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如何从错误中学习
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如何从错误中学习
“错误是通往发现的入口。”詹姆斯·乔伊斯在《尤利西斯》中写道。 
双语精读
How to learn from your mistakes
如何从错误中学习
"Mistakes are the portals of discovery," wrote James Joyce in "Ulysses".
“错误是通往发现的入口。”詹姆斯·乔伊斯在《尤利西斯》中写道。
In 1888 Lee Kum Sheung, a young cook in a coastal province in southern China, forgot the oyster soup he was boiling on the stove until it simmered down to a thick, sticky gravy.
1888年，中国南部沿海省份的年轻厨师李锦裳忘记了炉子上还煮着生蚝汤，直到汤煮成了浓稠、黏腻的肉汁。
Once he discovered how tasty it was, he decided to sell his "oyster sauce" in jars. That lucky mistake would make him and his heirs rich. Your guest Bartleby has not been so fortunate in her mistakes.
他一发现这肉汁非常美味，就决定把“蚝油”装在罐子里出售。这个歪打正着使他和他的继承人们变成了富翁。笔者犯的错就没这么幸运了。
From fat-fingered spreadsheet errors and incoherent interventions in meetings to failed mergers and bungled products, failure is a part of corporate life. Yet even the most humiliating mistake can prove to be useful.
从电子表格中的手滑和开会时前言不搭后语的插嘴，到失败的合并和搞砸的产品，失败是公司生活的一部分。然而，即使是最丢脸的错误也可能被证明是有用的。
Some failures can be chalked up to a lack of experience. Katharine Graham wrote in her autobiography of the many ignominious blunders she made after she became the publisher of the Washington Post overnight, following her husband's suicide.
有些失败可以归咎于缺乏经验。凯瑟琳·格雷厄姆在她的自传中写道，在她丈夫自杀后，她一夜之间成为了《华盛顿邮报》的发行商，之后她犯了许多可耻的愚蠢错误。
"I made endless unnecessary mistakes and died over them," she wrote.
“我犯了无数不该犯的错误，而且后悔得想死。”她写道。
Of course, even those with plenty of experience are not infallible. In "Right Kind of Wrong", Amy Edmondson, a professor at Harvard Business School, explores how to build a healthy relationship with failure.
当然，即使是经验丰富的人也不是万无一失的。在《正确的错误》一书中，哈佛商学院教授艾米·埃德蒙森探讨了如何与失败建立健康的关系。
In a complex world, she argues, excellence requires taking risks. The important thing is to establish what needs to be done differently next time. For companies the occasional failure may be the price of innovation.
她认为在复杂的世界中，追求卓越需要承担风险。重要的是要确定下一次需要做出什么改变。对于公司来说，偶尔的失败可能是创新的代价。
Within months of the Amazon Fire smartphone being introduced in 2014 it was clear to all that the device was a resounding flop, with Amazon forced to write off $83m of unsold inventory.
2014年，亚马逊Fire智能手机发布后的几个月内，所有人都清楚地看到这款设备是一次彻底的失败，亚马逊被迫将价值8300万美元的未售出库存作资产减值计提。
The device was late to the market and had limited features, but was nonetheless priced in the same range as the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy.
该设备上市太晚，功能有限，但定价却与iPhone和三星Galaxy处于同一档。
Jeff Bezos, the tech giant's chief executive at the time, would later argue that such misfires were the cost of an organisation relentlessly focused on continual innovation. "If you think that's a big failure, we're working on much bigger failures right now," he said two years after the fiasco.
当时的亚马逊CEO杰夫·贝佐斯后来争辩说，这种失误是组织坚持不懈地专注于持续创新的代价。“如果你认为那是一次重大失败，那么我们现在正在进行更大的失败。”他在那次惨败两年后说道。
Mistakes are unavoidable. But they are rarely the end of the story. Graham went on to transform the Washington Post from a city newspaper into a respected national institution; Amazon's market value today is around 15 times what it was when it made its disastrous foray into phones.
