With about five candidates for every job opening these days, some responsible for hiring decisions have resorted to desperate measures in their efforts to narrow the field. Researchers at career site Glassdoor.com culled through tens of thousands of queries reported by job seekers who had done their best to come up with answers on the spot, and selected the oddest interview questions of the past 15 months.

由于目前美国每个空缺职位平均有约5名候选人，一些负责做出招聘决定的人员开始采用极端招数来缩小候选人范围。招聘网站Glassdoor.com的研究人员梳理了上万个由求职者提供的、曾在面试过程中绞尽脑汁试图回答的问题，从中选出过去15个月最古怪的面试问题。

Luckily for beleaguered candidates, the interviewers seemed in most cases to be more interested in how people responded -- that is, in hearing their thought process, and seeing how well they kept their cool -- than in receiving a "correct" response. A sampling of Glassdoor's list, and where the question was asked:

对于倍感困扰的求职者，幸运的一点是多数情况下面试官更感兴趣的是求职者如何应对——即听到他们的思考过程，以及他们是否能保持冷静——而不是求职者能否给出“正确的”答案。下面是Glassdoor整理的一些古怪的面试问题以及提问的公司：

"Given the numbers 1 to 1, 000, what is the minimum number of guesses needed to find a specific number, if you are given the hint 'higher' or 'lower' for each guess you make?" -- Facebook

“在数字1-1,000中，如果每猜一次，都告诉你是‘高了’、还是‘低了’。要猜中一个数字，至少要猜多少次?”——Facebook

"Using a scale of 1 to 10, rate yourself on how weird you are." -- Capital One (COF)

“用1-10分制来打分，你认为你的古怪程度是几分?”——Capital One

"Explain quantum electrodynamics in two minutes, starting now." -- Intel (INTC)

“用两分钟时间解释一下量子电动力学，现在开始。”——英特尔公司(Intel)

"How many balloons would fit in this room?" -- PricewaterhouseCoopers

“这个房间能装下几个气球?”——普华永道(PricewaterhouseCoopers)

"If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?" -- Goldman Sachs (GS)

“假如你被缩小到一支铅笔大小，并被放入一个搅拌机里，你怎么跑出来?”—— 高盛公司(Goldman Sachs)

"You have a bouquet of flowers. All but two are roses, all but two are daisies, and all but two are tulips. How many flowers do you have?" -- Epic Systems

“有一束花。除两朵外都是玫瑰，除两朵外都是菊花，除两朵外都是郁金香。一共有几朵花?”——Epic Systems

"What is the philosophy of martial arts?" -- Aflac (AFL)

“武术的基本原理是什么?”——Aflac

"Explain to me what has happened in this country during the last 10 years." -- Boston Consulting

“给我讲讲，过去十年美国都发生了些什么?” ——波士顿咨询公司(Boston Consulting)

"If you could be any superhero, which one would you be?" -- AT&T (T)

“如果你能成为超级英雄，你想当哪个超级英雄?”——美国电话电报公司(AT&T)

"How do you weigh an elephant without using a scale?" -- IBM (IBM)

“不用秤，怎么为一头大象称重?”——IBM

"If you had 5, 623 participants in a tournament, how many games would need to be played to determine the winner?" -- Amazon (AMZN)

“如果有5,623人参加锦标赛，需要比多少场才能决出获胜者?”——亚马逊公司(Amazon)

"How many bricks are there in Shanghai? Consider only residential buildings." --Deloitte Consulting

“上海有多少块砖?只考虑住宅。”——德勤咨询(Deloitte Consulting)

"You have five bottles of pills. One bottle has 9 gram pills, the others have 10 gram pills. You have a scale that can be used only once. How can you find out which bottle contains the 9 gram pills?" --eBay (EBAY)

“有5瓶药，一瓶装有9克药，其余都装有10克药。只使用一次天平，如何找出盛有9克药的那一瓶?”——eBay

"What is your fastball?" -- Ernst &Young

“说说你的快球?” ——安永(Ernst &Young)

"How would you market ping pong balls if ping pong itself became obsolete? List many ways, then pick one and go into detail." -- Microsoft (MSFT)

“假如乒乓运动已经过时，你如何销售乒乓球?列出多种方式，然后选择其中一种，详细说明。”——微软公司(Microsoft)

"How many smartphones are there in New York City?" -- Google (GOOG)

“纽约市有多少部智能手机?”——谷歌公司(Google)

"You are in charge of 20 people. Organize them to figure out how many bicycles were sold in your area last year." -- Schlumberger (SLB)

“你现在管理着20个人。将他们组织起来，找出你所在地区去年卖出了多少辆自行车。”——斯伦贝谢(Schlumberger)

"Why do you think only a small percentage of the population makes over $125, 000 a year?" -- New York Life

“你说为什么年收入超过12.5万美元的人只占人口很低比例?——纽约人寿(New York Life)

"You have three boxes. One contains only apples, one contains only oranges, and one contains both apples and oranges. The boxes have been incorrectly labeled so that no label accurately identifies the contents of any of the boxes. Opening just one box, and without looking inside, you take out one piece of fruit. By looking at the fruit, how can you immediately label all of the boxes correctly?" -- Apple (AAPL)

“有三个箱子，一个装的全是苹果，一个装的全是桔子，还有一个装的是苹果和桔子。箱子的标签都贴错了，没有一个标签能正确指示箱子里装的是什么。只打开其中一个箱子，不往里看，然后拿出一个水果。看过这个水果后，你怎么能立即给这些箱子正确地贴上标签?”——苹果公司(Apple)

"How many ball bearings, each one inch in diameter, can fit inside a 747 aircraft?" -- SAIC (SAI)

“一架747飞机内可以装多少个直径一英寸的滚珠轴承?”——SAIC