精读丨一个菲尔兹奖得主如何在绕路人生中找到了数学真谛

一个菲尔兹奖得主如何在绕路人生中找到了数学真谛

课程导读

▸ 你知道普林斯顿大学的本科教育如何坚持小而美吗？

▸ 容易迷路的数学家为什么反而得了菲尔兹奖？

▸ 许俊珥在数学上做出了怎样突出的贡献？

▸ 读到大六的迷茫学生如何在一个日本数学家的课堂上获得了拯救？

▸ 韩国的三大顶级名校是什么？

▸ 许俊珥如何看待诗歌和数学的异同？

▸ 你知道 "be akin to" 这个短语吗？

He Dropped Out to Become a Poet. Now He's Won a Fields Medal.

June Huh often finds himself lost. Every afternoon, he takes a long walk around Princeton University, where he's a professor in the mathematics department. On this particular day in mid-May, he's making his way through the woods around the nearby Institute for Advanced Study—"Just so you know," he says as he considers a fork in the path ahead, "I don't know where we are". Among the animals he spotsover the next two hours of wandering are a pair of frogs, a red-crested bird, a turtle the size of a thimble, and a quick-footed fox, each given its own quiet moment of observation.

来源 Quanta Magazine

参考译文

辍学成为一名诗人的他，现在获得了菲尔兹奖。

许埈珥经常会迷路。每天下午，他都会在普林斯顿大学附近散步，他是该校数学系的教授。五月中旬的一天，他正穿过高等研究院周围的树林——“只是想让你知道，”他一边说，一边思考着前方路上的一个分岔口，“我不知道我们在哪”。在接下来两个小时的闲逛中，他发现了一对青蛙、一只红冠鸟、一只顶针大小的乌龟和一只行动敏捷的狐狸，每种动物他都安静地观察过。

重点词汇

drop out 退学

○ to leave a school or university before your course has finished

○ e.g. Bill dropped out of college after his first year. 比尔大学一年级后就退学了。

make one's way through 穿过

○ to navigate very carefully and slowly through a space and around a variety of people or things in one's way

○ e.g. You'll have to make your way through the briar patch to avoid getting scratched. 你得穿过荆棘丛以免被划伤。

spot /spɒt/ v. 看见，注意到

○ to notice sb. or sth., especially when they are difficult to see or recognize

○ e.g. I spotted a police car behind us. 我发现我们后面有一辆警车。

○ e.g. It can be hard for even a trained doctor to spot the symptoms of lung cancer. 即使是训练有素的医生也很难发现肺癌的症状。

crested /ˈkrestɪd/ adj. 长有羽冠的