3岁天才儿童：IQ145会用5国语言算术

Michael McBride has had a busy day for a three-year-old.

3岁的迈克尔·麦克布莱德度过了忙碌的一天。

He started with breakfast of toast with orange jam, then he practised some big sums in his head, (‘67 minus 14 makes 53!’), learnt a new tune on the keyboard he got for Christmas and went off to the library with his granny to find some books on Space, his latest passion.

他的早餐是土司加果酱，然后他在脑中过了一遍庞大的算术题(67-14=53!)，敲着圣诞节得到琴的琴键学了新的曲调，然后和奶奶一起动身前往图书馆，去寻找一些关于宇宙的书籍，这是他最新的爱好。

When they came home they read the books together — Michael helpfully correcting Granny if she mispronounced a word.

回家的时候，他和奶奶一起读书——如果奶奶读错了单词，他会帮忙纠正。

He has an IQ of 145 (the UK average is 104), a reading and writing age of eight and a brain the size of Jupiter.

迈克尔IQ145(英国的平均IQ是104)，拥有8岁小孩的读写能力，脑容量大小和木星一样。

Michael has caused something of a stir by appearing in newspapers and on TV in a spoof of the Mastermind programme, doing complicated sums, reeling off his times tables like an old pro and spelling eight-letter words.

迈克尔在报纸和电视节目《最强大脑》恶搞版中的出现引起了轰动：他会做复杂的算法，像一个老手一样一口气报出自己的时间表，并且能背出8个字母的长单词。

A few months ago, with the help of YouTube videos on an iPad, he taught himself how to count to ten in English, French, Spanish, Russian and Japanese.

几个月前，在Ipad上YouTube视频的帮助下，他教会了自己用英语、法语、西班牙语、俄语和日语从1数到10。

While both parents are bright and articulate, they’re not brain boxes like Michael.

迈克尔的父母很聪明，口才也好，但不像迈克尔那样有个超级大脑。

Emma, 39, has nine GCSEs, three A-levels and a degree in English and history but describes herself as ‘more of a word person than a numbers person’. Dad Anthony, 33, dropped out of school early and is a chef in an Italian restaurant.

母亲艾玛39岁，修完了三个A-Level课程和一个英语历史学位，但她描述自己更多是“一个文科生而不是理科生。父亲安东尼33岁，早年就辍学了，现在是一家意大利餐馆的厨师。

‘We’re just ordinary working people. Who knows where he got it from?’ says Emma.

“我们就是一般的工薪族啊。天知道他(的聪明才智)是从哪来的?母亲艾玛说道。

But it was clear from an early stage there was something special about Michael.

但是很明显，迈克尔先天聪颖，十分特别。

He was interested in numbers as soon as he could see them, was walking at 11 months (‘He never crawled — he just got up and walked’), has always been obsessed with books and, sadly for Emma and Granny, has never needed a nap.

他一见到算术就爱的不可自拔，11个月就会走路了(他从来都不爬行——长大了以后就直接会走路了!)，他总是着迷于书籍，真为母亲艾玛和奶奶感到伤心——他都不需要午睡。

‘He requires very little sleep,’ says Emma. ‘His brain is constantly whirring. There’s no point in putting him to bed before nine as he’s just not tired out and then the minute he falls asleep his brain starts recharging.’

“他几乎不需要睡眠，艾玛说。“他的大脑不断嗡嗡的转动。在9点前根本没法把他哄上床，因为他就是不会疲倦啊，然后他一睡着，脑袋就又充上电了。