各种奇葩的世界纪录有意义吗

The second Thursday of each November is Guinness World Records Day. Every year, it’s a time when we get to appreciate the marvelous things that people have achieved.

11月的第二个星期四是吉尼斯世界纪录日。每年的这个时候，我们都会为人们所能做到的非凡之事而惊叹不已。

Well, perhaps it isn’t. Apparently, some of the record makers and breakers seem more admirable than others. It’s perfectly possible to appreciate the achievement of a sportsperson like Usain Bolt, for example, who is the only athlete to win the 100m and 200m Olympic titles three times in a row. Running is a tradition that goes all the way back to the Greek Olympic competitions.

好吧，或许事实也并非如此。很显然，有些纪录的创造者和打破者似乎要比其他人更令人敬佩。打个比方，尤塞恩·博尔特是唯一一位连续三年获得男子100米及200米奥运冠军的运动员，像他这样的运动员所取得的成就，得到人们的赞赏完全合理。赛跑是一项可追溯到古希腊奥林匹克运动会的传统。

But one wonders whether the person who holds the record for growing the largest onion, or the one who holds the record for the most wooden toilet seats broken within a minute using only the forehead, is quite as worthy of our admiration as Bolt is.

但也有人好奇，像种出世界上最大的洋葱，或者在1分钟内用额头击碎最多的木头马桶盖，这样的世界纪录保持者是否应该获得人们像对博尔特一样的敬重。

The Greek poet Pindar wrote great poems to the athletes of his day. It seems unlikely that anyone today would compose an ode to a man for growing an unusually big vegetable. In other words, some of these Guinness records seem a bit silly.

古希腊诗人品达写下了一系列伟大的诗篇来歌颂与他同时代的运动员。但如今，似乎不大可能有人会为种出巨大蔬菜的人写诗赞美。换言之，一些吉尼斯世界纪录似乎有些无厘头。

So, why do people choose to try and attain world record holder status for, to put it kindly, such pointless things? Perhaps the experts can help. Speaking to The Atlantic magazine, Stephen Garcia, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, tried to explain it. “People are always trying to find a way to make themselves seem like they are at the top,” he said.

所以，说好听些，为什么人们会为这些毫无意义的事情创造并保持世界纪录呢？或许专家们能进行一些解释。密歇根大学心理学教授史蒂芬·加西亚在接受《大西洋月刊》采访时就试图解释这一点。“人们总是试图找出一种方式，让自己看起来似乎立于顶点，”他说道。

It’s not that they want to be the best at everything but just to be the best at something. They seek what he calls “optimal distinctiveness.” It seems to them that everyone stands out at something, and these record holders just want to discover what their “something” is.

人们并不指望在所有事情上都做到最好，但希望在某一方面成为第一。他们会在自己身上寻找加西亚所说的“最优特性”。对于这些人而言，所有人都有其擅长之处，而这些纪录保持者们只是想发现自己的“擅长之处”罢了。

That means it isn’t just crazy competitiveness that makes people consider spending a huge amount of time, effort and perhaps money being the best at a meaningless thing – like cycling backwards while playing a violin – but a desire to be part of society.

这意味着，人们愿意为了在一些无意义的事情上（如一边倒骑自行车一边拉小提琴）做到最好而花费大量时间、精力、或许还有金钱，并不只是出于疯狂的争强好胜，还有想要成为社会一分子的欲望。

Guinness World Records Day is not only about fun. Above all, it’s about letting people count for something in the world.

吉尼斯世界纪录日并不仅仅是为了好玩。最重要的是，它让人们在这个世界中的某一方面实现了价值。