错误是不可避免的。但错误很少是故事的结局。格雷厄姆后来将《华盛顿邮报》从城市报纸转变为受人尊敬的全国性文化机构，亚马逊今天的市值大约是它灾难性地进军手机市场时的15倍。
词汇预习
device [高考]
美[dɪˈvaɪs] | 英[dɪˈvaɪs]
n. 装置；设备；策略；设计
giant [高考]
美[ˈdʒaɪənt] | 英[ˈdʒaɪənt]
n. 巨人；巨物；大公司 adj. 巨大的
executive [高考]
美[ɪɡˈzekjətɪv] | 英[ɪɡˈzekjətɪv]
adj. 行政的；决策的；经营的；[计算机]执行指令 n. 行政主管；行政部门；决策者
rarely [高考]
美[ˈrerli] | 英[ˈreəli]
adv. 很少；难得
publisher [高考]
美[ˈpʌblɪʃər] | 英[ˈpʌblɪʃə(r)]
n. 出版者；出版社；发行人
corporate [高考]
美[ˈkɔːrpərət] | 英[ˈkɔːpərət]
adj. 法人的；公司的；社团的；共同的；全体的
innovation [高考]
美[ˌɪnəˈveɪʃn] | 英[ˌɪnəˈveɪʃn]
n. 创新；革新
unavoidable [高考]
美[ˌʌnəˈvɔɪdəbl] | 英[ˌʌnəˈvɔɪdəbl]
adj. 不可避免的
disastrous [高考]
美[dɪˈzæstrəs] | 英[dɪˈzɑːstrəs]
adj. 灾难性的；极糟的
coastal [高考]
美[ˈkoʊstl] | 英[ˈkəʊstl]
adj. 沿海的；海岸的；沿岸的
occasional [高考]
美[əˈkeɪʒənl] | 英[əˈkeɪʒənl]
adj. 偶然的；临时的；不时的
sticky [高考]
美[ˈstɪki] | 英[ˈstɪki]
adj. 粘的；闷热的；困难的；令人不满意的
autobiography [高考]
美[ˌɔːtəbaɪˈɑːɡrəfi] | 英[ˌɔːtəbaɪˈɒɡrəfi]
n. 自传
continual [高考]
美[kənˈtɪnjuəl] | 英[kənˈtɪnjuəl]
adj. 不断的；频繁的；连续的
lack [高考]
美[læk] | 英[læk]
n. 缺乏；无 v. 缺乏；不足
range [高考]
美[reɪndʒ] | 英[reɪndʒ]
n.范围; 射程; 类别; （山脉，房屋等的）排列 vi.搜索; 变化; 延伸; 漫游 vt.排列; （按一定位置或顺序）排序; 把…分类; 徘徊 adj.牧场的，放牧区的
complex [高考]
美[kəmˈpleks , ˈkɑːmpleks] | 英[ˈkɒmpleks]
adj. 复杂的；合成的；复合的 n. 综合体；复合体；[医]综合症状；[心]情结
chief [高考]
美[tʃiːf] | 英[tʃiːf]
adj. 主要的；首要的 n. 首领
transform [高考]
美[trænsˈfɔːrm] | 英[trænsˈfɔːm]
v. 使改观，使变形，使转化；变换（电流）的电压；（数）变换（数学实体） n.（数，语言学）变换式，转换句；（数，语言学）转换规则
endless [高考]
美[ˈendləs] | 英[ˈendləs]
adj. 无止境的；没完没了的
institution [高考]
美[ˌɪnstɪˈtuːʃn] | 英[ˌɪnstɪˈtjuːʃn]
n. 制定；制度；机构；名流
fortunate [高考]
美[ˈfɔːrtʃənət] | 英[ˈfɔːtʃənət]
adj. 幸运的；侥幸的；带来幸运的
stove [高考]
美[stoʊv] | 英[stəʊv]
n. 炉子；窑；【主英】温室
organisation [高考]
美[ˌɔːrɡənəˈzeɪʃn] | 英[ˌɔːɡənaɪˈzeɪʃn]
n. 组织；团体；条理
lack of [高考]
美[læk ʌv] | 英[læk ɔv]
缺乏
limited [高考]
美[ˈlɪmɪtɪd] | 英[ˈlɪmɪtɪd]
adj. 有限的；被限制的
suicide [高考]
美[ˈsuːɪsaɪd] | 英[ˈsuːɪsaɪd]
n. 自杀；自杀者；自取灭亡的行为 adj. 自杀性的
would [高考]
美[wʊd , wəd] | 英[wʊd , wəd]
aux. 将；可能；大概；总会；愿意；will的过去式
tech [四级]
美[tek] | 英[tek]
n. 技术学校；技术；技术人员
excellence [四级]
美[ˈeksələns] | 英[ˈeksələns]
n. 优秀；卓越；优点
nonetheless [四级]
美[ˌnʌnðəˈles] | 英[ˌnʌnðəˈles]
adv. 尽管如此(仍然)
up to [四级]
美[ʌp tu] | 英[ʌp tu]
胜任；直到；多达；该由 ... 决定
unsold [六级]
美[ˌʌnˈsoʊld] | 英[ˌʌnˈsəʊld]
adj. 未销售的
