Imagine your frustration, you spend weeks, months even, revising for an exam paper and then one of the questions that comes your way appears to be utterly unfathomable.
想象一下，你花了數(shù)周，甚至數(shù)月復(fù)習(xí)考試內(nèi)容，然后考試時(shí)一個(gè)問(wèn)題半路殺出，讓你完全摸不著頭腦。

One perplexed student, known on social media site Imgur as 'Esperagon' and thought to be a student at Sheridan College in Toronto, found himself in exactly that situation after reading a question on his film degree paper and finding that no amount of preparation would ever see him get the right answer.
社交網(wǎng)站Imgur上一個(gè)叫“Esperagon”的學(xué)生，正處于這種迷茫的情形下：他是多倫多謝爾丹學(xué)院的學(xué)生，正在攻讀電影學(xué)位，他在自己的試卷上遇到了一個(gè)考題。他發(fā)現(xiàn)，就算再怎么復(fù)習(xí)，他也答不出這道題。

So what was the blundering brainteaser? 'What is a microphone?'
這道題究竟是個(gè)什么鬼？——問(wèn)：“麥克風(fēng)是什么？”

A simple enough question you might think? However, no explanation of the audio equipment would lead to marks because listed below it were only two answers: true or false.
你會(huì)想這問(wèn)題也太簡(jiǎn)單了吧？然而，對(duì)這個(gè)音頻設(shè)備進(jìn)行的任何解釋都不得分。因?yàn)橄旅嬷挥袃蓚€(gè)答案：“正確”或“錯(cuò)誤”。

Esperagon wrote on the caption accompanying a photo of question: 'I am a film student. This was a question on my sound recording test.'
Esperagon上傳了這道題的截圖，圖片上配文：“我是一名電影專(zhuān)業(yè)的學(xué)生，這是我錄音考試上的一道題?！?/p>

The upside to the situation? The student has seen his post about the question on his sound recording test, which started life on Imgur and ended up on Reddit, seen by around 1.5million people.
好的一面是？這個(gè)學(xué)生把題目發(fā)到了網(wǎng)上——最初是Imgur，后來(lái)是Reddit——已有150萬(wàn)人瀏覽了這道題。

It seems plenty of people have been tickled by the question, supposedly set by an expert on the subject. One wrote: 'Everyone else can give up on the internet today, nothing will beat this.' whil another added: 'There is a small chance you are actually the host of Jeopardy and no one told you.'
這可能是個(gè)業(yè)內(nèi)專(zhuān)家出的題，似乎很多網(wǎng)友被這個(gè)問(wèn)題逗樂(lè)了。一人寫(xiě)道：“都別忙活了，無(wú)解?！边€有網(wǎng)友稱(chēng)：“你其實(shí)有可能是《危險(xiǎn)邊緣》（美國(guó)一檔益智問(wèn)答節(jié)目）的主持人，沒(méi)人告訴你而已?！?/p>

The comments on the post have taken on a life of their own, with people joining 'true' and 'false' camps. 'False, ‘what’ is not a microphone' wrote one, while another simply quipped: 'The answer is yes'.
網(wǎng)友們?cè)谠u(píng)論里自得其樂(lè)，自動(dòng)分成了“正確”派和“錯(cuò)誤”派?！拔艺J(rèn)為應(yīng)該選‘錯(cuò)誤’，因?yàn)椤裁础皇躯溈孙L(fēng)，”一網(wǎng)友評(píng)論。另一位網(wǎng)友則直截了當(dāng)：“答案選‘正確’”。

Another joker wrote: 'If this were a written test, I'd have written: 'Testing, testing, one, two...' next to the answers provided.
還有人調(diào)侃道：“如果這是個(gè)筆試，我就在答案旁寫(xiě)‘喂，喂，能聽(tīng)到嗎？’?！?/p>

Vocabulary
unfathomable：莫測(cè)高深的，難解的
brainteaser：謎語(yǔ)；難題

英文來(lái)源：每日郵報(bào)
譯者：劉傳坤
審校&編輯：杜娟