When Han Han arrived late to the First Annual1 New Wave Writing Contest2 , he talked the judges into3 letting him compete.4 Within an hour, he finished the short5 story that took first place.6
韓寒前往參加第一屆年度新概念作文大賽卻遲到，他說服了評審讓他仍能參加角逐。在一小時之內，他完成一篇短篇小說，並奪得首獎。
Three years and two more writing awards7 later, this 20-year-old is a well-known8 writer throughout China. In his writings, he analyzes9 other writers, makes fun of10 the Chinese educational system, and compares men and women to11 cows. Cows? Well, if it works for him....
三年後，又多了兩項寫作獎的榮銜，這名廿歲青年已經是名揚全中國的名作家。在他的作品裡，他分析其他的作家、取笑中國的教育制度，並將男人女人比作牛。牛？這個嘛，只要這種比喻對他來講行得通……。
It does. People are calling Han Han a genius.12 But, would a genius fail out of high school? When asked about that, Han Han says he didn't want to waste time on his math courses13 (the ones he failed) when he was only interested in literature.14 Cool, huh15? Well, Han Han is cool. When Fu Dan University broke some school rules to offer to let Han Han sit in16 on classes there, Han Han said "Thanks, but no thanks."
確實行得通。現在人們稱韓寒為天才。但是，天才會被高中退學嗎？被問到這一點時，韓寒說他不想浪費時間在數學課程上（他被當掉的科目），他只對文學有興趣。酷吧？韓寒是很酷沒錯。復旦大學打破校規提供韓寒旁聽課程的機會時，他說：「謝謝，不用了。」
Perhaps this coolness is one reason Han Han's replacing17 pop stars18 in the hearts of young Chinese who dream of being great writers. His writing is making older writers wonder if they went into the wrong profession19 because they can't compete, and making parents think twice before talking their children out of20 becoming writers. Not bad for someone who flunked21 out of school.
也許就是因為這種酷性格，讓韓寒在夢想當大作家的中國青年心目中，取代了流行明星的地位。他的作品讓年長的作家因為無法與之匹敵而懷疑自己是不是入了錯行，也讓家長在說服子女不要去當作家之前考慮再三。這對一個被學校當掉的人而言，不算太壞吧。
【Vocabulary 單字精解】
1. annual﹝?婄?紓n?婇?痸?瑆l﹞a.：一年一度的
2. contest﹝?婄?婑?瑂?婜t?瑎st﹞n. ：比賽，競賽
3. talk… into phr. ：說服……去做……
4. compete﹝?婑?瑆m?婄p?婩t﹞v.：競爭
5. short story﹝?婄?瓿?瓡rt ?婄st?瓡r?埩﹞n.：短篇小說
6. first place﹝?婄f?焋st ple?屙﹞n.：第一名
7. award﹝?瑆?婄w?瓡rd﹞n.：獎
8. well-known﹝?婄w?瑎l?歅non﹞a.：知名的
9. analyze﹝?婄?紓n?瑆l?婛?埩z﹞v.：分析
10. make fun of phr.：挖苦，取笑
11. compare … to phr. ：將……比喻為……
12. genius﹝?婄?淗?婩?婜?婇?瑆s﹞n. ：天才
13. course﹝?婑?瓡rs﹞n.：課程
14. literature﹝?婄l?埩t?瑆r?瑆?悿?櫹﹞n.：文學
15. huh﹝h?瑔﹞interj. ：是嗎？什麼？
16. sit in﹝?婄s?埩t ?婄?埩n ﹞v. ：旁聽
17. replace﹝r?埩?婄ple?屙﹞v.：取代
18. pop star ﹝?婄?孮?瑂?孮 ?屙?崞?瑂?寀﹞n.：流行歌星
19. profession ﹝pr?瑆?婄f?瑎?瓿?瑆n﹞n.：行業
20. talk … out of phr. ：說服……不要去做……
21. flunk﹝fl?瑔?痯k﹞v. ：當掉，不及格