★Thomas Edison： In his early years， teachers told Edison he was “too stupid to learn anything”. Work was no better， as he was fired from his first two jobs for not being productive enough. Even as an inventor， Edison made 1，000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. Of course， all those unsuccessful attempts finally resulted in the design that worked.

托馬斯·愛迪生：在他年輕時，老師們對愛迪生的評價是“他太笨了，什么都學不會”。工作也沒有改變這一狀況，愛迪生的頭兩份工作都是因為效率低下而失去的。 即使作為一個發(fā)明家，他在發(fā)明電燈泡時就失敗了一千次。當然，他最后終于成功地發(fā)明了電燈泡。

★Akio Morita： You may not have heard of Morita but youve undoubtedly heard of his company， Sony. Sonys first product was a rice cooker that unfortunately didnt cook rice so much as burn it， selling less than 100 units. This first setback didnt stop Morita and his partners as they pushed forward to create a multi-billion-dollar company.

盛田昭夫：你也許沒有聽過他，但是你一定聽說過他的公司——索尼。索尼的第一臺產(chǎn)品是一臺電飯鍋，不幸的是它煮熟的飯沒有它煮煳得多，僅有不到一百臺的銷量。這次挫折不但沒有阻止盛田昭夫和他的搭檔（井深大），反而激勵他們締造出一家?guī)资畠|美元的公司。

★Winston Churchill： This Nobel Prize-winning， twice-elected Prime Minster of the United Kingdom wasnt always as well regarded as he is today. Churchill struggled in school and failed the sixth grade. After school he faced many years of political failures， as he was defeated in every election for public office until he finally became the Prime Minister at the ripe old age of 62.

溫斯頓·丘吉爾：這位諾貝爾獎得主（1953年《第二次世界大戰(zhàn)回憶錄》獲諾貝爾文學獎），兩度出任英國首相的丘吉爾并非一直風光。丘吉爾童年的成績一直不好，六年級還不及格。從學校畢業(yè)后又經(jīng)歷了幾次政治失敗，在每次的公職選舉中他屢被擊敗，直到在他62歲時終于當選英國首相。

★Lucille Ball： During her career， Ball had thirteen Emmy nominations and four wins， also earning the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center Honors. Before starring in I Love Lucy， Ball was widely regarded as a failed actress and a B movie star. Even her drama instructors didnt feel she could make it， telling her to try another profession. She， of course， proved them all wrong.

露西爾·鮑爾：鮑爾的演藝生涯中，一共獲得了13次艾美獎的提名，其中4次得獎;在肯尼迪中心表演藝術大獎中獲得終身成就獎。但是在鮑爾主演《我愛露西》之前，她被人稱為一個失敗的演員和爛片演員。甚至連她的戲劇老師也不覺得她能成功，勸她從事別的行業(yè)。當然鮑爾證明了他們都是錯誤的。

★Vincent van Gogh： During his lifetime， Van Gogh sold only one painting， and this was to a friend and only for a very small amount of money. While Van Gogh was never a success during his life， he plugged on with painting， sometimes starving to complete his over 800 known works. Today， they bring in hundreds of millions.

文森特·凡·高：他的一生中僅賣出過一幅作品，并且這幅作品還是低價被他的朋友買走的。雖然凡·高生前從未獲得成功，但他全身心投入到繪畫中去，在饑餓中完成了超過800幅不知名的作品，今天這些作品價值數(shù)百萬美元。

★Henry Ford： While Ford is today known for his innovative assembly line and American-made cars， he wasnt an instant success. In fact， his early businesses failed and left him broke five time before he founded the successful Ford Motor Company.

亨利·福特：如今以創(chuàng)造汽車裝配流水線和美國制造汽車聞名的亨利·福特，并不是一夜成功的。事實上，在成立福特汽車公司前他破產(chǎn)了5次。

★Charles Robert Darwin： In his early years， Darwin gave up on having a medical career and was often criticized by his father for being lazy and too dreamy. Darwin himself wrote， “I was considered by all my masters and my father， a very ordinary boy， rather below the common standard of intellect.” Perhaps they judged too soon， as Darwin today is well-known for his scientific studies.

查爾斯·羅伯特·達爾文：達爾文早年就放棄了醫(yī)學生涯，他的父親常指責他“游手好閑”“不務正業(yè)”。達爾文自己寫道：“我曾被所有的老師和我的父親評價為一個普通的男孩，才智低于一般水平?！币苍S他們對達爾文下定論太早，因為如今達爾文以他的科學研究而聞名。

★Socrates： Despite leaving no written records behind， Socrates is regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of the Classical era. Because of his new ideas， in his own time he was called “an immoral corrupter of youth” and was sentenced to death. Socrates didnt let this stop him and kept right on， teaching up until he was forced to poison himself.

蘇格拉底：盡管一生未留下任何著作，蘇格拉底被認為是古希臘時期最偉大的思想家之一。在那時，由于其新思想，他被統(tǒng)治者以“不敬神”“腐蝕青年”的罪名處以死刑。蘇格拉底并未因此而退縮，直到接受毒刑前都在繼續(xù)教學實踐。

★Jack London： This well-known American author wasnt always such a success. While he would go on to publish popular novels like White Fang and The Call of the Wild， his first story received six hundred rejection slips before finally being accepted.

杰克·倫敦：這位著名美國作家的成功之路并非坦途。也許他的《白牙》和《野性的呼喚》大獲好評，但要知道他的第一篇故事被拒絕了600次才被出版。

★Walt Disney： Today Disney rakes in billions from merchandise， movies and theme parks around the world， but Walt Disney himself had a bit of a rough start. He was fired by a newspaper editor because， “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” After that， Disney started a number of businesses that didnt last too long and ended with bankruptcy and failure. He kept plugging along， however， and eventually found a recipe for success that worked.

華特·迪士尼：現(xiàn)在的迪士尼公司在商品銷售、電影制作和遍布世界的主題公園中獲得巨大的利潤。但是華特·迪士尼本人卻有一個不太順利的開始。他曾經(jīng)被報紙編輯部以“缺乏想象力和好想法”為理由被開除。從那之后，他短暫地從事了一些其他的工作，都以失敗和破產(chǎn)告終。但他繼續(xù)埋頭苦干，終于找到了成功的秘訣。

Vocabulary

attempt? n.& v. 嘗試，企圖，試圖

defeat? v. 擊敗；戰(zhàn)勝

prove? v. 證明；證實

starve? v. 挨餓；餓死；使挨餓