名校励志英语演讲 第18期:失败的额外收益和想象力的重要性
那么我为什么要谈论失败的收益呢?
[00:05.37]Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential.
很简单，因为失败意味着剔除那些无关紧要的东西。
[00:11.03]I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was,
我因此不再伪装自己，
[00:16.02]and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.
我把所有的精力倾注在对我来说很重要的事情上。
[00:21.55]Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination，
如果我真的在其他领域取得了成功，
[00:26.27]to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged.
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。
[00:30.59]I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised,
我得到了解脱，因为虽然我害怕的事情发生了，
[00:34.31]and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored,
但我还活着，我还有一个我深爱的女儿，一台旧打字机和
[00:39.53]and I had an old typewriter and a big idea.
一个了不起的想法。
[00:43.48]And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
所以人生的低谷是我重新开始生活的坚实基础。
[00:50.28]You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable.
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。
[00:57.10]It is impossible to live without failing at something,
人生中不可能没有失败，
[01:01.29]unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—
除非你们活的过于拘谨，这样倒还不如根本没在世上活过，
[01:06.21]in which case, you fail by default.
因为在这种情况下，放弃尝试的权力就是你们最大的失败。
[01:11.01]Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations.
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。
[01:15.59]Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way.
失败让我了解了自己，这也是无法通过其他途径做到的。
[01:20.19]I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected;
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。
[01:25.47]I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies.
我还发现，我拥有比宝石更加珍贵的朋友。