oyster [六级]
美[ˈɔɪstər] | 英[ˈɔɪstə(r)]
n. 牡蛎
write off [六级]
美[raɪt ɔf] | 英[rait ɔf]
v. 勾销；报废；完全无用；写信寄出
smartphone [六级]
美[ˈsmɑːrtfoʊn] | 英
n.智能手机
decided [专四]
美[dɪˈsaɪdɪd] | 英[dɪˈsaɪdɪd]
adj. 确定的；坚决的
flop [专四]
美[flɑp] | 英[flɒp]
v. 啪嗒啪嗒地动；笨重地摔；猛落；[口]失败 n. 砰然落下；[口]失败 adv. 噗地一声
inventory [专四]
美[ˈɪnvəntɔːri] | 英[ˈɪnvəntri]
n. 详细目录；存货(清单) vt. 编制(详细目录)
foray [专八]
美[ˈfɔreɪ] | 英[ˈfɒreɪ]
v. 突袭；侵略；劫掠 n. 突袭；尝试
fiasco [专八]
美[fiˈæskoʊ] | 英[fiˈæskəʊ]
n. 惨败
incoherent [专八]
美[ˌɪnkoʊˈhɪrənt] | 英[ˌɪnkəʊˈhɪərənt]
adj. 不连贯的；语无伦次的
infallible [专八]
美[ɪnˈfæləbl] | 英[ɪnˈfæləbl]
adj. 绝无错误的；绝对可靠的
following [考研]
美[ˈfɑːloʊɪŋ] | 英[ˈfɒləʊɪŋ]
adj. 接着的；下列的 prep. 在 ... 以后 n. 追随者；下列各项
重点讲解
How to learn from your mistakes
如何从错误中学习
thick adj. 浓稠的
【例】thick porridge 浓稠的粥
【反义词】thin adj. 稀的
watery adj. 水太多的；稀的
heir n. 继承人
【例】the heir to a large fortune 大笔财产的继承人
【拓展】inherit v. 继承
legacy n. 遗产
“Mistakes are the portals of discovery,” wrote James Joyce in “Ulysses”.
“错误是通往发现的入口。”詹姆斯·乔伊斯在《尤利西斯》中写道。
thick adj. 浓稠的
【例】thick porridge 浓稠的粥
【反义词】thin adj. 稀的
watery adj. 水太多的；稀的
heir n. 继承人
【例】the heir to a large fortune 大笔财产的继承人
【拓展】inherit v. 继承
legacy n. 遗产
In 1888 Lee Kum Sheung, a young cook in a coastal province in southern China, forgot the oyster soup he was boiling on the stove until it simmered down to a thick, sticky gravy.
1888年，中国南部沿海省份的年轻厨师李锦裳忘记了炉子上还煮着生蚝汤，直到汤煮成了浓稠、黏腻的肉汁。
thick adj. 浓稠的
【例】thick porridge 浓稠的粥
【反义词】thin adj. 稀的
watery adj. 水太多的；稀的
heir n. 继承人
【例】the heir to a large fortune 大笔财产的继承人
【拓展】inherit v. 继承
legacy n. 遗产
Once he discovered how tasty it was, he decided to sell his “oyster sauce” in jars. That lucky mistake would make him and his heirs rich. Your guest Bartleby has not been so fortunate in her mistakes.
他一发现这肉汁非常美味，就决定把“蚝油”装在罐子里出售。这个歪打正着使他和他的继承人们变成了富翁。笔者犯的错就没这么幸运了。
thick adj. 浓稠的
【例】thick porridge 浓稠的粥
【反义词】thin adj. 稀的
watery adj. 水太多的；稀的
heir n. 继承人
【例】the heir to a large fortune 大笔财产的继承人
【拓展】inherit v. 继承
legacy n. 遗产
From fat-fingered spreadsheet errors and incoherent interventions in meetings to failed mergers and bungled products, failure is a part of corporate life. Yet even the most humiliating mistake can prove to be useful.
