异类之不一样的成功启示录 第157期:数学的规律

So one might think that we would also say oneteen twoteen and threeteen, but we don't.We make up a different form: eleven, twelve, thirteen and fifteen.

因此，大家会认为我们会把“11、12、13、15”说成“oneteen、twoteen、threeteen、fiveteen”，但是我们没有这样命名，而是采用不同的数字符号，我们把“11、12、13、15”分别称为“eleven、twelve、thirteen、fifteen”。

Similarly, we have forty and sixty, which sound like they are, but we also say fifty and thirty and twenty, which sort of sound what they are, but not really.

同样，我们把“40”和“60”称为“forty”和“sixty”，他们听上去与跟他们相关的数字（“4”和“6”）很像。我们把“50”和“30”还有“20”称为“fifty”、“thirty”还有“twenty”，这听起来很像“5”（“five”）、“3”（“three”）和“10”（“ten”），但情况却并非如此。

And for that matter, for numbers above twenty, we put the decade first and the unit number second: twenty-one, twenty-two.

对于两位数，比如“20”以上的数字，我们将十位数放在个位数之前，如“21、22”（“twenty-one、twenty-two”）

For the teens, though, we do it the other way around. We put the decades second and the unit number first: fourteen, seventeen, eighteen.

对于10以上的数字，我们采取相反的数字输出方式，个位数在前，而十位数在后，如“14”、“17”和“18”（“fourteen”、“seventeen”、“eighteen”）。

The number system in English is highly irregular. Not so in China, Japan, and Korea.They have a logical counting system.

不同于中国、日本和韩国具有逻辑顺序的数字符号体系，英语的数字体系没有规律可言。

Eleven is ten-one.Twelve is ten-two.Twenty-four is two-tens-four and so on.

如“11”就是“11”，“12”就是“12”，“24”就是“24”，并且以此类推。

That difference means that Asian children learn to count much faster than their American counterparts.

这种数字长短上的差异使得亚洲孩子学习数字的速度要明显快于美国孩子。

Four-year-old Chinese children can count, on average, up to forty.American children at that age can only count to fifteen. and the most don't reach forty until they're five.

4岁的中国孩子平均可以数到40，而同龄的美国孩子则只能数到15，大多数的美国孩子即使到了5岁也不能数到50。

By the age of five, in other words, American children are already a year behind their Asian counterparts in the most fundamental of math skills.

换句话说，在许多基础数学技能方面，5岁的美国孩子已经落后于同龄的亚洲孩子一年。

The regularity of their number system also means that Asian children can perform basic functions like addition far more easily.

亚洲孩子凭借其数字体系所具有的规律性，可以很轻松地进行一些基础运算。如加法。

Ask an English seven-year-old to add thirty-seven plus twenty-two in her head, and she has to convert the words to numbers, 37+22,

如果要求一个讲英语的7岁孩子心算37加上22等于多少，她就必须先把单词转换成数字（37＋22）。

only then can she do the math: 2 plus 7 is 9, and 30 and 20 is 50, which makes 59.

只有这样她才可以做出这道数学题：2＋7＝9，30＋20＝50，再相加等于59。

Ask an Asian child to add three-ten-seven and two-ten-two, and then the necessary equation is right there, embedded in the sentence.

同样，要求一名亚洲孩子计算37加上22等于多少，那么等式就在眼前，数字组合在一起就是答案。

No number translation is necessary.It's five-tens-nine.

不需要再将单词转换成数字：答案就是59。