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It is hard to imagine that there could be any such thing as excessive intelligence.
很难想象可能存在过于聪明这样的事情。
After all, most of the problems of the world and of individual lives clearly come down to a shortfall in cleverness - and a surfeit of impulsiveness, self-righteousness and cruelty.
毕竟，世界和个人生活的大多数问题显然都可以归结为缺乏智慧，以及过于冲动、自以为是和残忍。
Yet it seems that there could still be a way of using our intelligence that cuts us off from necessary encounters with simple truths about us:
然而，似乎仍有一种方法可以利用我们的智慧，这让我们无法接触到关于自己的一些简单事实:
with humdrum facts, with down-to-earth ideas and appetites, with unglamorous impulses and naive yet profound speculations.
乏善可陈的事实，脚踏实地的想法和欲望，平淡无奇的冲动以及天真但深刻的猜想。
If we can put it another way, there might be ways of being intelligent that could - at points - render us distinctively stupid.
如果我们可以换一种说法，也许有一些聪明的方式会在某些时候让我们变得愚蠢。
There is a kind of person we can dub over-intellectual whose very cleverness can encourage them to miss key points.
有一种人，我们可以称之为智力超群的人，他们的聪明使他们忽略了关键。
It may make them blind to evident ideas that are nevertheless significant.
这可能会使他们对一些显而易见但却意义重大的想法视而不见。
It may give them a permanent taste for what is abstruse and infinitely subtle - at the expense of anything that doesn’t pass an exaggerated threshold of convolution.
这可能会让他们对深奥和十分微妙的事物产生永久的兴趣——却以不能理解任何夸张的错综事物为代价。
They may neglect the chance of an interesting conversation with a six year old because their associations of intelligence are rigidly affixed to scholarliness
他们可能会忽视与一个六岁孩子进行有趣对话的机会，因为他们与智力的联系被严格地贴上了书卷气的标签
- or they might disdain the offer of a walk with their aunt because she left school at sixteen and has never taken an interest in politics.
——或者他们可能会拒绝和阿姨一起散步的邀请，因为她16岁就离开了学校，对政治从来没有兴趣。
Their intricate minds may end up misunderstanding reality, which comprises both Ludwig Wittgenstein and hot baths, Immanuel Kant and Dancing Queen, Aristotle and orange and polenta cake.
他们复杂的头脑最终可能会误解现实，其中既有路德维希·维特根斯坦，也有热水澡，有伊曼努尔·康德，也有舞蹈女王，有亚里士多德，还有橘子和麦片蛋糕。
The over-intellectual may spend hours parsing the distinction between freewill and determinism, they may devote themselves to interpreting Maxwell's theory of electricity and magnetism
智力超群的人可能会花上几个小时来分析自由意志和决定论之间的区别，他们可能会致力于解释麦克斯韦的电磁学理论
- and yet still be a novice when it comes to explaining their heart or avoiding a sulk.
——但在解释他们的内心或避免生闷气方面，你还是个新手。
True cleverness means resorting to complexity when, but only when, it is called for - and otherwise keeping room open for ways of speaking and thinking that are appropriately basic and visceral.
真正的聪明意味着在需要的时候(但只有在需要的时候)求助于复杂性，否则就会为说话和思考的方式留出适当的基本和本能的空间。
It may be highly fitting to use riddles and jargon when one is dealing with the operations of a nuclear reactor or the nature time at the edges of the universe.
当一个人在处理核反应堆的运行或宇宙边缘的自然时间时，用谜语和行话可能非常合适。
But it becomes a particular form of obtuseness to remain in such a register when unpicking issues in relationships or family dynamics.
但是，当分析恋爱问题或家庭动态中的问题时，还停留在这种状态下，显得非常迟钝。
Those who are properly intelligent can accept that there are central truths about every life that can and should be expressed in the language of a child.
那些真正聪明的人可以接受，每一个生活中都有一些核心的真理，这些真理可以也应该用孩子的语言来表达。
It is an achievement enough to sound very clever.
这是一项足以让人看起来非常聪明的成就。
It may be an even greater one to know where and when to remain heart-stirringly simple.
更重要的是，要知道在什么时候，在什么地方，保持令人心动的简单。
