Failing Successfully

虽败犹喜

(By Candace M.)

My day in the sun had arrived - my magnum opus would be revealed. I had just delivered a memorized speech that I had labored over for weeks, and I was about to learn how the panel judged my performance. The polite but sparse audience leaned forward in their folding chairs. A hush fell across the room. The drum rolled (in my mind, anyway).

终于该我闪亮登场了——我的“大作”将公之于众。我刚刚发表了一段脱稿演讲，这篇演讲稿我卖力准备了好多个星期呢！马上就能知道评委们将如何给我的表现打分了。稀稀拉拉的观众们坐在折叠椅 上，礼貌地往前探着身子。全场鸦雀无声，揭晓结果的鼓点急促地响起(起码在我头脑中是这样)。

The contest organizer announced the third-place winner. Alas, the name was not mine. Then he read the second-place winner, and once again it was not me. At last, the moment of truth came. Either I was about to bask in the warmth of victory or rue the last several months spent preparing. While neither of these came to pass, my heart felt closer to the latter.

大赛组织者宣布了季军获得者。哎呀，不是我的名字。接着他又宣读了亚军获得者，还不是我。最后，真相大白的时刻到了。我要么将沐浴在胜利的温暖幸福中，要么将为筹备的几个月而感到后悔。虽然还未揭晓，但我预感结果更接近于后者。

Losing is a part of life, but it was an indescribably underwhelming feeling to drive 200 miles round trip, get up obscenely early on a freezing Saturday morning, and yet still finish fourth out of four contestants. After Lincoln lost the 1858 Illinois Senate race, he reportedly said, "I felt like the 12-year-old boy who stubbed his toe. I was too big to cry and it hurt too bad to laugh." Oh yeah, I could relate.

失败是生活的一部分，然而，驱车往返200英里，在寒冷的周六讨厌地起个大早，最后却是四位参赛者中的最后一名，这确实让我有种难以名状的挫败感。据报道，1858年林肯竞选伊利诺伊州议员失利后说：“我感觉自己就像是个磕到脚趾的12岁的孩子，早就过了哭闹的年龄，但却又痛得笑不出。”是啊，我能体会他的感受。

I had spent many hours in front of a computer and in libraries doing research for the Lincoln Bicentennial Speech Contest. As I pored over several biographies, one notion stood out: Lincoln was handed many sound defeats, but he never allowed them to permanently hinder his spirit or ambition. While I believe many history lessons can be applied to modern life, I hadn't considered "the agony of defeat" as a historically valuable learning experience. I never dreamed I could relate to Lincoln! A president no less , and the greatest at that. I thought "failing successfully" was a very appropriate topic, given the many letdowns Lincoln experienced, and so this became the title of my speech.

为了这次林肯200周年纪念演讲比赛，我在电脑前和图书馆里花了许多个小时搜寻资料。在仔细研读过几本传记后，一个想法油然而生：林肯一生中屡遭重创，但他从未让这些磨灭自己的斗志和雄心。虽然我相信历史上的很多教训可以运用到现代生活中，但我从没把“失败的痛苦”也当作有历史价值的学习体验。我也从没梦想过自己竟然会和林肯产生共鸣！竟然是总统，而且是最伟大的总统。鉴于林肯多次经历人生的低谷，我认为“虽败犹喜”是个非常合适的主题，所以它便成了我的演讲稿标题。

After not placing in the first year of the speech contest, I really wanted to compete again. Lincoln had been the epitome of persistence, so I was not going to give up on a contest about a historic individual who did not give up! I reworked my speech for the following year, and while I did not come in last, again I did not place. Some days you're the dog, and some days you're the hydrant, and this was definitely a hydrant day that brought me down for a while.

第一年演讲比赛没有获得名次后，我真的很想再次参赛。林肯早已是坚持不懈的精神化身，所以在这场关于一个从不放弃的历史人物的比赛中，我不会选择放弃！我为第二年的比赛重新准备，可是那一次，尽管我不是最后一名，可却还是未能取得名次。有时候你春风得意，有时候你却糟糕透顶，而这无疑是让我沮丧了好一阵的糟糕的一天。

I couldn't accept the fact that I had failed twice in something that I had worked so hard on, until I contemplated the individual whom I'd spent so much time learning about. Never mind the lost prize money (ouch, major) and praise (ouch, minor) - I had learned, really learned, about a great man who had experienced failure and disappointment, and had many chances to give up. We remember Lincoln because he didn't take this route; he didn't throw lavish pity parties, and he persevered to become, according to many, the greatest American president.

在我如此用心准备的事情上两次失败，这个事实让我无法接受，直到我认真审视我曾花费大量时间仔细研究的这个人。尽管与奖金(主要的心痛)和赞扬(次要的心痛)失之交臂，但我读懂了，真正读懂了一个曾经历过多次失败和失意、有许多机会选择放弃的伟人。我们之所以铭记林肯是因为他并没有走舍弃之路，也没有举办奢华的“失意派对”，他不懈努力，最后成了很多人心目中最伟大的美国总统。

While I did not earn monetary awards as a result of this contest, I did gain a new perspective. Through learning about Lincoln, I discovered that I can fail successfully, and that it is possible to glean applicable wisdom from the lives of those who have come before us. Now, whenever I'm faced with a setback, I remember what Lincoln said after his unsuccessful 1854 Senate race: "The path was worn and slippery. My foot slipped from under me, knocking the other out of the way, but I recovered and said to myself, 'It's a slip and not a fall.'"

虽然我没有赢得比赛的奖金，但我确实收获了一个看待问题的新视角。通过研读林肯本人，我发现我也可以做一个成功的失败者，我们完全可以汲取前人的智慧，运用到我们的生活中。现在，每当我面对挫败时，我都会想起林肯在1854年议员选举失败后所讲的话：“道路光秃而湿滑。我的一只脚打了滑，让另一只也站不稳，但我回过神来后告诉自己：‘这只是打滑，并不是跌倒。’”