失败的额外收益(上) The Fringe Benefits of Failure(I)

本文节选自J·K·罗琳在哈佛大学2008年毕业典礼上发表的演讲《失败的额外收益与想象力的重要性》（The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination）。由于篇幅较长，我们将分成两期进行连载，大家不要错过哦！

The Fringe Benefits of Failure (I)

Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation is a slightly uncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become. Half my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself and what those closest of…to me expected of me.
对于一个已经42岁的人来说，回顾自己21岁毕业时的情景并不是什么愉快的事情。我的前半生一直在自己的志向与最亲近的人对我的期望之间勉强维持着平衡。

I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do—ever—was [to] write novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from 1)impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal 2)quirk that never pay a 3)mortgage or secure a 4)pension.
我知道现在听来这话就像卡通版的铁砧那么讽刺，不过……所以他们希望我报读专业学位，而我则想读英国文学。我们达成了一个现在回想起来双方都不甚满意的让步，于是我改读现代语言。可是父母的小车才刚在大路尽头拐弯，我立刻抛弃了德语，在古典文学的走廊上狂奔。

　　I know the irony strikes with the force of a cartoon 5)anvil now, but…so they hoped that I would take a vocational degree; I wanted to study English literature. A 6)compromise was reached that 7)in retrospect satisfied nobody, and I went up to study modern languages. Hardly had my parents’ car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and 8)scuttled off down the classics corridor.
我知道现在听来这话就像卡通版的铁砧那么讽刺，不过……所以他们希望我报读专业学位，而我则想读英国文学。我们达成了一个现在回想起来双方都不甚满意的让步，于是我改读现代语言。可是父母的小车才刚在大路尽头拐弯，我立刻抛弃了德语，在古典文学的走廊上狂奔。

I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying classics; they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day. Of all the subjects on this planet, I think they would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek 9)mythology when it came to securing the keys to an 10)executive bathroom.
我忘了自己是怎么把这件事告诉父母的，他们也可能是在我毕业那天才发现我读的是古典文学。如果想得到通往豪华浴室的钥匙的话，那么在这个星球上的所有科目中，我想他们很难找到一门比希腊神话更没用的课程了。

Now I would like to make it clear—in 11)parenthesis—that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an 12)expiry date on blaming your parents for 13)steering you in the wrong direction. The moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you. What is more, I cannot criticize my parents for hoping that I would never experience poverty. They had been poor themselves, and I have since been poor, and I quite…agree with them that it is not an 14)ennobling experience. Poverty 15)entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand 16)petty 17)humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is 18)romanticized only by fools.
我想插一句来说明——我并不责怪父母有这样的观点。抱怨父母引导自己走错方向这件事有一个有效期限。一旦你们达到可以开车的（合法）年龄，就要自行承担责任。而且我也不能因为父母希望我不再贫穷而指责他们。他们自己尝尽了没钱的滋味，我一直以来的日子也不富足，我也……同意他们的观点——贫穷并不能让人高贵。贫穷会带来一连串恐惧与压力，有时甚至是沮丧；它意味着无数卑劣的羞辱以及各种艰难困苦。通过自己的努力摆脱贫穷确实是值得自豪的事情，但只有傻瓜才会把贫穷当成美谈。

What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.
和你们这么大的时候，我最害怕的不是贫穷，而是失败。

At your age, in spite of a 19)distinct lack of motivation at university, where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories, 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.
和你们这么大的时候，尽管我明显缺少在校园求学的动力——我花了太多时间在咖啡馆写故事，不怎么听课——我在应试方面很有一套，而这也是多年来评价我以及我的同龄人是否成功的标准。

Now I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known heartbreak…hardship or heartache. Talent and intelligence never yet 20)inoculated anyone against the 21)caprice of the Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of 22)unruffled 23)privilege and 24)contentment.
你们还年轻，天资聪明，受过良好教育，但我并不会愚蠢地因此判定你们不懂得伤心难过……困难或者心痛的滋味。才华与智商未能使人免受命运无常的折磨，而我从不认为这里的所有人都已经享有平静的恩典和满足。

However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very 25)well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success. Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far removed from the average person’s idea of success. So high have you already flown!
然而，你们能从哈佛毕业，说明你们和失败还不是老朋友。对你们来说，对于失败的恐惧与对于成功的渴望可能有同等的驱动力。确实，你们对于失败的概念或许与普通人对成功的看法相去无几呢。你们的起点已经相当高了！