Going for a job interview is nerve-racking at the best of times, but tech giant Google has become notorious for asking fiendishly tough questions.
即使是面试的最佳时期，参加面试也是够让人费神的，而技术巨头Google早就因变态的面试问题而异常出名。
The company used to ask head-scratching questions such as 'How many piano tuners are there in the world?' and 'How many golf balls does it take to fill a school bus?'
它曾提出过这样令人挠头的问题“世界上有多少位钢琴调音师？”以及“要使用多少个高尔夫球才能填满一辆校巴？”
But some of the riddles were so tough they have now been banned from the interview process.
不过有的问题实在太难了，如今已经从面试的提问列表中剔除出去了。
One of the tough teasers that candidates used to be asked was: 'How many piano tuners are there in the entire world?'
曾经一个求职者被问到的难题是：“在全世界范围内有多少位钢琴调音师？”
The riddle is known as a Fermi problem, named after the physicist Enrico Fermi who was known for his ability to make good calculations with very little information or even none.
这个问题被誉为费米难题，以物理学家恩里科·费米的名字命名，他因凭借极少信息量甚至无信息量做出精确估量计算的能力而闻名。
Its purpose is to test a candidates approximation skills as well as their ability at dimensional analysis.
这个问题的目的在于测试求职者的近似值估算能力以及他们的空间分析能力。
The puzzle is solved by multiplying a series of estimates to get to the right answer. So a candidate would have to estimate factors such as how many households have a piano, how often they are tuned to figure out how many piano tunings take place a year.
解决这个问题的方法就得综合一系列的估算才能得出正确答案。因此求职者可能需要估算不同的因素，比如有多少家庭家里有钢琴，他们给钢琴调音的频率，以此得出一年的钢琴调音次数。
They then need to calculate the average working hours of a piano tuners and the number of jobs they carry out.
然后他们还得计算每位钢琴调音师的平均工作时间以及他们所完成的工作数量。
The number of piano tunings that take place per year divided by the number per year per piano tuner should yield the answer.
每年给钢琴调音的次数除以每年每位钢琴调音师就能得出最终答案。
Google candidates going for a role as product manager also used to be asked: 'How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?
应聘Google产品经理的求职者也曾被问过这样的问题：“要使用多少个高尔夫球才能填满一辆校巴？”
To solve it one must calculate the volume of the average golf ball and the volume of the average school bus, taking into account factors like the seats and other fixtures taking up space.
要解决这个问题，必须计算出高尔夫球的平均体积，以及校巴的平均体积，还要把座位以及其他固定装置计算在内。
The answer is the volume of the bus, divided by the volume of the balls.
答案就是，用校巴的体积除以高尔夫球的体积。
As well as questions involving calculation and physics, Google used to ask would-be employees to solve logic puzzles.
除了提到关于估量计算与物理学的问题，Google曾经让候选员工解决逻辑谜题。
One of the riddles was: 'Every man in a village of 100 married couples has cheated on his wife.
其中有一个这样的题目：“村子里100对结过婚的丈夫都对妻子不忠实。”
'Every wife in the village instantly knows when a man other than her husband has cheated but does not know when her own husband has.
“村子里的每位妻子都能立即知道别人的丈夫有不忠诚的行为，但当自己丈夫不忠诚时却浑然不知。”
'The village has a law that does not allow for adultery. Any wife who can prove that her husband is unfaithful must kill him that very day. “
”村子里有规定，不允许任何通奸行为。任何一位能证明自己丈夫不忠的妻子必须当天就把他杀了。”
'The women of the village would never disobey this law. One day, the queen of the village visits and announces that at least one husband has been unfaithful. What happens?'
“村子里的女人绝不敢违法规定。有一天，村里的女头领出来视察环境并宣布：村子里至少有一个丈夫出过轨。然后会发生什么事？”
Although opinion varies as to the correct answer, a popular solution is to assume that all the cheating husbands will be executed 100 days after the queen's announcement.
虽然大家的答案都与正确答案并不相似，不过有一个支持率挺高的方法：假设所有不忠诚的丈夫们都会在女头领宣布命令后的100天后被处决。
Every wife in the village instantly knows when a man other than her husband has cheated, so if there's only one unfaithful man she will know it's her husband and will kill him that day.
