重新開始的機會

It was a cold December night in West Orange， New Jersey. Thomas Edison’s factory was humming with activity. Work was proceeding on a variety of front as the great inventor was trying to turn more of his dreams into practical realities. Edison’s plant， made of concrete and steel， was deemed “fireproof”. As you may have already guessed， it wasn’t!

On that frigid night in 1914， the sky was lit up by a sensational blaze that had burst through the plant roof. Edison’s 24-year-old son， Charles， made a frenzied1 search for his famous inventor-father. When he finally found him， he was watching the fire. His white hair was blowing in the wind. His face was illuminated by the flames. “My heart ached for him，” said Charles， “Here he was， 67 years old， and everything he had worked for was going up in flames. When he saw me， he shouted. ‘Charles， where is your mother?’ when I told him I didn’t know， he said， ‘Find her! Bring her here! She’ll never see anything like this as long as she lives.’”

Next morning， Mr. Edison looked at the ruins of his factory and said this of his loss， “There's value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God， we can start anew2.”

What a wonderful perspective3 on things that seem at first to be so disastrous4! A business failure， divorce， personal dream gone sour…whether these things destroy an individual depends largely5 on the attitude he or she takes toward them. Sort out6 why it happened， and learnsomething from the blunders7. Think of different approaches that can be taken.

那是12月一個寒冷的夜晚，在新澤西州西奧倫奇，托馬斯·愛迪生的工廠隆隆作響，一片繁忙的景象。多條生產線正有條不紊地運行著，那位偉大的發明家想把他更多的夢想轉化成現實。愛迪生的廠房是由鋼筋和混凝土建成的，那被認為是“防火”的。正如你所想的那樣，它不防火!

在1914年那個寒冷的夜晚，夜空被工廠屋頂上冒出的巨大的火焰給照亮了。愛迪生24歲的兒子查爾斯瘋狂地尋找他那著名的發明家父親，最終找到他的時候，愛迪生正在那兒欣賞那場大火。他的白發隨風飄動，臉龐也被跳躍的火苗照亮?！拔覟樗械叫耐矗辈闋査拐f，“他已經67歲了，為之努力的一切卻都在大火中化為灰燼。當他看到我的時候，他喊著，‘查爾斯!你媽媽在哪兒?’當我告訴他我不知道的時候，他說，‘去找她!把她帶到這兒來!她這一輩子都見不到這樣的景象?！?/p>

第二天早上，愛迪生先生看著他工廠的廢墟，這樣評論他的損失：“災難里面也有價值。我們所有的錯誤都被燒掉了，感謝上帝，我們可以重頭再來?！?/p>

對起初看起來如此慘重的損失會有這樣的看法，這是何等的樂觀!事業上的失意、婚姻的破滅、個人夢想的幻滅……所有這些能否摧毀一個人，很大程度上取決于他或她對這些所持的態度。找到事情發生的原因，從失誤當中汲取教訓，然后想出各種解決問題的可行辦法。

注釋

①frenzy vt．(主要用于被動語態)使狂亂，使發狂

②anew adv．重新

③perspective n．觀點，看法

④disastrous a．災難性的；極壞的

⑤largely adv．大部分，主要地

⑥sort out 整理；弄清楚，解決

⑦blunder n．錯誤vi． 跌跌撞撞地走，慌亂地 走；犯錯誤