In Life, as in Wordle, Success Often Depends on Where You Start人生就像Wordle，成功與否取決于起點(diǎn)

As a writer， words are my tools， so I fell quickly for Wordle1， a simple but challenging online game that lets me sharpen my tool kit. Just a mix of five letters and six tries， but it offers unswerving fun and wonder. Since the rise of the Wordle phenomenon， I noticed how some ascribe their Wordle successes to their own merit and strategy while others acknowledge the role of luck.

身為作家，詞是我的利器，因此我很快便迷上了Wordle這款簡單卻富有挑戰(zhàn)性的在線游戲，它讓我打磨了自己的用詞能力。雖然只是五個字母的排列組合和六次嘗試的機(jī)會，但它讓我樂在其中，驚嘆不已。Wordle興起之后，我發(fā)現(xiàn)有些人將他們在這款游戲上的成功歸因于自身能力和策略，有些人則認(rèn)為是運(yùn)氣的眷顧。

Let’s say you start out your first try by guessing three letters correctly and in the right spot. This means that you are already more than halfway to success， and still have five more tries. Your likelihood of success， while not guaranteed， is highly likely unless you go out of your way to blow your opportunity by making uninformed guesses.

假設(shè)你在第一次嘗試時就猜對了三個字母，并且位置也正確。這意味著你已經(jīng)成功了一大半，并且還有五次機(jī)會。雖然不能保證你百分之百會成功，但只要你別瞎猜從而浪費(fèi)了機(jī)會，成功的機(jī)率還是很高的。

In life， the great luck of this advantageousness is being born into privilege. This might look like being born into a white， upper-middle-class family with socioeconomic stability. While being born into this demographic certainly doesn’t guarantee success， it gives you a good foundation to jump ahead with fewer obstacles.

在人生中，這種優(yōu)勢表現(xiàn)為生來就享有特權(quán)，比如出生在一個社會和經(jīng)濟(jì)地位穩(wěn)定的中上階層白人家庭。雖然這樣的出身并不能確保成功，但它為你打下了良好的基礎(chǔ)，未來的路途會更平坦。

In contrast， what if， on your first Wordle guess， you venture a word that has not a single correct letter. You now know which letters you don’t need， but you are barely further than where you started. You will have to use your precious remaining five guesses wisely or risk failure.

相反，如果你第一次嘗試Wordle時猜了個單詞，結(jié)果一個字母都沒對上，那會怎樣呢？此時你雖排除了部分字母，但進(jìn)展幾乎與開局無異。你必須用好剩下的五次寶貴機(jī)會，否則就可能會失敗。

There are myriad life scenarios that can parallel this， whether it is being born into poverty or being born Black or brown. Perhaps you are born into a family whose parents are struggling in their careers because of their own inherited disadvantages.

現(xiàn)實中的種種境遇與此何其相似，比如出身貧寒，或者身為黑人、棕色人種。或許你的父母就因為種種先天的不利條件在職場步履維艱。

I was born to immigrant physician parents from India， and although they didn’t come from inherited wealth， they arrived in America having been trained in highly skilled professions that were in high demand. Thanks to my parents’ own success—due to a mix of hard work and luck—I left college with no college loan debt， enabling me to pursue， against their wishes， a career in the social change sector， where I hoped to make a difference. This afforded me the chance to take low-paying nonprofit and government jobs and internships， because I didn’t have to worry about paying off college loans alongside paying rent and living expenses.

我的父母是印度移民，都是醫(yī)生出身，他們雖然沒有繼承什么家產(chǎn)，但來到美國時已經(jīng)接受了高技能職業(yè)的培訓(xùn)，而這類職業(yè)在當(dāng)時的需求很大。多虧了他們憑借努力和機(jī)遇所取得的成功，我大學(xué)畢業(yè)時沒有背負(fù)任何學(xué)生貸款的債務(wù)。這讓我能夠違背他們的意愿投身于社會變革領(lǐng)域，希望有所作為。因此，我能夠接受非營利組織、政府機(jī)構(gòu)的低薪崗位和實習(xí)機(jī)會，因為我不用擔(dān)心支付房租和生活開銷的同時還要償還學(xué)貸。

Education and its trappings are integral to helping us make good life choices and finding our paths. In Wordle， you build your knowledge from each previous try， so your advantages build on each other. Those with access to a strong education are more likely to find their careers through classes they take or professors and mentors who take an interest in them. Some find their way through family， friends， and acquaintances who offer them jobs and internships， sometimes based more on their relationships than on their merit.

教育及其附帶資源對于幫助我們做出正確的人生選擇和找到自己的人生道路至關(guān)重要。在Wordle中，每次嘗試都能讓你學(xué)到知識，優(yōu)勢就這樣一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)累積起來。接受過優(yōu)質(zhì)教育的人更有可能通過所修的課程或關(guān)注他們的教授和導(dǎo)師找到適合自己的職業(yè)。有些人則通過家人、朋友和熟人獲得工作和實習(xí)機(jī)會，這些機(jī)會有時更多是基于人脈而非個人實力。

I remember how， in the summer before my senior year of college， I had landed an internship in Philadelphia’s city government， but I wondered how I would cover rent and other expenses given that the internship paid only a small stipend. I happened to have a meeting with my college adviser who helped me apply on the spot for a scholarship （which happened to be due that very day） to cover those expenses. This internship led to my first job， which paved the way for my second job. Call it being at the right place at the right time—or more accurately， call it the luck offered by an elite education.