村子里的妻子立即就会知道别人的丈夫有不忠诚的行为，因此若不忠诚的丈夫只有一人，她就会很快知道是自己的丈夫，并且在那一天把他杀了。
Bearing in mind that the queen has said that at least one man has cheated, there could be more than a single adulterer.
把女头领说过至少有一个男人不忠诚这句话记在心里，那么就可能不只一个通奸者了。
If there are two cheaters, 98 women will know who they are. The next day when the wives who have been cheated on see that nobody has been executed they will realise the only explanation is that their husbands are the culprits, and will kill them.
如果有两个通奸者，另外的98个妻子就会知道他们是谁。次日，当一直在被欺骗隐瞒的妻子们发现没有人被处决，她们就会意识到唯一合理的解释就是她们的丈夫就是通奸者，然后就把他们杀了。
By that logic, 100 cheating husbands will be executed on the 100th day, as the riddle states that every man in the village has cheated on his wife.
根据逻辑关系，100个不忠的丈夫就会在第100天被处决，正如题目所说的村子里的每个丈夫都欺骗过自己的妻子。
A riddle about pirates sounds complicated but the answer is in fact quite simple.
有一个关于海盗的谜题，虽然听起来很复杂，但答案实际上很简单。
You’re the captain of a pirate ship, and your crew gets to vote on how the gold is divided up.
你是一艘海盗船的船长，你的船员正在投票决定如何分配收获到的金子。
'If fewer than half of the pirates agree with you, you die. How do you recommend apportioning the gold in such a way that you get a good share of the booty, but still survive?
”如果少于半数的人支持你，你就得死。所以你会怎么建议把金子分配得自己既能获得很好的收益，还能幸免于难呢？”
The solution is to share 51 per cent of the treasure.
答案是分享金子的51%。
Another logic puzzled candidates were given to solve was: 'How many times a day do the hands of a clock overlap?'
另外还有一个利用逻辑解决的问题：“一天内时钟的指针重合多少次？”
The hands overlap once an hour, but 11 times in 12 hours and 22 times in a day. This is because the overlap at 12 has already been accounted for. The overlaps occur at 12, 1.05, 2.11, 3:16, 4:22, 5:27, 6:33, 7:38, 8:44, 9:49 and 10:55 in the morning and after midday at 12, 1.05, 2:11, 3:16, 4:22, 5:27, 6:33, 7:38, 8:44, 9:49 and 10:55.
指针每小时重合一次，但每12小时重合11次，每天重合22次。这是因为指针在12点的重合早已计算在内了。指针会在早上12点，1点05分，2点11分，3点16分，4点22分，5点27分，6点33分，7点38分，8点44分，9点49分以及10点55分，以及午后12点，1点05分，2点11分，3点16分，4点22分，5点27分，6点33分，7点38分，8点44分，9点49分，10点55分重合。
9 OF GOOGLE'S TOUGHEST BANNED QUESTIONS
9个被否决的Google面试难题
1.You have to get from point A to point B. You don’t know if you can get there. What would you do?
1. 你必须从A点走到B点，但你不知道你能不能达到那里，你会怎么做？
2.You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and your mass is proportionally reduced so as to maintain your original density. You are then thrown into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do?
2. 你的身高被缩至硬币大小，你的体重也相应按比例减少到维持身体的原始密度。然后你被扔进了一个空的玻璃搅拌器，搅拌刀片将在60秒后开始转动。你会怎么做？
3.Imagine you have a closet full of shirts. It’s very hard to find a shirt. So what can you do to organize your shirts for easy retrieval?
3.想象你有一个装满衬衫的柜子。你很难找到一件合适的衬衫。因此你如何整理这些衬衫以便寻找？
4.Explain the significance of 'dead beef'
4. 解释一下“dead beef”的意义。
5.How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?
5.把西雅图所有的窗子都洗一遍要花多少钱？
6.If you look at a clock and the time is 3:15, what is the angle between the hour and the minute hands?
6.如果你看了一下钟表，时间显示3：15，那么时针与分针之间的夹角是多少？
7.What is the probability of breaking a stick into 3 pieces and forming a triangle?
7.把一根棍子折成3份刚好能拼成一个三角形的几率是多少？
8.What method would you use to look up a word in a dictionary?
8.你会采用什么方法在字典里查找一个单词？
9.A man pushed his car to a hotel and lost his fortune. What happened?
9. 一个男人把车推到酒店里却把财产丢了。发生了什么事？
