经济学人下载:数学家凯瑟琳·戈布尔·约翰逊(4)

It did not trouble her. First, she also had other things to do: Raise her three daughters, cook, sew their clothes, care for her sick first husband. Second, she knew in her own mind how good she was—as good as anybody. She could hardly be unaware of it, when she had graduated from high school at 14 and college at 18, expert at all the maths anyone knew how to teach her. 

这没有困扰凯瑟琳。首先，她也有其他的事情要做：抚养她的三个女儿，做饭，缝衣服，照顾她生病的第一个丈夫。第二，她在心里知道自己有多好——和别人一样好。她14岁高中毕业，18岁大学毕业，精通所有知道如何教她的人教的数学，她不可能没有意识到这一点。

But she typically credited the help of other people, especially her father, the smartest man she knew, a farmer and a logger, who could look at any tree and tell how many board-feet he could get out of it; and who had sold the farm and moved the family so that she and her siblings could all get a fine schooling and go to college. And last, at NASA, she had not worked alone. She had been one of around a dozen black women mathematicians who were equally unknown. 

但她通常会感谢其他人的帮助，尤其是她的父亲，她认识的最聪明的人，他是一个农夫和一个伐木工，看到任何一棵树，他都说出能用它做出多少板尺；他卖掉了农场，举家搬迁，好让她和她的兄弟姐妹都能接受良好的教育，上大学。最后，在美国宇航局，凯瑟琳并不是一个人在工作。她是十几个同样默默无闻的黑人女数学家之一。

But when their story emerged in the 21st century, most notably in a book and a film called "hidden figures", she had a NASA building named after her, a shower of honorary doctorates and—the greatest thrill—a kiss from Barack Obama as he presented her, at 96, with the presidential medal of freedom. This attention was all the more surprising because, for her, the work had been its own reward. She just did her job, enjoying every minute. 

但当他们的故事在21世纪出现后，最引人注目的是一本名为《隐藏人物》的书和一部同名电影，一座美国宇航局大楼以她的名字命名，她还获得了许多荣誉博士，最激动人心的是，奥巴马在为96岁的她颁发总统自由勋章时给了她一个吻。获得这种关注更加令她惊讶，因为对她来说，这项工作本身就是一种奖励。凯瑟琳只是做她的工作，享受每一分钟。

The struggles of being both black and a woman were shrugged away. Do your best, she always said. Love what you do. Be constantly curious. And learn that it is not dumb to ask a question; it is dumb not to ask it. Not least, because it might lead to the small but significant victory of making a self-proclaimed superior realise he can make a mistake. 

作为一个黑人和一个女人的挣扎则被抛在了脑后。她总是说，竭尽所能。热爱你所做的事情。保持好奇。要知道，提出一个问题并不愚蠢；不去问它才是愚蠢的。尤其重要的是，这可能会取得一场虽小但意义重大的胜利：让一位自诩为上级的人意识到自己可能会犯错。