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At first glance, Esther Okade seems like a normal 10-year-old. |
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She loves dressing up as Elsa from Frozen, playing with Barbie dolls and going to the park or shopping. |
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伊斯妲．歐卡迪第一眼看起來就像個普通十歲小孩。她喜歡打扮成《冰雪奇緣》裡的艾莎、玩芭比娃娃，以及去公園玩或買東西。 |
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But what makes the British-Nigerian youngster stand out is the fact that she's also a university undergraduate. |
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但有件事讓這位英國與奈及利亞混血的小孩與眾不同，其實她也是個大學生。 |
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Esther, from Walsall, an industrial town in the UK's West Midlands region, is one of the country's youngest college freshmen. |
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伊斯妲來自英國西密德蘭郡的工業城鎮沃爾索爾，她是該國其中一位最年輕的大學新鮮人。 |
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The talented 10-year-old enrolled at the Open University, a UK-based distance learning college, in January and is already top of the class, having scored 100% in a recent exam. |
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這位有天份的十歲小孩一月時進入公開大學就讀，那是一所校本部位於英國的遠距教學學院，她已經在班上名列前茅，在最近的一項測驗中得了滿分。 |
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"It's so interesting. It has the type of math I love. It's real math -- theories, complex numbers, all that type of stuff," she giggles. |
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"It was super easy. My mum taught me in a nice way." |
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「課程相當有趣，有我喜歡的那種數學，真正的數學──理論、複數，全部那類的東西，」她咯咯笑說：「那超級簡單的。我媽很細心地教過我。」 |
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And in case people think her parents have pushed her into starting university early, Esther emphatically disagrees. |
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為免人們認為她的父母逼迫她提早讀大學，伊斯妲斷然表示不苟同這種說法。 |
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"I actually wanted to start when I was seven, but my mum was like, 'You're too young, calm down.'" |
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After three years of begging, mother Efe finally agreed to explore the idea. |
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「其實我七歲時就想讀大學了，但我媽說：『你年紀還太小了，冷靜點。』」在她企求了三年後，媽媽埃妃才終於同意將這想法付諸實行。 |
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Efe started by teaching basic number skills, but Esther was miles ahead. |
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By four, her natural aptitude for math had seen the eager student move on to algebra and quadratic equations. |
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埃妃一開始先教基本的數字技巧，但伊斯妲已經遠遠超前。四歲時，她天生的數學天資已經把這個好學的學生推進學習代數和二次方程式了。 |
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And Esther isn't the only math prodigy in the family. |
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Her younger brother Isaiah, 6, will soon be sitting his first A-level exam in June. |
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伊斯妲並不是家裡唯一的數學天才。她六歲的弟弟以賽亞很快將在六月參加他的第一場 A 級測驗。 |
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