讚美另類雙語故事

無法拒絕另類。另類的生活充滿自由和誘惑。可是，我們也無法投身另類。接下來，小編給大家準備了讚美另類雙語故事,歡迎大家參考與借鑑。

IN 1956 William Whyte argued in his bestseller, “The Organisation Man”, that companies were so in love with “well-rounded” executives that they fought a “fight against genius”. Today many suffer from the opposite prejudice. Software firms gobble up anti-social geeks. Hedge funds hoover up equally oddball quants. Hollywood bends over backwards to accommodate the whims of creatives. And policymakers look to rule-breaking entrepreneurs to create jobs. Unlike the school playground, the marketplace is kind to misfits.

1956年威廉·懷特在他的暢銷書籍《組織人》中提出了一個觀點。他認爲公司過於喜愛那些“全才型”的總裁，以致於許多公司已經到了“和天才爲敵”的地步。今時今日，這種偏見體現在相反的方面。軟件公司大肆招收不合羣的極客[注1]。對衝基金同樣急於吸入怪異的寬客[注2]。好萊塢竭盡全力來遷就創意人才的心血來潮。政治家們則指望打破規章的創業家來製造就業。和學校操場不同，市場對於這些另類分外和善。

Recruiters have noticed that the mental qualities that make a good computer programmer resemble those that might get you diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome: an obsessive interest in narrow subjects; a passion for numbers, patterns and machines; an addiction to repetitive tasks; and a lack of sensitivity to social cues. Some joke that the internet was invented by and for people who are “on the spectrum”, as they put it in the Valley. Online, you can communicate without the ordeal of meeting people.

招聘人士已經注意到一個優秀電腦編程員的心理特質非常接近於阿斯伯格綜合症[注3]患者特點：對於一些狹窄的課題有強迫性的興趣，熱愛數字、規律和機器，對重複性的工作着迷，對於社交信號則置若罔然。正如硅谷人開玩笑所說的那樣，互聯網是那些“位於自閉症光譜”[注4]上的人爲了自己而發明的。在網上，你可以和別人聯繫，而不需要承受見面帶來的煎熬。

Wired magazine once called it “the Geek Syndrome”. Speaking of internet firms founded in the past decade, Peter Thiel, an early Facebook investor, told the New Yorker that: “The people who run them are sort of autistic.” Yishan Wong, an ex-Facebooker, wrote that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder, has “a touch of Asperger’s”, in that “he does not provide much active feedback or confirmation that he is listening to you.” Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, says he finds the symptoms of Asperger’s “uncomfortably familiar” when he hears them listed.

《連線》雜誌稱這種情況爲“極客綜合症”。Facebook的一位早期投資者彼得·提爾在接受《紐約客》訪問談到過去十年建立的互聯網公司時曾這麼說：“這些公司的老闆都是一定程度上的自閉症患者。”Facebook前僱員黃易山曾撰文提到該公司的創始人馬克·扎克伯格有“一點自閉症的味道”，原因是“他不會對你的話提供多少積極反饋或肯定，讓你知道他正在聽你說話。”克雷格分類廣告網的創始人克雷格·紐馬克說過當他第一次聽到阿斯伯格綜合症的症狀時他覺得這些症狀“熟悉得讓他感到不適”。

Similar traits are common in the upper reaches of finance. The quants have taken over from the preppies. The hero of Michael Lewis’s book “The Big Short”, Michael Burry, a hedge-fund manager, is a loner who wrote a stockmarket blog as a hobby while he was studying to be a doctor. He attracted so much attention from money managers that he quit medicine to start his own hedge fund, Scion Capital. After noticing that there was something awry with the mortgage market, he made a killing betting that it would crash. “The one guy that I could trust in the middle of this crisis,” Mr Lewis told National Public Radio, “was this fellow with Asperger’s and a glass eye.”

在金融業的高端類似的特點也很常見。如今寬客已經取代了傳統的社會精英[注5]。邁克爾·劉易斯的紀實著作《大空頭》中的主人公邁克爾·拜瑞性格孤僻。這位對衝基金經理在醫學院唸書期間以撰寫股市博客作爲消遣。他的博文吸引了大量資產管理人的注意，最終他放棄當醫生開始了自己的對衝基金-賽昂資本公司。後來，他發現按揭市場存在問題，於是下了重注賭房地產市場將會崩市，賺了個杯滿鉢盈。劉易斯在接受國家公共電臺採訪時說：“在(金融)危機中我唯一可以信任的人就是這位患有阿斯伯格綜合症，戴着一個假眼珠的老兄。”

Entrepreneurs also display a striking number of mental oddities. Julie Login of Cass Business School surveyed a group of entrepreneurs and found that 35% of them said that they suffered from dyslexia, compared with 10% of the population as a whole and 1% of professional managers. Prominent dyslexics include the founders of Ford, General Electric, IBM and IKEA, not to mention more recent successes such as Charles Schwab (the founder of a stockbroker), Richard Branson (the Virgin Group), John Chambers (Cisco) and Steve Jobs (Apple). There are many possible explanations for this. Dyslexics learn how to delegate tasks early (getting other people to do their homework, for example). They gravitate to activities that require few formal qualifications and demand little reading or writing.

