美語情景對話 第954期:Success and Failure 成功和失敗

Todd: We're talking about education and about, you know, people applying themselves and giving grades and giving praise and stuff like that. Have you ever thought that maybe we, because we're both teachers, both of us are teachers, that maybe we put too much effort on judging everybody and that maybe it's OK for kids to realise failure is not really a bad thing or maybe quitting is not a bad thing?

託德：我們來討論一下教育、專心、打分、稱讚之類的事情。我們都是老師，你有沒有想過也許我們在判斷別人上投入了太多精力，也許應該讓孩子們意識到失敗並不是件壞事，或是放棄並不是件壞事。

Julia: Absolutely. Yeah, I think, I think all the emphasis should be put on the effort that people make and yeah the failing or succeeding is kind of secondary to that.

朱莉婭：沒錯。我認爲應該把所有的重點放在人們所做的努力上，失敗或是成功是其次。

Todd: Because it does seem that we push kids at all levels to get good grades, go to college, get that good job and that, that usually works out but in a lot of cases people find success because they fail, because they don't do well and that leads them to something else in life. So I guess, I'm not saying don't try, just quit at everything, but that we have to just accept that actually maybe quitting is not such a bad thing.

託德：看起來我們在要求各種水平的孩子取得好成績，要求他們上大學，找到好工作，一般這種方法行得通，可是在很多追求成功的人身上，因爲失敗或是他們做得不太好，會使他們的生活面臨另外一種情況。我並不是說不去嘗試，所有事都要放棄，而是我們必須要接受，也許放棄並不是件壞事。

Julia: No, I don't think it is. No, I think you're working, that's all part of the learning process, working out what. I was lucky. I was given very good advice at school and I wasn't pushed to get good grades, I wasn't pushed to pursue a career. The advice I was given was do what you enjoy doing cos they're the things you'll be good at.

朱莉婭：我認爲那並不是壞事。我認爲那都是在學習。我很幸運，我在學校得到了非常好的建議，我沒有被逼着要拿高分或是追求好的事業。我得到的建議是，做你喜歡做的事情，因爲那些是你真正擅長的事情。

Todd: Yeah.

託德：對。

Julia: And that was great advice. I don't have a career but I'm happy.

朱莉婭：那是非常棒的建議。我沒有什麼事業，但是我很開心。

Todd: There you go. There was a great quote the other day by someone in the paper about starting your own business and the person said, you know, follow your passion and keep at it and the money will follow and I think that's pretty much the case for a lot of people that, you know, that they find success.

託德：說得很對。有人曾在論文中引用過一段與創業有關的精彩的話，那段話是這樣說的：追隨你的激情，堅持下去，金錢自然會隨之而來，我認爲很多尋求成功的人都是這種情況。

Julia: There's that other famous quote about doing what makes you come alive. Don't ask what the world needs, ask what makes you come alive because the world needs people who've come alive, meaning like pursue your passion and that will lead to success, whatever success means. It's the way we define success as well is also part of the problem.

朱莉婭：有關“做那些讓你感覺到活得有意義的事情”有很多名言。不要問世界需要什麼，要問什麼使你活得精彩，因爲世界需要活得精彩的人，意思就是要追尋你的激情，這會帶領你成功，無論成功意味着什麼。這是我們對成功的定義，同時這也是個問題。

Todd: True, true.

託德：對，沒錯。

Julia: You know, high income, is that success? And in my book that's not what success is. Success is happiness.

朱莉婭：高收入就代表成功嗎？在我看的書裏，那並不是成功。成功是幸福。

Todd: So what is happiness?

託德：那什麼是幸福？

Julia: Happiness is just contentment, absolute peace with the way you are right now and what you're doing right now. Not striving or yearning for things that are beyond your grasp.

朱莉婭：幸福就是知足，對你現在的狀態和你現在所做的事情保持絕對的平和。不要爭取或渴望那些不在你掌控範圍內的事情。

Todd: Beyond your reach?

託德：超出你能力的事情？

Julia: Yeah.

朱莉婭：對。

Todd: Yeah, that's good.

託德：對，這很好。

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重點講解：
1. work out 想出，得到(解決方法)；解(謎)；
例句：I'm afraid that it's not going to work out.
我恐怕這事不會成的。
2. be good at 擅長的；精通的；能幹的；
例句：I hear that you are good at making salads.
我聽說你做沙拉很在行。
3. come alive （使）變得生動；（使）變得有趣；（使）顯得逼真；
例句：She made history come alive with tales from her own memories.
通過講述自己記憶中的故事，她把逝去的歲月變得生動起來。
4. lead to 招致；致使；導致；
例句：The lack of plan leads to overproduction of cars.
缺乏計劃導致汽車生產過剩。