我記得在大四前的那個夏天，我在費(fèi)城市政府找到了一份實習(xí)，但實習(xí)津貼微薄，并不足以支付我的房租和其他開銷。就在我為此發(fā)愁時，碰巧我與大學(xué)輔導(dǎo)員有一次會面，他當(dāng)場就幫我申請了一筆恰好當(dāng)天截止的獎學(xué)金來支付這些費(fèi)用。這份實習(xí)后來促成了我的第一份工作，而第一份工作又為第二份工作鋪平了道路。這可以說是恰逢其時之幸，但更準(zhǔn)確地說，是精英教育為我?guī)淼臋C(jī)遇。

Conversely， when we stumble， which most of us do at some point， it is the strength of our networks that helps us get back up and keep trying until we reach our goal.

反過來看，在人生路上，我們難免會跌倒，也正是我們的關(guān)系網(wǎng)支撐著我們重新振作起來，繼續(xù)嘗試，直到實現(xiàn)目標(biāo)。

My college classmate and friend Nicole Lucier happens to be a fellow Wordle enthusiast. She was born and raised in a white family by parents who came from working-class backgrounds but held aspirations for higher education. I asked her if she sees similar parallels in how circumstantial luck has affected her own life. “My social class now comes directly from my father’s ability to leap to the professional class via grad school，” Lucier says. “Through that leap， I grew up in a college town where my public high school was on par with many private prep schools. That education led me to be able to attend Bryn Mawr College， and our social position allowed us to qualify for loans without which attendance wouldn’t have been possible. From there， I had the benefit of elite graduate education， and the perception of myself as nonthreatening as a young white woman led me to get a job teaching as an adjunct despite not having a PhD.”

我的大學(xué)同窗好友妮科爾·盧西爾恰好也是Wordle愛好者。她來自一個白人家庭，父母雖出身工人階級，但一直向往高等教育。我問她是否也認(rèn)為偶然得來的運(yùn)氣影響了她的生活。盧西爾說：“我現(xiàn)在的社會階層直接得益于我父親通過讀研究生成功躋身專業(yè)人士階層。于是我得以在一個大學(xué)城長大，那里的公立高中與許多私立預(yù)科學(xué)校不相上下。這樣的教育背景讓我有機(jī)會進(jìn)入布林莫爾學(xué)院，而我的家庭條件也讓我們能夠申請到貸款，否則我無法入學(xué)。后來，我得益于精英研究生教育，同時又因為作為年輕的白人女性給人親切感，我在沒有博士學(xué)位的情況下也獲得了一份助教工作。”

Lucier pursued graduate studies， including law school， but due to a long undiagnosed disability hasn’t pursued a traditional career path. Even in that， she sees how she has been privileged. “I can only imagine how debilitating it is for people who do not have the financial or educational options to find work （or lack of work） that accommodates chronic illness.”

盧西爾曾攻讀研究生，包括法學(xué)院，但由于長期未被診斷出的殘疾，她未能走上傳統(tǒng)的職業(yè)道路。即便如此，她仍認(rèn)為自己是幸運(yùn)的：“我難以想象，沒有經(jīng)濟(jì)或教育資源來找到合適工作（或面臨失業(yè)）的慢性病患者有多么無助。”

There are two ways to tell any story of success. In the first way， the one most favored in our country， where we worship rugged individualism and iconoclasts， we tell a story of a person’s triumph against obstacles， noting only the hero’s actions and not the circumstances or the actions of others that might have contributed to their success. In the second way， favored by more collective cultures， we tell a story in which a person’s circumstances are seen as part of them， and therefore part of their success or failure.

講述成功故事有兩種方式。第一種方式是我們國家最推崇的，我們崇尚堅韌的個人主義和反傳統(tǒng)者，在這種方式中，我們講述一個人克服障礙取得勝利的故事，只關(guān)注英雄的行為，而忽略了境遇或他人可能對其成功的貢獻(xiàn)。第二種方式則更受集體主義文化青睞，在這種方式中，我們講述的故事里，一個人的境遇被視為其自身的一部分，因此也是其成功或失敗的一部分。

The next time you play Wordle， as you contemplate and type in the five letters of your first guess， perhaps you can reflect on not just the choices you make， but the choices available to you， as you strive toward success， one word at a time.

下次玩Wordle時，當(dāng)你思考并輸入第一次猜測的五個字母時，或許你不僅可以思考要做什么選擇，還可以思考擁有哪些選擇——這些選擇都出現(xiàn)在你邁向成功的道路上，一次想一個詞。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎?wù)撸?/p>

1由美國軟件工程師喬希·沃德爾（Josh Wardle）開發(fā)的一款英文猜詞游戲。游戲名稱Wordle是Word和開發(fā)者姓氏Wardle的合成詞。