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it is also the tallest because no other trees block its sunlight,
还因为没有别的树木遮蔽它的阳光，
because the soil around it was deep and rich,
因为树木周围的土壤肥沃而深厚；
because no rabbit chewed through its bark as a sapling,
当这棵树还是幼苗的时候，没有野兔咬啃它的树皮，
and because no lumberjack cut it down before it matured.
也没有伐木工人在这棵树木还没长成参天大树之时来砍伐。
We all know that successful people come from hardy seeds.
我们知道所有的成功人士都来自一粒坚硬的种子，
But do we know enough about the sunlight that warm them,
但我们是否知道照耀他们的阳光，
the soil in which they put down their roots,
知道他们植根的土壤，
and the rabbits and lumberjacks they were lucky enough to avoid?
知道他们能够幸运地躲避野兔或者伐木工人的遭遇？
This is not a book about tall trees.
这不是一本专注于一棵大树的书籍，
It's a book about forests- and hockey is a good place to start,
这是一本放眼整片森林的书籍一曲棍球运动是这本书的绝好的起点，
because the explanation for who gets to the top of the hockey world
因为要了解一个运动员为什么能够站在曲棍球世界的顶峰，
is a lot more interesting and complicated than it looks.
的的确确是一件看起来容易实际上很复杂的事。
In fact, it's downright peculiar.
其实，这种分析完全可以说是陌生的。
If you were to look at the player roster of the 2007 Medicine Hat Tigers.
下面是2007年梅迪辛哈特猛虎队注册球员的名单。
You might see something strange about it.
仔细瞧瞧，看你能否发现其中的一些奇怪的特点。
But even if you didn't, you shouldn't feel bad,
看到了吗？但愿你不会觉得诧异，
because for many years in the hockey world, no one did.
因为多年来都没有人注意到曲棍球运动员的年龄问题。
It wasn't until the mid-1980s, in fact,
事实上，知道20世纪80年代，
that a Canadian psychologist named Roger Barnsley
才有一位名叫罗杰·巴恩斯利的
first drew attention to the phenomenon of relative age.
加拿大心理学家注意到这种与年龄相关的现象。
Barnsley was at Lethbridge Broncos hockey game in southern Alberta,
有一次，巴恩斯利在南亚尔伯达省观看莱斯布里奇野马队的曲棍球的比赛，
a team that played in the same Major Junior A league as the Vancouver Giants and the Medicine Hat Tigers.
这是一支甲A联赛的球队，与温哥华巨人队、梅迪辛哈特猛虎队
He was there with his wife, Paula, and their two boys,
他的妻子保拉以及他们的两个孩子一同观看了这场比赛。
and his wife was reading the program,
就像你观看比赛那样，他的妻子浏览完出场球员的名单，
when she read across the roster list,
准备开始观看这场比赛。
"Roger," she said, "do you know when these young men were born? "
“罗杰”她说，“你知道这些年轻人都是什么时候出生的吗？”
Barnsley said yes.
罗杰肯定地回答说：
"They're all between sixteen and twenty, so that they'd be born in the late 1960s"
“他们的年龄都在16岁到20岁之间，所以他们应该都是在60年代后期出生的。”
"No, no," Paula went on. "What month?"
“不，不，”保拉继续问，“他们是什么月份出生的？”
"I though she was crazy," Barnsley remembered.
“我起初认为她疯了，”巴恩斯利回忆说，
"But I looked through it, and what she was saying jumped out at me.
“但我还是再仔细看了一遍，她的发现令我大吃一惊。
For some reason, there were incredible number of January, February and March birth dates."
大部分球员都出生在1月、2 月和3月，无论出自哪种原因，这都令人难以置信。”
