Question: What is Aptitude¹?

问题：啥是天赋？

Answer: When you are researching occupations, you will often see something about aptitude listed among the requirements. For example, you may read that in order to work in a particular field you need to have an aptitude for science. Other occupations require having an aptitude in math, visual arts or performing arts; verbal or spatial² abilities; or manual dexterity³ or motor coordination⁴. But, what exactly is an aptitude?

回答：找工作时，你都会在工作要求上找到关于天赋的问题。例如，你有科学技术方面的天赋；你就会读读这方面的工作要求，以在这一特定领域找份工作。其他的工作可能要求你有数学，视觉艺术或表演艺术方面的天赋；口语交际能力或空间想象能力；或是灵活的动手能力及动作协调能力。可是，天赋到底是毛啊？

When a career description lists an aptitude among the qualifications one needs to work in an occupation, it is referring to a natural talent or an ability an individual has acquired through life experience, study or training. The word may also pertain⁵ to one's capacity to acquire a skill.

当一份工作的介绍中列出了求职者所必要的天赋时，这就意味着你要有这方面的天赋，或者这个天赋可以在以后的工作生活、学习和培训中被培养出来。拥有能培养出技术的能力，也是一种天赋。

Assessing Aptitude

评估天赋

Assessing aptitude can help with career guidance. A career development professional who is helping⁶ a client choose a career may administer a multiaptitude test battery to identify the client's abilities and subsequently, occupations that require them. It is important to note that this type of instrument should never be used in isolation⁷. There are many other factors to consider when choosing a career. They include an individual's personality type, interests and work-related values. Example of multiaptitude tests career development professionals use with their clients are the DAT (Differential Aptitude Test) and the GATB (General Aptitude Test Battery). Another is the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) which the United States Military administers to students who are enlisting⁸. They use the results to classify enlistees for training opportunities.

对于天赋进行评估可以帮助你求职。一个职业生涯规划师可以运用多项天赋测试来检测与管理客户的能力并在其后找到与之匹配的职业。但是需要说明的是，在选择职业时是不应该只考虑运用这一种手段的，还有很多其他的因素需要考虑，这包括个人性格类型，兴趣和与工作相关的个人价值。职业生涯规划师运用的这种检测手段包括DAT（微分天赋测试）和GATB（通用天赋测试）。还有一种是ASVAB（三军职业能力管理），也就是美国军队选拔人才所用的测试。军队利用这个结果来划分候选人以分配培训机会。

Aptitude tests may also look for the presense of abilities that are specific to a particular occupation or area of study.

天赋的评估也会寻找某一特定的工作或研究领域所要求的特定的能力。

Some college programs use these intruments to assess applicants⁹ to certain academic programs and employers use them to evaluate job candidates. For example, many pharmacy¹⁰ schools use the the PCAT (Pharmacy College Admission Test) to look for "abilities, aptitudes¹¹, and skills that pharmacy schools have deemed essential for success in basic pharmacy curricula" (Mental Measurements Yearbook With Tests in Print). The Electrical Aptitude Test is another aptitude test that looks for a specific aptitude. It is administered to "applicants for jobs that require the ability to learn electrical skills" (Mental Measurements Yearbook With Tests in Print).

一些大学会利用这种检测仪器来测试竞选者对特定学科项目的合适度，雇主也会运用这种仪器来分析职业候选人的个人素质。例如，很多医药学院会运用PCAT（医药大学入学测试）来寻找“具有成功学习医药基础课程必不可少的能力，天赋和技术的候选者”（来自《印刷品检验年鉴》一书）。电子天赋检测则是另一个天赋测试以寻找个人的特殊素质。它的职能是分析“竞聘者学习电子技术的能力”（来自《印刷品检验年鉴》一书）

Some Important Things to Know

你必须要知道的事

It is worth pointing out once more that you should not use aptitude alone as the criteria¹² for choosing a career. You should also learn about your interests, personality type and work-related values by doing a thorough self assessment¹³, and consider that information along with aptitude when choosing a career. Here are a few other things of which you should be aware:

只得再次提醒的是，在求职时千万不要把天赋当作唯一标准。你应该通过完备的个人评价来了解自己的兴趣，人格和与工作相关的个人价值，并将这些和自己的天赋放在一起来考虑选择什么工作。下面的这些你也应该了解：

While having a particular aptitude may indicate you can succeed in an occupation, it doesn't mean you will do well in every job within it. Required abilities may vary from one job to another, even in the same occupation.

虽然拥有某一特定天赋可能会让你在工作中成功，但这也不说明靠他你就能做好一切和他相关的工作。每个工作所需要的能力相互都是不同的，甚至即使是同一份职业都需要很多不同方面的能力。

A number of occupations may require the same aptitude so you shouldn't feel like you are only qualified¹⁴ to do one thing. In reality, there may be several suitable occupations for you.

很多工作需要的能力都是有相同之处的，所以你并不能只想着吊死在一棵树上。事实上，可能有好多其他工作等着你呢。

Just because you are good at something, it doesn't mean you will like doing it. For example, having an aptitude for math doesn't necessarily mean a career using your mathematical ability should be in your future. Do what you're good at, but only if you like it

会者不难，但不意味着会者喜欢。比方说，你拥有数学方面的天赋，但你以后的工作却并不一定必须用你的数学天赋。你喜欢你擅长的，才能做好你擅长的。