励志演讲 :失败的好处和想象的重要性(4)
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What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.
像你们这么大时我最害怕的不是贫穷，而是失败。
At your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing storeis, and far too little time at lectures, I had a knack for passing examinations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers.
像你们这么大时，尽管我明显缺乏在大学学习的动力，花大量时间在咖啡馆写小说，用于听课的时间很少，但我却有通过考试的本领。多年来，考试一直是衡量我和同龄人成功的标准。
Now I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartbreak. Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of unruffled privilege and contentment.
我不会笨到因为你们年轻、有才华并且受过良好的教育，就认为你们从来没有经受过困难或心碎的时刻。才华和智慧并不能使人摆脱命运的反复无常；我也从来没有认为在座的每一个人一直以来都享有优越感和满足感。
However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for sucess. Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the average person's idea of success, so high have you already flown.
然而，即将从哈佛毕业这一事实就意味着你们很少会经历失败。你们对失败的恐惧很可能与你们对成功的渴望一样强烈。实际上，你们眼中的失败可能在常人看来就是成功，毕竟你们在学业上已经相当成功了。
Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.
最终，我们所有人都必须自己判断什么是失败，但是如果你乐意的话，这个世界是非常渴望给你一套标准的。因此根据任何传统的标准都可以说，我在毕业后的短短七年里经历了惨痛的失败：短暂的婚姻闪电般破裂，失业，成为单身母亲。在现代化的英国，我变得极度贫困，只是还没有到无家可归的地步。父母和我自己对未来的担忧，当年都变成了现实。无论按什么标准，当时我都是我所知道的最失败的人。
重点讲解：
1. in spite of
尽管；不顾；虽然；
eg. Their love of life comes in spite of, almost in defiance of, considerable hardship.
尽管面临众多的艰难困苦，他们还是几乎义无反顾地表现出了对生活的热爱。
eg. I know whatever you try, you'll win out in spite of early difficulties.
我知道你无论做什么，不管最初多么困难，最终都会成功。
2. have a knack for
有……的诀窍；
eg. You have a knack for doing the right thing at the right time.
你有种天分，让你在适当的时机，做适当的事情。
eg. Some people seem to have a knack for learning a language.
有些人似乎对于学习语言就是有诀窍。
3. for a moment
哪怕一闪念；
eg. I don't for a moment think there'll be a divorce.
我从来没想过将来会离婚。
eg. For a moment I thought I was having hallucinations.
一时间我以为我产生了幻觉。
4. be acquainted with
了解的；熟悉的；
eg. He was well acquainted with the literature of France, Germany and Holland.
他对于法国、德国和荷兰的文学了如指掌。
eg. I am also looking forward to getting more acquainted with immigration law.
我也期待能对移民法有更多的了解。
5. be eager to do sth.
热切的；渴望做某事；
eg. Robert was eager to talk about life in the Army.
罗伯特很想谈谈陆军生活。
eg. The company is eager to gain a foothold in Europe.
这家公司急于在欧洲取得一席之地。
6. come to pass
发生；出现；实现
eg. I doubt if his promises will ever come to pass.
我怀疑他的那些许诺是否会兑现。
eg. Many people would like the electoral system to be reformed but I don't believe this will ever come to pass.
很多人都想要改革选举制度，但我认为不可能实现。
名人简介：
人生经历（三）
1995年6月26日，罗琳的离婚申请终于获得了批准，而且得到了女儿的永久看护权。这一年，罗琳用打字机把《哈利波特与魔法石》（英国版的原名）的手稿完整的打印了两份。1996年2月，罗琳把小说大纲和故事的三章寄给了克里斯托弗·里特尔所在的代理商。同年6月，罗琳得了教师资格证。教学实习后，在利斯学院教学。1997年2月，因为罗琳之前的申请，苏格兰艺术协会给了罗琳一笔13000美元的费用，以资助她进行创作。这笔费用是有史以来该理事会为儿童文学作家提供资助最高的一次。
2000年，J·K·罗琳回到母校，被授予荣誉文学博士学位时罗琳说：“我认为这是对我来说最有意义的学位。在这样的场合感到十分荣幸，坦白讲，有点激动。”同时，她鼓励聚集在大学礼堂的250名毕业生勇于面对风险和错误：“我刚毕业时，对于个人失败以及悔恨的经历很少，我可以很高兴地说在离开大学后我补足了这些经历。有清醒头脑的人是不会因天赋而骄傲的。我活跃的想象力起初并没有让我得到什么，反而像是我的一部分缺点和短视。我希望你们能面对一些风险，并犯下一些十分有用的错误。”9月，出任“单亲家庭委员会”形象大使，并捐出了50万英镑。
2001年3月，为戏剧救济基金会——1985年由英国一群喜剧演员成立，其宗旨是促进社会公正，帮助消灭贫困事业募集资金——化名为纽特·斯卡曼和肯尼沃斯·惠斯普创作了两本与“哈利·波特”故事相关的小册子《神奇动物在哪里》和《神奇的魁地奇》，将所得钱款捐助给了该基金会。4月，为了纪念她患多发性硬化症去世的母亲，她又为“多发性硬化症协会”捐了25万英镑。
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