PBS高端访谈:失败可以推动下一次的成功

JUDY WOODRUFF: New Coke, the Fire Phone, big mistakes for Coca-Cola and Amazon, but their CEOs and those of many other companies have worked the concept of failure into their corporate¹ culture. Letting employees fail is seen as one way of finding the next big thing that works. Novelist and professor Elizabeth McCracken also sees the value, but in her Humble² Opinion, it's the darker side of failure that ends up pushing you to success.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：新可口可乐和Fire Phone智能手机是可口可乐公司和亚马逊公司两款不成功的产品，不过，两家公司的首席执行官以及其他公司的高层都将失败的理念注入了企业文化之中。允许员工失败是实现下一个成功作品的一种方式。小说家、教授伊丽莎白·麦克拉肯也看到了这一点的价值，但她今天“我之拙见”的关注点是：失败中的阴暗面对人成功的推动作用。

ELIZABETH MCCRACKEN, Author, Bowlaway: Lately, I have been thinking about failure. For instance, it's a pet peeve³ of mine when people say that an honor has humbled⁴ them. It hasn't. By what definition could that happen? You might mean that you think you should remain humble in the face of an honor. And, sure, why not? But it doesn't actually humble you. Failure, on the other hand, tends to humble people, which is right and also good, because only when you fail can you stand up and assess the damage and then, then get really furious, and vow⁵ revenge. I teach creative writing, and I always tell my students that revenge is great motivation. People who are afraid of failure tend to say, I'm harder on myself than anyone else is. This is never true. Or else, my problem is that I'm a perfectionist, to which I always say, oh, you don't like failing in public, unlike the rest of us? In order to succeed, you have to risk failing. We all know that, but sometimes we forget that failure is actually good for you. Your immune system needs a bit of failure in order to be inoculated⁶ against further failure. The antibodies that failure produces are not pretty, but they are motivating, vengeance⁷, hubris⁸. My most successful students have already failed. Maybe they didn't get into graduate school the first time. Maybe they were rejected by a bunch of agents. Maybe they started a completely different career because their parents didn't want them to be writers. And failure instilled⁹ in them a particular feeling, not a commitment to their art or sense of peace about their fate. I thought, one student of mine said just before she sold her novel, I will show them. We often think that the best work comes from a place of equilibrium¹⁰ and support, but the thing is, equilibrium is pretty static, whereas a well-nourished, very private sense of revenge has enough heat and light to power a city, never mind a novel. It's almost heartwarming. Sometimes, when you think, I will show them, the them you end up showing is yourself.

伊丽莎白·麦克拉肯，《一步之遥》作者：最近，我一直在思考失败的问题。比如，我每次听到有人说某项荣誉让他们感到谦卑的时候就觉得听不下去，因为事实上并非如此。怎么可能发生呢？他们的意思可能是：他们认为自己在荣誉面前应该保持谦卑。好，没问题。但实际上荣誉并不会让人保持谦卑。相反，失败反而让人谦卑，这才是正确的版本，也是通往美好结局的版本。因为只有跌倒了，才能站起身来评估损失情况，才能愈挫愈勇，才能向自己许诺要一雪前耻。我教的课是创造性写作。课上，我总是跟学生们说，一雪前耻才是最大的动力。害怕失败的人总喜欢说，我对自己比别人更严格。但这并非事实。他们还喜欢说：我的问题在于我过于追求完美。对于他们这样的话，我总会说，你是说，你不像我们一样喜欢在大家面前失败，是吗？要想成功，就要冒着失败的风险。我们都知道这一点，但有时候，我们会忘记，失败也是件好事。我们的免疫系统需要一定的失败才能避免未来失败。失败让我们产生的抗体并不美丽，但却能让我们动力十足，想要一雪前耻，不再狂妄自大。我最成功的一些学生也曾失败过。或许他们没有按部就班地读研究生。或许他们被很多机构拒之门外过，或许他们因为父母反对自己成为作家而从一开始就选择了另一项职业。失败在他们体内植入了一种特殊的感觉，让他们不要对命运的捉弄或者畏缩不前而屈服。我想到我的一位学生，她在自己的小说大卖前曾跟我说，我会证明给他们看。我们总是认为最好的作品需要均衡和支持才能产生，但事实是：均衡是相对静态的东西，但如果自己心底燃起一雪前耻的巨大火焰，就有足够的光和热量能够照亮整座城市，更别说一本小说了。这是多么让人暖心啊。有时候，你有了“我要证明给他们看”的念头时，你最后就一定能秀出自我。

JUDY WOODRUFF: Elizabeth McCracken.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：感谢伊丽莎白·麦克拉肯的分享。

1 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

2 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

3 peeve   

v.气恼，怨恨；n.麻烦的事物，怨恨

参考例句：

• She was in a peeve over it.她对这很气恼。
• She was very peeved about being left out.她为被遗漏而恼怒。

4 humbled   

adj. 卑下的，谦逊的，粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下，贬低

参考例句：

• The examination results humbled him. 考试成绩挫了他的傲气。
• I am sure millions of viewers were humbled by this story. 我相信数百万观众看了这个故事后都会感到自己的渺小。

5 vow   

n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓

参考例句：

• My parents are under a vow to go to church every Sunday.我父母许愿，每星期日都去做礼拜。
• I am under a vow to drink no wine.我已立誓戒酒。

6 inoculated   

v.给…做预防注射( inoculate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A pedigree pup should have been inoculated against serious diseases before it's sold. 纯种狗应该在出售前注射预防严重疾病的针。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Disease can be spread by dirty tools, insects, inoculated soil. 疾病也能由不干净的工具，昆虫，接种的土壤传播。 来自辞典例句

7 vengeance   

n.报复，报仇，复仇

参考例句：

• He swore vengeance against the men who murdered his father.他发誓要向那些杀害他父亲的人报仇。
• For years he brooded vengeance.多年来他一直在盘算报仇。

8 hubris   

n.傲慢，骄傲

参考例句：

• There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris.在技术方面自以为是会很危险。
• The very hubris of French claims alarmed the other powers.法国贪婪的胃口使其他大国惊恐不安。

9 instilled   

v.逐渐使某人获得（某种可取的品质），逐步灌输( instill的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Nature has instilled in our minds an insatiable desire to see truth. 自然给我们心灵注入了永无休止的发现真理的欲望。 来自辞典例句
• I instilled the need for kindness into my children. 我不断向孩子们灌输仁慈的必要。 来自辞典例句

10 equilibrium   

n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静

参考例句：

• Change in the world around us disturbs our inner equilibrium.我们周围世界的变化扰乱了我们内心的平静。
• This is best expressed in the form of an equilibrium constant.这最好用平衡常数的形式来表示。