創業家也展現出一些驚人的心理怪僻特點。凱斯商學院的朱莉·羅金調查了一羣創業家，發現其中有35%稱自己患有讀寫困難症[注6]。相較之下，讀寫困難症在全體人口中所佔的比例只有10%，在職業經理人中該比例更只有1%。著名的讀寫困難症患者包括福特、通用電氣、IBM和宜家這些公司的創始人，更不用說近年來的一些成功人士，查爾斯·施瓦布(一間證券經濟公司的創始人)，理查德·布蘭森(維珍集團)，約翰·錢伯斯(思科)，還有斯蒂夫·喬布斯(蘋果)。這背後有很多可能性。讀寫困難症患者從很小起就學會了如何分配工作(例如讓其他同學幫自己做功課)。他們自然而然地趨向於不需要正式文憑，也不需要多少讀寫能力的活動。

Attention-deficit disorder (ADD) is another entrepreneur-friendly affliction: people who cannot focus on one thing for long can be disastrous employees but founts of new ideas. Some studies suggest that people with ADD are six times more likely than average to end up running their own businesses. David Neeleman, the founder of JetBlue, a budget airline, says: “My ADD brain naturally searches for better ways of doing things. With the disorganisation, procrastination, inability to focus and all the other bad things that come with ADD, there also come creativity and the ability to take risks.” Paul Orfalea, the founder of Kinko’s and a hotch-potch of businesses since, has both ADD and dyslexia. “I get bored easily; that is a great motivator,” he once said. “I think everybody should have dyslexia and ADD.”

多動症[注7]則是另外一種和創業家有着不解之緣的病症。那些無法長時間在一件事上集中注意力的人會是非常糟糕的僱員，但同時也可以是新點子的源泉。一些研究表明多動症患者最後自己經商的機會是普通人的六倍。廉價航空公司捷藍的創始人大衛·尼爾曼說過：“我的多動症大腦自然而然地在不停搜尋更好地行事方式。多動症帶來缺乏組織、拖沓、無法集中和其它各種不利因素，但是它也帶來了創意和冒風險的能力。”保羅·奧法裏是金考快印的創始人，之後還創建過五花八門的各種公司，他同時患有讀寫困難症和多動症。他曾說過：“我很容易對事物厭煩，這給了我很大的動力。我覺得人人都應該患上讀寫困難症和多動症。”

Where does that leave the old-fashioned organisation man? He will do just fine. The more companies hire brilliant mavericks, the more they need sensible managers to keep the company grounded. Someone has to ensure that dull but necessary tasks are done. Someone has to charm customers (and perhaps lawmakers). This task is best done by those who don’t give the impression that they think normal people are stupid. (Sheryl Sandberg, Mr Zuckerberg’s deputy, does this rather well for Facebook.) Many start-ups are saved from disaster only by replacing the founders with professional managers. Those managers, of course, must learn to work with geeks.

那麼老派的組織人還有什麼可做呢?放心，他不會有問題。公司僱用的高明異類人才越多，它們也就需要越明智的經理來控制這些人才。總得有人來確保完成那些枯燥但必需的工作。總得有人來討好顧客(或許還有政客)。這項工作最好還是交給那些不會流露出“普通人是笨蛋”想法的僱員。(扎克伯格的副手謝麗爾·桑德博格在這一點上就爲Facebook做得很好。)許多新興企業都是在職業經理人取代創始者之後才被拯救起來的。當然，那些經理人要學會和極客共事。

Geekery in the genes

基因中的極客因子

The clustering of people with unusual minds is causing new problems. People who work for brainy companies tend to marry other brainy people. Simon Baron-Cohen of Cambridge University argues that when two hyper-systematisers meet and mate, they are more likely to have children who suffer from Asperger’s or its more severe cousin, autism. He has shown that children in Eindhoven, a technology hub in the Netherlands, are two to four times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than children in two other Dutch towns of similar size. He has also shown that Cambridge students who study mathematics, physics and engineering are more likely to have autistic relatives than students studying English literature. Most employers are leery of hiring severely autistic people, but not all. Specialist People, a Danish firm, matches autistic workers with jobs that require a good memory or a high tolerance for repetition.

