2001年5月，美国内华达州的麦迪逊中学在入学考试时出了这么一个题目：比尔·盖茨的办公桌上有5只带锁的抽屉，分别贴着、兴趣、、荣誉、5个标签；盖茨总是只带一把钥匙，而把其他的4把锁在抽屉里，请问盖茨带的是哪一把钥匙？其他的4把锁在哪一只或哪几只抽屉里？
In May 2001,Madison High School in Nevada, USA, had the following question on its entranceexam: Bill Gates had five locked drawers on his desk with five labels,interest, honor, and five labels; Which one or which drawer are the other fourlocked in?
一位刚移民美国的外国学生，恰巧赶上这场考试，看到这个题目后，一下慌了手脚，因为他不知道它到底是一道英文题还是一道数学题。考试结束，他去问他的担保人——该校的一名理事。理事告诉他，那是一道智能测试题，内容不在书本上，也没有标准答案，每个人都可根据自己的理解自由地回答，但是老师有权根据他的观点给一个分数。
A foreignstudent who had just immigrated to the United States, just in time for theexam, panicked when he saw the question because he didn't know whether it wasan English question or a math problem. At the end of the exam, he went to askhis guarantor, a board member of the school. The director told him that it wasan intelligent test question, not in books, and there was no standard answer,and that everyone was free to answer according to his own understanding, butthat the teacher had the right to give a score according to his point of view.
外国学生在这道9分的题上得了5分。老师认为，他没答一个字，至少说明他是诚实的，凭这一点应该给一半以上的分数。让他不能理解的是，他的同桌回答了这个题目，却仅得了1分。同桌的答案是，盖茨带的是抽屉上的钥匙，其他的钥匙都锁在这只抽屉里。
The foreignstudents got 5 points on the 9-point question. The teacher thought that he didnot answer a word, at least to show that he was honest, with this should givemore than half of the score. What he couldn't understand was that his deskmateanswered the question, but got only one point. The answer at the same table wasthat Gates had the keys in the drawer, and the other keys were locked in thedrawer.
后来，这道题通过E-mail被发回了这位外国学生原来所在的国家。这位学生在邮件中对同学说，现在我已知道盖茨带的是哪一把钥匙，凡是回答这把钥匙的，都得到了这位大富豪的肯定和赞赏，你们是否愿意测试一下，说不定从中还会得到一些启发。
Later, thequestion was sent back via E-mail to the foreign student's original country.The student said to his classmates in the e-mail, 'Now I know which key Gatesis with, and those who answer it have been affirmed and appreciated by the richman, and you are willing to test it, and perhaps get some inspiration from it.'
同学们到底给出了多少种答案，我们不得而知。但是，据说有一位聪明的同学登上了美国麦迪逊中学的网页，他在该网页上发出了比尔·盖茨给该校的回函。函件上写着这么一句话：在你最感兴趣的事物上，隐藏着你的秘密。
We don't knowexactly how many answers the students gave. However, a clever classmate is saidto have appeared on the page of Madison High School in the United States, wherehe sent a reply from Bill Gates to the school. The letter reads: Hide yoursecrets from the things you are most interested in.
兴趣、、荣誉和是几乎每个人都想追求的。当你必须作出唯一选择的时候，自己的兴趣往往比名利更重要！
Interests,honors, and is what almost everyone wants to pursue. When you have to make theonly choice, your interests are often more important than your name!