Ｊ．Ｋ．羅琳談失敗的額外收益

這是J.K.羅琳在哈佛大學2008年畢業典禮上的演講。這位全球最著名的當代魔幻小說家在臺上講述的是其親身經歷的故事，同時也是幾經磨難、走出黑暗日子后發自內心的感慨。她曾同時經受感情與經濟的雙重打擊;她說，在座的高材生們大抵不會經歷像她那般的巨大失敗，但漫漫人生，偶然的失敗無可避免。

失戀、考試落敗、比賽落選……有人因失敗一蹶不振，有人奮而再起，羅琳是后者的榜樣。

President Faust， members of the Harvard 2)Corporation and the Board of 3)Overseers， members of the faculty， proud parents， and， above all， graduates.

The first thing I would like to say is “thank you.” Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour， but the weeks of fear and 4)nausea I have endured at the thought of giving this 5)commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths， 6)squint at the red banners and convince myself that I am at the world’s largest 7)Gryffindor reunion.

Actually， I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to you today. I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation， and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years that has expired between that day and this.

On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success， I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure.

Half my lifetime ago， I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself， and what those closest to me expected of me. I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do， ever， was to write novels. However， my parents， both of whom came from 8)impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college， took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal 9)quirk that could never pay a 10)mortgage， or secure a 11)pension. I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics; they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day.

I would like to make it clear， in 12)parenthesis， that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an13)expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to 14)take the wheel， responsibility lies with you. What is more， I cannot criticise 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 15)ennobling experience. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts， that is something on which to pride yourself， but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.

Now， I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one， and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale 16)resolution.

So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the 17)inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was， and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else， I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena where I believed I truly belonged. I was set free， because my greatest fear had been realised， and I was still alive， and I still had a daughter whom I adored， and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will， and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies. The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are， ever after， secure in your ability to survive.

Life is difficult， and complicated， and beyond anyone’s total control， and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its 18)vicissitudes.

浮士德主席，哈佛大學校務委員會和監察委員會的各位成員，全體教員，自豪的父母們，最重要的，還有今天的主角——所有的畢業生們。

首先我想說的是“謝謝”。哈佛不僅給了我非比尋常的榮譽，還贈予了我數周因要作畢業演講而產生的恐懼和惡心，使得我因此減肥成功。好一個雙贏的局面!現在我需要做的就是深呼吸，瞇著眼睛看著紅色的橫幅，然后令自己相信正身處在世界上最大的格蘭芬多學院聚會中。

其實，為了準備今天該講的話，我已絞盡腦汁、費盡心思。我問自己，希望當年畢業時就該懂得的是什么，和由畢業那一天到此時的過去21年間所學到的重要教訓。

在這美好的日子里，我們相聚一堂，慶祝你們學有所成，而我決定和你們談談失敗的好處。

追溯到半載人生以前，我正在努力尋求自我內心追求與至親對我的期望這兩者間的一個難得的平衡。我當時深信自己唯一想做的事就是寫小說。但是，我的父母都出身貧寒，也沒有上過大學，他們認為我異?；钴S的想象力是一個有趣的個人怪癖，但卻絕不可用來支付房屋按揭或保證我得到一份退休金。