一道看似无解的美国考题

 Imagine your frustration¹, you spend weeks, months even, revising for an exam paper and then one of the questions that comes your way appears to be utterly² unfathomable.

想象一下，你花了数周，甚至数月复习考试内容，然后考试时一个问题半路杀出，让你完全摸不着头脑。

One perplexed³ student, known on social media site Imgur as 'Esperagon' and thought to be a student at Sheridan College in Toronto, found himself in exactly that situation after reading a question on his film degree paper and finding that no amount of preparation would ever see him get the right answer.

社交网站Imgur上一个叫“Esperagon”的学生，正处于这种迷茫的情形下：他是多伦多谢尔丹学院的学生，正在攻读电影学位，他在自己的试卷上遇到了一个考题。他发现，就算再怎么复习，他也答不出这道题。

So what was the blundering brainteaser? 'What is a microphone?'

这道题究竟是个什么鬼？——问：“麦克风是什么？”

一道看似无解的美国考题

A simple enough question you might think? However, no explanation of the audio equipment would lead to marks because listed below it were only two answers: true or false.

你会想这问题也太简单了吧？然而，对这个音频设备进行的任何解释都不得分。因为下面只有两个答案：“正确”或“错误”。

Esperagon wrote on the caption⁴ accompanying a photo of question: 'I am a film student. This was a question on my sound recording⁵ test.'

Esperagon上传了这道题的截图，图片上配文：“我是一名电影专业的学生，这是我录音考试上的一道题。”

The upside to the situation? The student has seen his post about the question on his sound recording test, which started life on Imgur and ended up on Reddit, seen by around 1.5million people.

好的一面是？这个学生把题目发到了网上——最初是Imgur，后来是Reddit——已有150万人浏览了这道题。

It seems plenty of people have been tickled⁶ by the question, supposedly set by an expert on the subject. One wrote: 'Everyone else can give up on the internet today, nothing will beat this.' whil another added: 'There is a small chance you are actually the host of Jeopardy⁷ and no one told you.'

这可能是个业内专家出的题，似乎很多网友被这个问题逗乐了。一人写道：“都别忙活了，无解。”还有网友称：“你其实有可能是《危险边缘》（美国一档益智问答节目）的主持人，没人告诉你而已。”

The comments on the post have taken on a life of their own, with people joining 'true' and 'false' camps. 'False, ‘what’ is not a microphone' wrote one, while another simply quipped: 'The answer is yes'.

网友们在评论里自得其乐，自动分成了“正确”派和“错误”派。“我认为应该选‘错误’，因为‘什么’不是麦克风，”一网友评论。另一位网友则直截了当：“答案选‘正确’”。

Another joker wrote: 'If this were a written test, I'd have written: 'Testing, testing, one, two...' next to the answers provided.

还有人调侃道：“如果这是个笔试，我就在答案旁写‘喂，喂，能听到吗？’。”

Vocabulary

unfathomable：莫测高深的，难解的

brainteaser：谜语；难题

1 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

2 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

3 perplexed   

adj.不知所措的

参考例句：

• The farmer felt the cow,went away,returned,sorely perplexed,always afraid of being cheated.那农民摸摸那头牛，走了又回来，犹豫不决，总怕上当受骗。
• The child was perplexed by the intricate plot of the story.这孩子被那头绪纷繁的故事弄得迷惑不解。

4 caption   

n.说明，字幕，标题；v.加上标题，加上说明

参考例句：

• I didn't understand the drawing until I read the caption.直到我看到这幅画的说明才弄懂其意思。
• There is a caption under the picture.图片下边附有说明。

5 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

6 tickled   

（使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐

参考例句：

• We were tickled pink to see our friends on television. 在电视中看到我们的一些朋友，我们高兴极了。
• I tickled the baby's feet and made her laugh. 我胳肢孩子的脚，使她发笑。

7 jeopardy   

n.危险；危难

参考例句：

• His foolish behaviour may put his whole future in jeopardy.他愚蠢的行为可能毁了他一生的前程。
• It is precisely at this juncture that the boss finds himself in double jeopardy.恰恰在这个关键时刻，上司发现自己处于进退两难的境地。