Team USA won the first place at this year’s International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, reclaiming¹ the crown after 21 years.

美国队在泰国清迈举行的本年度国际数学奥林匹克竞赛（奥数）上获得第一名，这是美国队21年来首次重获此项殊荣。

The six US high school students defeated teams from 103 countries, including its strongest rival, China, which has won 14 times over the past 20 years.

由6名美国高中生组成的队伍击败了来自世界其他103个国家的队伍，其中还包括美国最大的竞争对手中国队，中国队曾在过去的20年中14次包揽冠军。

Po-Shen Loh, head coach of team USA, said technology has done the US its biggest favor.

美国队领队Po-Shen Loh称，科技给美国队带来了巨大的帮助。

"Something has changed very much in the last 10 years that may be contributing to the USA ultimately² winning this year," said Loh. "Now there is everything you might ever need to learn for free on the Internet."

Loh介绍道：“过去10年间发生了很多变化，也促成了今年美国队最终夺冠的局面。互联网可以让人免费学到任何需要的东西。”?

"China and the US are very much ahead of the rest of the countries, which means our performance was not bad," said Chinese team coach Li Qiusheng. "Although four points behind the US, China was 20 points ahead of third-place Korea."

“中国队和美国队都遥遥领先于其他国家，这说明我们的表现也不错，”中国队教练Li Qiusheng?称：“虽然落后美国队4分，但是中国队却比第二名朝向对多出20分。”

"During recent years, the differences between the strong countries are getting smaller," Li said. "As in international basketball, the American team used to be the winner all the time. But now other countries are catching³ up, and sometimes beating the US. This doesn’t mean US basketball is declining⁴, rather other countries are getting better. I think we can view math competitions the same way."

“近几年来，强队之间的差距正在减小，”Li说：“就像国际篮球比赛，美国队在过去是夺冠常客，但现在别的国家正在追赶，有时还能击败美国队，这并不能说明美国的篮球在衰败，而是别的国家正在变得更好。我认为我们也可以用这个来比喻奥数竞赛。”

Unlike regular classroom math problems, competition math goes beyond plugging numbers into formulas. Instead, the questions focus on using what’s been learned in school to invent, combine and extend. Creativity is far more important than memorization.

同在课堂上的数学题不同，奥数竞赛不仅仅是将数字填入方程式中，而是用学校里学过的知识来进行创新、联想和延伸。创新能力远比记忆力更为重要。

"You never really know what challenge you will face until you open the test," said Zhuoquan "Alex" Song, a member of the Canadian team who was educated in the US and Canada and the only contestant⁵ to get a perfect score. It’s the hardest kind of competition to prepare for, he added.

“开始测试之前，你永远也不知道要接受的挑战是什么。”加拿大队员宋卓群（Alex）介绍道，他同时接受了美国和加拿大的教育，是所有参赛选手中唯一一个获得满分的队员，还称这是最难准备的比赛了。

Every year, six middle school students are picked from every country through months of exams.

每年，各个国家都会经过数月的考试选拔出6名中学生来参加这项赛事。