名校励志英语演讲 18:失败的额外收益和想象力的重要性
时间：2014-02-24 07:17:34
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（单词翻译）
So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena1 I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
那么我为什么要谈论失败的收益呢？很简单，因为失败意味着剔除那些无关紧要的东西。我因此不再伪装自己，我把所有的精力倾注在对我来说很重要的事情上。如果我真的在其他领域取得了成功，或许我永远不会下定决心在我确信真正属于我的舞台上取得成功。我得到了解脱，因为虽然我害怕的事情发生了，但我还活着，我还有一个我深爱的女儿，一台旧打字机和一个了不起的想法。所以人生的低谷是我重新开始生活的坚实基础。
You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is
inevitable2. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default.
你们也许不会败得像我一样惨，但人生中有些失败是不可避免的。人生中不可能没有失败，除非你们活的过于拘谨，这样倒还不如根本没在世上活过，因为在这种情况下，放弃尝试的权力就是你们最大的失败。
Failure gave me an inner security that I had never
attained3 by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price of
rubies4.
失败赋予我内心一种安全感。这种安全感是我无法从通过考试中获得的。失败让我了解了自己，这也是无法通过其他途径做到的。经历失败让我发现我有坚强的意志力，比我想象的更有自律性。我还发现，我拥有比宝石更加珍贵的朋友。
stripping
n. 剥离；剥脱
eg. It is accused of lacking transparency and stripping assets, often at the expense of jobs.
它被谴责缺少透明和剥离资产，经常只付出了创造工作机会这样的代价。
inessential
adj. 无关紧要的
eg. Make a pile for each different type of record, and use the opportunity to discard everything inessential.
将不同种类的记录分堆叠放，利用这个机会丢掉任何不重要的东西。
arena
n. 舞台
eg. The City is an entrepot, not an arena for national champions.
金融城是一个转口港，而不是全国冠军的舞台。
adore
vt. 爱慕；崇拜
eg. Her husband absolutely adored her.
她丈夫很爱慕她。
inevitable
adj. 必然的；不可避免的
eg. You'll have to bow to the inevitable.
你将不得不向不可避免的事态低头。
cautiously
adv. 慎重地
eg. The soldiers probed cautiously ahead of them for mines.
士兵们小心翼翼地探测前方的地雷。
by default
由于弃权而输掉
eg. The other team didn't arrive, so our team won by default.
由于对方球队未到,我队以其弃权而获胜。
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