英国数学天才女十岁上大学

 　　At first glance Esther Okade seems like a normal 10-year-old. She loves dressing¹ up as Elsa from "Frozen," playing with Barbie dolls and going to the park or shopping.

　　第一眼看上去，十岁的埃丝特·奥卡德好像和同龄孩子没什么不一样。她喜欢打扮成《冰雪奇缘》里的艾尔莎，喜欢芭比娃娃，也喜欢去公园和商场。

　　But what makes the British-Nigerian youngster stand out is the fact that she's also a university undergraduate.

　　但与众不同的是，这个尼日利亚裔英国小女孩其实已是一名大学本科生了。

　　Esther, from Walsall, an industrial town in the UK's West Midlands region, is one of the country's youngest college freshmen².

　　埃丝特，来自英国西米德兰兹郡的工业城市沃尔索尔，已经成为了英国年龄最小的大学生之一。

　　The talented 10-year-old enrolled³ at the Open University, a UK-based distance learning college, in January and is already top of the class, having recently scored 100% in a recent exam.

　　今年1月份，这位10岁的天才少女进入了英国的一所远程教育大学——开放大学。她现在已经在班里名列前茅，最近一次考试得了满分。

　　英国数学天才女十岁上大学

　　"It's so interesting. It has the type of maths I love. It's real maths -- theories, complex numbers, all that type of stuff," she giggles⁴. "It was super easy. My mum taught me in a nice way."

　　“大学很有趣。这里有我喜欢的那种数学，那种真正的数学——理论、复杂的数字，诸如此类，”她咯咯地笑着说，“这非常简单，都是我妈妈之前教得好。”

　　She adds: "I want to (finish the course) in two years. Then I'm going to do my PhD in financial maths when I'm 13. I want to have my own bank by the time I'm 15 because I like numbers and I like people and banking⁵ is a great way to help people."

　　她还说：“我想在两年内读完本科课程，然后13岁时去读金融数学的博士。我希望，到15岁的时候拥有自己的银行，因为我喜欢数字，也喜欢人们，而银行可以很好地帮助人们。”

　　And in case people think her parents have pushed her into starting university early, Esther emphatically disagrees.

　　或许有人认为埃丝特是在父母的压力下才早早进入大学，她断然否认这一说法。

　　"I actually wanted to start when I was seven. But my mum was like, "you're too young, calm down." After three years of begging, mother Efe finally agreed to explore the idea.

　　“其实我7岁开始就想要上大学了，但是我妈妈说，‘你还太小，别急’，我恳求了三年，妈妈埃菲才终于同意。”

　　Esther has always jumped ahead of her peers. She sat her first Math GSCE exam, a British high school qualification, at Ounsdale School in Wolverhampton at just six, where she received a C-grade. A year later, she outdid herself and got the A-grade she wanted. Then last year she scored a B-grade when she sat the Math A-level exam.

　　埃丝特一直都比同龄人学得快。她6岁就在伍尔弗汉普顿的Ounsdale学校第一次参加英国中学普通中等教育（GSCE）数学考试，得了C。一年后，她再次参加考试，拿到了她想要的A。去年，她在中学高级水平（A-level）数学考试中拿到了B。

　　Esther's mother noticed her daughter's flair⁶ for figures shortly after she began homeschooling her at the age of three. Initially⁷, Esther's parents had enrolled her in a private school but after a few short weeks, the pair began noticing changes in the usually-vibrant youngster.

　　埃丝特3岁时，她的妈妈开始在家教她，很快就察觉了女儿在数字方面上的天赋。最初，埃丝特的父母让女儿上了一所私立学校，但短短几周后，他们就开始注意到，活跃的女儿有了变化。

　　Efe says: "One day we were coming back home and she burst out in tears and she said 'I don't ever want to go back to that school -- they don't even let me talk!'

　　埃菲说：“一天我们回家的路上，她突然大哭，说‘我不想去那里上学了——他们都不让我说话！’”

　　"In theUK, you don't have to start school until you are five. Education is not compulsory⁸ until that age so I thought OK, we'll be doing little things at home until then. Maybe by the time she's five she will change her mind."

　　“在英国，五岁之前可以不去上学。在五岁之前，教育并不是强制性的。所以我想她可以先在家学点东西，等她到五岁时，她可能就会改变想法了。”

　　Efe started by teaching basic number skills but Esther was miles ahead. By four, her natural aptitude⁹ for maths had seen the eager student move on to algebra¹⁰ and quadratic equations.

　　埃菲一开始教女儿一些基本的算术，但埃丝特的能力大大地超前了。这位求知欲旺盛的学生，4岁时已经学习代数和二次方程了，她的数学天赋崭露无疑。

　　And Esther isn't the only maths prodigy¹¹ in the family. Her younger brother Isaiah, 6, will soon be sitting his first A-level exam in June.

　　埃丝特并不是家里唯一的一个数学天才，她的弟弟艾赛亚，年仅6岁，即将在6月份参加中学高级水平考试。

1 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

2 freshmen   

n.（中学或大学的）一年级学生( freshman的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We are freshmen and they are sophomores. 我们是一年级学生，他们是二年级学生。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• University freshmen get lots of razzing, but they like the initiation. 大一新生受各种嘲弄，但是他们对这种入门经验甘之如饴。 来自辞典例句

3 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 giggles   

n.咯咯的笑( giggle的名词复数 )；傻笑；玩笑；the giggles 止不住的格格笑v.咯咯地笑( giggle的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Her nervous giggles annoyed me. 她神经质的傻笑把我惹火了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I had to rush to the loo to avoid an attack of hysterical giggles. 我不得不冲向卫生间，以免遭到别人的疯狂嘲笑。 来自辞典例句

5 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

6 flair   

n.天赋，本领，才华；洞察力

参考例句：

• His business skill complements her flair for design.他的经营技巧和她的设计才能相辅相成。
• He had a natural flair for business.他有做生意的天分。

7 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

8 compulsory   

n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的

参考例句：

• Is English a compulsory subject?英语是必修课吗？
• Compulsory schooling ends at sixteen.义务教育至16岁为止。

9 aptitude   

n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资

参考例句：

• That student has an aptitude for mathematics.那个学生有数学方面的天赋。
• As a child,he showed an aptitude for the piano.在孩提时代，他显露出对于钢琴的天赋。

10 algebra   

n.代数学

参考例句：

• He was not good at algebra in middle school.他中学时不擅长代数。
• The boy can't figure out the algebra problems.这个男孩做不出这道代数题。

11 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。