思維另類的人聚集在一起會引起新的問題。給高智商公司打工的人傾向於和其他高智商人士結婚。劍橋大學的西蒙·巴隆-科恩認爲如果兩個超系統化的人相遇並繁衍後代，他們的子女患有阿斯伯格綜合症或其更嚴重的相關病症-自閉症的機會更大。他發現在荷蘭科技中心艾德霍芬出生的兒童患自閉症的機會是另外兩個人口類似的荷蘭城市中兒童的二至四倍。他也發現在劍橋大學就讀數學、物理學和工程的學生比就讀英國文學的學生有更高的機會有患自閉症的親戚。大多數的僱主對於僱用高度自閉症患者都存有戒心，但也有例外。丹麥的“專家人”公司就提供服務把自閉症患者和那些需要出色記憶力以及對重複活動有很高容忍度的崗位配對。

More broadly, the replacement of organisation man with disorganisation man is changing the balance of power. Those square pegs may not have an easy time in school. They may be mocked by jocks and ignored at parties. But these days no serious organisation can prosper without them. As Kiran Malhotra, a Silicon Valley networker, puts it: “It’s actually cool to be a geek.”

從更廣的視角看，組織人被無組織人代替正在改變權力的平衡。那些另類人士在上學時可能並不輕鬆。他們遭受運動好手們的嘲諷，在聚會上無人搭理他們。但今時今日任何認真的組織都需要這類人才方能成功。正如一位硅谷的關係網人士吉蘭·馬爾霍特拉所說的那樣：“當極客其實挺酷的。”

譯者注：

1 - Geek，英語本意爲性格古怪者，但隨時代改變賦予新的意義。過去一般指“電腦專家或愛好者”，或是“過度的書呆子”，爲貶義詞。過去十年中這個詞開始重興，帶上了一定的正面因素，很多人以此自居，由此引出“極客”這一譯法。具體概念有很多不同的定義，大體來說，極客對科技，尤其是計算機和新媒體很感興趣，是某一方面的專才，喜歡在生活中應用書本或是學術知識，對於更廣泛的社交和常識不感興趣，醉心於某些特立獨行的活動或領域。和“宅文化”有共通之處，但細節上有區別。

2 - Quant，Quantitative analyst的簡稱，最早關注於投資管理、風險管理和衍生品的定價問題，後來拓寬到幾乎所有在金融中應用數學的領域。和financial engineer(金融工程師)意義相當，近年來出現“寬客”這一譯名，一般爲數學、物理學科，而不是傳統金融學科教育出來的人才，同時具有相當的電腦技術。在很多層面上和極客有共通點。

3 - Asperger’s syndrome，阿斯伯格綜合症，有時被看作自閉症的一種(學術上有爭議)。和一般自閉症不同，阿氏綜合症患者的語言和認知發育一般不受到障礙，對日常生活影響不大，因此一般不需要接受治療。主要包括社交溝通困難，偏執，興趣狹窄等特點。確實有阿氏綜合症患者是數學天才，但這是個別現象。

4 - on the spectrum是指Autism spectrum，自閉症光譜，廣義的所有社交溝通上表現出障礙的病例總稱。代表了從自閉症到阿斯伯格綜合症等等一系列相似的發育障礙。

5 - preppy，或prep，是美國亞文化的一個概念，傳統上指美國東北部私立大學(像常春藤大學)的預備學校，就讀這些學校的很多學生都是家庭背景殷實，人脈良好。類似於社會上層的概念。這一概念在美國是非常複雜的，包含一個人的說話方式、口音、詞彙、舉止、禮儀等方面。在這裏是指擅於交際，搞教育水平的傳統社會精英，和極客對比。

6 - dyslexia，讀寫困難症，是一個很廣義的概念，包括很多學習障礙，最典型的一種是閱讀障礙，會影響一個人閱讀理解的能力。患者無法順利進行閱讀活動，經過訓練治療可以進行閱讀，但是速度較慢，在沒有上下文拿出單個詞語時理解拼寫往往會有問題。此障礙和智商無關。

7 - Attention deficit disorder (ADD)，多動症。嚴格說來，“多動症”是指注意力匱乏障礙Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)，底下有三個分類表現，其中表現爲注意障礙爲主的稱爲ADD，其特點爲注意障礙但不“多動”，主要表現爲懶散、困惑、迷惘、動力不足，伴較多焦慮、抑鬱，有較多的學習問題, 而較少伴品行問題。

俗語俚語：

bends over backwards - 非常盡力，竭盡所能去完成某一件事。字面意思爲“下腰”，比喻要花大功夫才能做到。

make a killing - 大獲成功，尤指賺到大錢，和中文賭博俗語“大殺三方”有異曲同工之妙。

square peg - 來自諺語Square peg in a round hole，插在圓洞裏的方棍子，指和周圍格格不入的另類

jock - 美語，代表運動員的一類刻板印象，通常指高中或大學裏青少年亞文化圈子裏那些英俊強壯，頭腦愚蠢，態度傲慢，性格暴躁，受女孩子歡迎，欺負弱者的校隊運動員形象。