Success Is a Choice 成功是一种选择
◎ Jeffrey
All of us ought to be able to brace ourselves for the predictable challenges and setbacks that crop up everyday. If we expect that life won’t be perfect, we’ll be able to avoid that impulse to quit. But even if you are strong enough to persist the obstacle course of life and work, sometimes you will encounter an adverse event that will completely knock you on your back.
我们每天都应该让自己作好准备，迎接可预见的挫折和挑战。如果我们相信生活不可能是完美的，我们就能避免因一时的冲动而放弃追求。但即使你意志坚强，能够挺过生活和工作中的困难，有时你也会遭遇逆境，它将会在背后给你狠狠一击。
Whether it’s a financial loss, the loss of respect of your peers or loved ones, or some other traumatic event in your life these major setbacks leave you doubting yourself and wondering if things can ever change for the better again.
不管是出现经济损失，还是失去同辈及亲人的尊敬，或是遭受生命重创，这些重大挫折都会使你对自己产生怀疑，并且怀疑情况是否能再好转。
Adversity happens to all of us, and it happens all the time. Some form of major adversity is either going to be there or it’s lying in wait just around the corner. To ignore adversity is to succumb to the ultimate self decision.
我们每个人都可能遭遇各种困境，而且这些困境时常发生。有些大灾难不是即刻发生，就是静静待在角落等待时机。忽视逆境其实就是在欺骗自己。
But you must recognize that history is full of examples of men and women who achieved greatness despite facing hurdles so steep that easily could have crashed their spirit and left them lying in the dust. Moses was a stuttered, yet he was called on to be the voice of God. Abraham Lincoln overcomes a dif-during the Civil War to become arguably our greatest president ever. Helen Keller made an impact on the world despite being deaf, dumb, and blind from an early age. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had polio.
但是你必须认识到历史上有许多事例都讲述了克服重重困难之后才获得成功的人。那些困难之大，足以粉碎他们的意志，让他们流落尘世。摩西有口吃，但他后来却成为传递上帝福音的使者。亚伯拉罕·林肯战胜了童年的困难、绝望、丧失两个儿子的痛苦，及内战中接踵而来的嘲笑，最终成为美国历史上无可置疑的最伟大的总统。海伦·凯勒早年双目失明，又不能说话，但她对世界产生了巨大的影响，而富兰克林·德兰诺·罗斯福则患有小儿麻痹症。
There are endless examples. These were people who not only looked adversity in the face but learned valuable lessons about overcoming difficult circumstances and were able to move ahead.
类似的例子举不胜举。这些人不仅大胆地面对困难，而且从中学到了克服困难的宝贵经验，然后一如既往，勇往直前。
