It’s coming.
它來了！

It’s coming again.
它又來了！

I want to run away, but I can’t.
我想逃跑，卻舉步維艱。

I know it’s going to torture me for another hour.
我知道它又要折磨我一個小時了！

It’s not a horror movie. It’s me, taking a mathematic test.
這可不是恐怖電影，是我，考數學考試。

Honorable judges, ladies and gentlemen
尊敬的裁判，各位先生女士。

Do you have a deep fear?
請問您有深層的恐懼嗎？

Something that holds you back like nothing else?
讓您裹足不前最深的恐懼？

I do. Math is the fear that has haunted me all my life.
我有。數學就是糾纏我一生的恐懼。

Round 1, I failed.
第一回合，一敗塗地。

I started to hate math when I was in elementary school.
我從小學開始就討厭數學。

My math ability was really stable - always the last.
我的數學能力非常穩定：總是最後。

When I got to high school, math got even harder. No more one plus one or two times two. Now 123 had become XYZ.
當我到了中學，數學更難了。再也不是一加一或是二乘二，一二三已經變成了XYZ！

Round 2, I ran away.
第二回合，我奪荒而逃。

In university, I chose to study foreign languages.
大學時，我選擇就讀外文系。

Not because I loved English, but because that was the only department that didn’t require math!
可不是因為我喜歡英文，而是因為這是唯一不用數學的科系。

But do you believe, that life has a way of teaching us the lessons that we are meant to learn?
但你可相信，生命總會找到法子讓我們學會我們該會學會的課題？

Graduate school!
研究所！

I was honored to be accepted into Chiao Tung University’s Phd program.
我很榮幸地錄取了交通大學的博士。

I was the first person in my family that was going to be a doctor.
我將會成為家族中取得博士的第一人。

But, there was a problem!
但，有個問題。

I had to study not math, but statistics. I was doomed!
這次我不用讀數學，而要讀統計。我死定了！

Round 3. Fight.
第三回合。開打。

One day I came home from work at 12 ‘clock at night.
有天我回家時已經晚上十二點了。

I was so tired, but I still hadn’t started my first statistics homework.
我筋疲力竭，但我還沒開始我的第一份統計作業。

When was it due? The next day, 8 o’clock in the morning!
作業何時到期呢？隔天早上八點。

Originally, I planned to ask my wife for help. In graduate school, she was the best student in her statistics class.
原本我打算請內人幫忙的。她可是研究所時期班上統計最強的人物。

I promise you - that wasn’t the reason I married her.
我發誓這可不是我娶她的原因。

But when I opened our bedroom door, I found her in bed sound asleep with my kids.
但當我打開寢室房門時，我發現她已在床上與我的犬子熟睡了。

I walked back out. I tried to do it by myself, but my fear told me that I couldn’t.
我走了回來，試著自己做做看。但我內心的恐懼告訴我做不到。

After 30 minutes, without any progress, I gave up and went to bed.
三十分鐘後，一點進展也沒有，我放棄，爬上了床。

As I lay on my bed, almost asleep.
當我躺在床上，將要睡著時。

I felt something soft and tender touching my hand.
我感覺手上有著軟綿綿又稚嫩的觸感。

It was my son. He was lying by my side, and he had just turned and put his little hand over mine.
是我的孩子。他躺在我的身邊，剛翻身，並把他的小手放到了我的手上。

I looked at him, and suddenly I remembered the first moment I held him in the hospital.
我看著他，忽然憶起了我在醫院中抱著他的第一刻。

When I first held my son in the hospital, I promised myself that, not singers, and not politicians, but I would be his role model.
當我第一次抱著他，我答應我自己，他的典範不會是什麼歌星或是政客，而會是我！

How would I describe this night to him when I am 60 years old?
我六十歲時，會怎麼跟他談及今晚呢？

Will I be able to convince him to face challenges when I was deciding to run away?
當我決定落荒而逃，我能說服他在未來面對挑戰嗎？

Can I still be the hero in his world and the role model he looks up to?
我還能成為他世界的英雄，以及他仰望的典範嗎？

I knew the answers way too well.
這些問題的答案，我知之甚詳。

Within minutes, I was sitting in front of my desk with my textbook and class notes.
幾分鐘內，我帶著教科書與課堂筆記坐回了書桌前。

Determined.
意志堅定！

I did not know how long it would take for me to finish my homework, but this was it.
我不知道我要花多久才能做完作業，但我心意已決。

I told myself that I will get it done!
我告訴我自己，我會做完。

The sky was breaking dawn when I finished the last question.
當我寫完最後一個問題時，東方已顯出了魚肚白。

Ever since that day, I can do my statistics all by myself.
但自從那一天起，我就自己完成所有的統計作業。

And now, I even make tutorial videos for my classmates.
現在，我甚至還為班上的同學拍教學影片呢！

When I faced my deepest fear in life, first I failed, then I fled. But now, I fight!
當我面對生命中最深層的恐懼，我先是一敗塗地，而後落荒而逃。但現在，我奮力而戰！

Not for myself, but for my son.
不是為了我自己，而是為了我的兒子。

It’s the love for my son that transformed me to what I needed to become.
是我對於稚子的愛，讓我成為了我必須要成為的人。

It has been the love for my next generation that gave me the wings of courage and made me rise from the flame of self-doubt and flew like a phoenix into the world of new possibilities.
是對於下一代的愛，給了我勇氣的翅膀，讓我從自我懷疑的烈焰中飛昇，並像鳳凰般航向充滿可能性的新世界。

What’s your deepest fear?
您最深的恐懼是什麼呢？

Who are the people that you care about the most?
您最在乎的人又是誰呢？

Try to link the answers of these two questions together.
試著把兩個問題的答案連在一起吧！

And it will be the time for you to soar.
那就會是您飛昇翱翔的時刻！

Contest master.
比賽主持人。