景一

My day in the sun had arrived—my magnum1 opus2 would be revealed. I had just delivered a memorized speech that I had prepared for weeks， and I was about to learn how the panel3 judged my performance. A hush fell across the room. The drum rolled in my mind， anyway.

我在阳光下的日子已经到来——我的杰作即将揭晓。我刚刚做了一场准备了好几个星期的演讲，马上就想知道评审小组是如何评价我的表现的。房间里一片寂静。无论如何，鼓声已经在我头脑中敲响了。

The contest organizer announced the third-place winner. Alas4， 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 bask5 in the warmth of victory or rue6 the last several months spent preparing. While neither of these came to pass， my heart felt closer to the latter.

競赛组织者宣布了获奖的第三名。唉，那个名字不是我的。然后他读出了第二名的获奖者，仍然不是我。最后，宣布真相的时刻来临了。要么我即将沐浴在胜利的温暖中，要么我会对过去几个月的准备感到懊悔。虽然这两种情况都没有发生，但我心里觉得更接近后者。

Losing is a part of life. However， it was an indescribably7 underwhelming8 feeling to drive 200 miles round trip， get up early on a freezing Saturday morning， and yet still finish fourth out of four contestants9. 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.

失去是生活的一部分。然而，在一个寒冷的星期六的早晨早早起床，驱车往返200英里，但仍然在四名选手中名列第四，这是一种难以形容的令人沮丧的感觉。据报道，在林肯在1858年伊利诺伊州参议院竞选失利之后，他说：“我觉得自己就像一个撞到脚趾的12岁男孩。我太大了不能哭出来，太疼了也笑不出来。”哦，是的，我能理解。

I had spent many hours in front of a computer and in libraries doing research for the Lincoln Bicentennial10 Speech Contest. As I pored11 over several biographies， one notion stood out： Lincoln had many sound defeats， but he never allowed them to hinder his spirit or ambition. While I believe many history lessons can be applied to modern life， I hadnt considered “the agony of defeat” as a historically valuable learning experience. I never dreamed I could relate to Lincoln！ I thought “failing—successfully” was a very appropriate topic， given the many letdowns Lincoln experienced， and so this became the title of my speech.

我花了很多时间在电脑前和图书馆里为林肯两百周年演讲比赛做研究。当我仔细阅读几本传记时，有一个观点很突出：林肯有许多次大败，但他从不允许这些失败妨碍他的精神或雄心。虽然我相信许多历史教训可以应用到现代生活中，但我没有把“失败的痛苦”视为一种有历史价值的学习经历。我做梦也没想到我能和林肯联系上！鉴于林肯经历了许多挫折，我认为“成功地失败”是一个非常合适的话题，因此这成为了我演讲的题目。

After not placing in the first year of the speech contest， I really wanted to compete again. Lincoln had been the epitome12 of persistence13， 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 again I did not place.

在没有获得演讲比赛名次的一年之后，我真的很想再次参加比赛。林肯是坚持不懈的象征，所以我不会放弃一场关于一位永不言弃的历史人物的比赛！为了第二年的演讲，我修改了演讲稿，最后还是没能取得名次。

I couldnt accept the fact that I had failed twice in something that I had worked so hard on， until I think about the individual whom Id spent so much time learning about. Never mind the lost prize money and praise. 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 didnt take this route； he didnt throw lavish14 pity-parties， and he persevered to become， according to many， the greatest American president.

我不能接受这样一个事实：我曾经两次在我为之努力的事情上失败，直到我想到了我花了这么多时间去了解的那个人。别介意失去的奖金和赞美。我已经懂了，真正懂了，一个伟大的人经历过失败和失望，也有很多机会放弃。我们之所以记得林肯，是因为他不走寻常路；他没有举办过奢侈的慈善晚会，而他坚持不懈地成为了許多人眼中最伟大的美国总统。

While I did not earn monetary15 awards as a result of this contest， I did gain a new perspective. Through learning about Lincoln， I discovered that I can fail successfully. Now， whenever Im 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， ‘Its a slip and not a fall.”

虽然我没有因为这次比赛而获得金钱奖励，但我确实获得了一个新的观点。通过对林肯的了解，我发现我可以成功地失败。现在，每当我遇到挫折时，我都会想起林肯在1854年参议院竞选失败后所说的话：“这条路又旧又滑。我脚下打滑，磕磕碰碰，但我又站稳了，并对自己说：‘这是一次脚滑，而不是摔倒。”

1. magnum [ ] n. 大酒瓶

2. opus [ ] n. 作品 magnum opus 代表作；巨著；杰作

3. panel [ ] n. 座谈小组，全体陪审员

4. alas [ ] int. 唉（表悲伤、遗憾、恐惧、关切等等）

5. bask [ ] v. （使）晒太阳；取暖；（使）愉快或舒适

6. rue [ ] vt. 后悔；懊悔

7. indescribably [ ] adv. 难以形容地；不明确地

8. underwhelming [ ] adj. 未给人留下深刻印象的；未激起人们热情的

9. contestant [ ] n. 竞争者；争辩者

10. bicentennial [ ] n. 二百周年纪念 adj. 二百周年的

11. pore [ ] vi. 细想；凝视；熟读 12. epitome [ ] n. 缩影；摘要；象征

13. persistence [ ] n. 持续；存留；坚持不懈；毅力

14. lavish [ ] adj. 浪费的；丰富的；大方的 15. monetary [ ] adj. 货币的；财政的