成功祕訣:需要一點兒失敗 The Secret to Success
I want this new school year to be a good one for my students as they learn about everything from calculus to Shakespeare to failure.
我希望這個新學年成爲對學生有益的一個學年。他們將在新學年裏學習很多東西，包括微積分、莎士比亞和失敗。
That’s right. Failure.
沒錯，就是失敗。
We all need to fail a little. In fact, the secret of success might just be that. Consider the path of Henry David Thoreau.
我們都需要有點兒失敗的經歷。事實上，成功的祕訣也許就在於此。以亨利·大衛·梭羅的人生道路爲例吧。
By many accounts, Thoreau was a failure. Folks thought he should have been a civic leader. He could have been a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher. He might even have made congressman or governor.
許多人都曾表示，梭羅的一生是失敗的。人們認爲他本該成爲一名官員，他本來還可以成爲醫生、律師或教師，他甚至還可能當選衆議員或州長。
Instead, the Harvard man seemed to spend most of his time 1)loafing in the woods near his hometown over near Walden Pond. Everyone just scratched their heads and wondered why such a promising young fellow wasn’t a “success.”
然而，這位哈佛畢業生似乎把自己的大部分時間都用來在家鄉附近瓦爾登湖畔的樹林裏閒逛。所有人都百思不得其解，爲什麼這樣一個前途光明的年輕人卻沒能“成功。”
I’m not suggesting that my students drop classes for the woods, but it’s important to remember that ideas on success vary, even in these 2)enlightened times.
我並不是建議我的學生逃課去樹林裏，但重要的是要記住，即便是在現在這樣開明的時代，對成功的定義也是不同的。
The lessons of failure are an important part of the 3)curriculum of success. We learn from them. They push us to do better; they teach us humility.
失敗的教訓是成功這門必修課的重要組成部分。我們從中學到了東西。它促使我們做得更好，讓我們學會謙遜。
As a teacher, I expect students to revise their work, to build on the “failure” of the first draft to achieve clarity and insight in the final draft. That’s a good model for most things in life.
作爲老師，我希望學生修改自己的作業，在初稿“失敗”的基礎上，讓終稿做到清晰透徹。對人生中的大多數事情而言，這都是一種好模式。
Part of the problem, though, is that we live in a country obsessed by results. In school, it is the A student who gets all the perks even though getting an A doesn’t always measure how much a person really knows. A’s are icons of honor. F’s are badges of defeat.
然而一部分問題在於，我們生活在一個追求結果的國度裏。在學校裏，優等生能夠得到一切特殊待遇，儘管學習成績優異並不總能說明一個人真正的學識。現實是優異的學業成績是榮譽的象徵，而學業不及格則是失敗的標誌。We idealize icons and look up to heroes such as George Washington or 4)John Glenn. Yet we shouldn’t discount the heroes who labor outside the limelight. Those are the men and women who quietly go about the business of raising a family and taking care of their neighbors.
我們習慣於把偶像理想化，推崇像喬治·華盛頓或約翰·格倫這樣的英雄。但我們不應該小看在聚光燈外苦幹的衆多英雄，他們就是那些默默地承擔起贍養家庭和幫助鄰居重任的男男女女。
The most admirable are ones who invent their own success. They know how to seize the moment and let the chips fall where they may. They know that the best way to measure success is by living each day to the fullest.
最值得欽佩的人是那些開創自身成功模式的人。他們知道如何抓住時機，不計較結果。他們知道衡量成功的最佳方式是充分把握每一天。
True success is giving something back. And you don’t have to have a lot in the wallet to attain it. There are many people, young and old, who give back by serving in literacy campaigns and soup kitchens.
真正的成功是予以回饋。你無須錢包厚實就能做到這一點。有很多人——有年輕的也有年長的——通過參加掃盲和救濟活動作出了回饋。
As my father used to say: “Make sure you leave the world a better place than it was when you entered it. At least clean up after yourself.”
正如我父親曾經說過的一句話：“要確保你留下的世界比你來到時更美好。至少要把你自己留下的東西清理乾淨。”
The beginning of the school year is a good time to start reorienting ourselves. It’s a good time to see our failures in a new light.
開學是着手爲自己重新確定方向的一個大好時機，也是從新的角度來看待失敗的一個大好時機。
After Thoreau died in 1862, his mentor, Ralph Waldo Emerson, 5)lamented that Henry hadn’t blossomed into a great leader of the nation. His books were little read, his ideas seemed 6)skewed. And yet, less than 100 years later, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pointed to Thoreau’s essay Civil Disobedience as one of the sparks that ignited the civil rights movement and profoundly shaped American society.
1862年梭羅去世後，他的導師拉爾夫·沃爾多·愛默生哀嘆亨利沒能成爲我國的一位傑出領袖。他的書無人問津，他的思想似乎離經叛道。然而過了不到一百年，馬丁·路德·金說，梭羅的文章《論公民的不服從》是點燃美國民權運動的火種之一，並對美國社會產生了深刻影響。
Not a bad legacy for a failure.
對一個失敗者來說，這可是筆不錯的精神財富。
