在四岁时加入，这让他们成为高智商俱乐部里年纪最小的兄妹。

　　In order to join Mensa, one needs to score in or above the 98 percentile on a Mensa-approved standardized⁸ IQ test. Tanishq scored 99.9 percentile and Tiara scored 99 percentile on the test.

　　想要加入门萨，你必须在门萨指定的标准智商测试中得98分以上。而塔尼奇得了99.9分，提亚娜得了99分。

　　You’d think that Tanishq is probably done with books for his life, but he actually has no plans to stop learning. “I want to become a doctor,” he said after the ceremony. “But I also want to become a medical researcher, and also the president of the United States.” In a tweet, he revealed that he hopes to win the Nobel Prize some day in medicine or research. In the meantime, he plans to spend his summer on a family vacation and a Calculus⁹ II course.

　　你可能认为塔尼奇已经完成学业，但是他可没想过要就此止步。“我想成为一名医生，”他在毕业典礼结束后说，“我还想成为医学研究员，我还想当美国总统。”在一条推特上他说，他希望将来在医疗或研究方面获得诺贝尔奖。同时，在毕业的这个夏天，他打算和家人一起度假，还有学习微积分二的课程。

　　Vocabulary

　　child prodigy 神童

　　home-schooled 在家上学的

1 prodigy   

n.惊人的事物，奇迹，神童，天才，预兆

参考例句：

• She was a child prodigy on the violin.她是神童小提琴手。
• He was always a Negro prodigy who played barbarously and wonderfully.他始终是一个黑人的奇才，这种奇才弹奏起来粗野而惊人。

2 vet   

n.兽医，退役军人；vt.检查

参考例句：

• I took my dog to the vet.我把狗带到兽医诊所看病。
• Someone should vet this report before it goes out.这篇报道发表之前应该有人对它进行详查。

3 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

4 infinity   

n.无限，无穷，大量

参考例句：

• It is impossible to count up to infinity.不可能数到无穷大。
• Theoretically,a line can extend into infinity.从理论上来说直线可以无限地延伸。

5 intimidated   

v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的

参考例句：

• We try to make sure children don't feel intimidated on their first day at school. 我们努力确保孩子们在上学的第一天不胆怯。
• The thief intimidated the boy into not telling the police. 这个贼恫吓那男孩使他不敢向警察报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 accomplishments   

n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就

参考例句：

• It was one of the President's greatest accomplishments. 那是总统最伟大的成就之一。
• Among her accomplishments were sewing,cooking,playing the piano and dancing. 她的才能包括缝纫、烹调、弹钢琴和跳舞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

8 standardized   

adj.标准化的

参考例句：

• We use standardized tests to measure scholastic achievement. 我们用标准化考试来衡量学生的学业成绩。
• The parts of an automobile are standardized. 汽车零件是标准化了的。

9 calculus   

n.微积分；结石

参考例句：

• This is a problem where calculus won't help at all.对于这一题，微积分一点也用不上。
• After studying differential calculus you will be able to solve these mathematical problems.学了微积分之后，你们就能够解这些数学题了。