从电子表格中的手滑和开会时前言不搭后语的插嘴，到失败的合并和搞砸的产品，失败是公司生活的一部分。然而，即使是最丢脸的错误也可能被证明是有用的。
incoherent adj. 不连贯的
【例】He was confused and incoherent.
他糊里糊涂，语无伦次。
【反义词】coherent adj. 前后连贯的
intervention n. 插话；介入
【例】We stopped talking because of her intervention.
她插嘴进来，我们就停止说话。
【拓展】intervene v. 插话
Some failures can be chalked up to a lack of experience. Katharine Graham wrote in her autobiography of the many ignominious blunders she made after she became the publisher of the Washington Post overnight, following her husband’s suicide.
有些失败可以归咎于缺乏经验。凯瑟琳·格雷厄姆在她的自传中写道，在她丈夫自杀后，她一夜之间成为了《华盛顿邮报》的发行商，之后她犯了许多可耻的愚蠢错误。
chalk sth up to 把某事归因于
【例】We can chalk that win up to a lot of luck.
我们可以把那次胜利归因于好运十足。
【近义词】attribute sth to 把某事归因于
ignominious adj. 可耻的；不光彩的
【例】an ignominious defeat 名誉扫地的失败
【近义词】disreputable/shameful adj. 可耻的
ignoble adj. 卑劣的；不光彩的
die over sth 因某事而死去（夸张）
【例】I’m dying over the joke.
这个笑话要把我笑死了。
【辨析】die of sth 死于某事
“I made endless unnecessary mistakes and died over them,” she wrote.
“我犯了无数不该犯的错误，而且后悔得想死。”她写道。
chalk sth up to 把某事归因于
【例】We can chalk that win up to a lot of luck.
我们可以把那次胜利归因于好运十足。
【近义词】attribute sth to 把某事归因于
ignominious adj. 可耻的；不光彩的
【例】an ignominious defeat 名誉扫地的失败
【近义词】disreputable/shameful adj. 可耻的
ignoble adj. 卑劣的；不光彩的
die over sth 因某事而死去（夸张）
【例】I’m dying over the joke.
这个笑话要把我笑死了。
【辨析】die of sth 死于某事
Of course, even those with plenty of experience are not infallible. In “Right Kind of Wrong”, Amy Edmondson, a professor at Harvard Business School, explores how to build a healthy relationship with failure.
当然，即使是经验丰富的人也不是万无一失的。在《正确的错误》一书中，哈佛商学院教授艾米·埃德蒙森探讨了如何与失败建立健康的关系。
infallible adj. 永不犯错的；万无一失的
【例】Doctors are not infallible.
医生并非永不犯错。
【反义词】fallible adj. 会犯错的
【拓展】fault n. 过错；缺陷
false adj. 错误的；假的
excellence n. 卓越；杰出
【例】the pursuit of excellence 对卓越的追求
【拓展】excellent adj. 卓越的；杰出的
excel v. 表现卓越
In a complex world, she argues, excellence requires taking risks. The important thing is to establish what needs to be done differently next time. For companies the occasional failure may be the price of innovation.
她认为在复杂的世界中，追求卓越需要承担风险。重要的是要确定下一次需要做出什么改变。对于公司来说，偶尔的失败可能是创新的代价。
infallible adj. 永不犯错的；万无一失的
【例】Doctors are not infallible.
医生并非永不犯错。
【反义词】fallible adj. 会犯错的
【拓展】fault n. 过错；缺陷
false adj. 错误的；假的
excellence n. 卓越；杰出
【例】the pursuit of excellence 对卓越的追求
【拓展】excellent adj. 卓越的；杰出的
excel v. 表现卓越
Within months of the Amazon Fire smartphone being introduced in 2014 it was clear to all that the device was a resounding flop, with Amazon forced to write off $83m of unsold inventory.
2014年，亚马逊Fire智能手机发布后的几个月内，所有人都清楚地看到这款设备是一次彻底的失败，亚马逊被迫将价值8300万美元的未售出库存作资产减值计提。
flop n. 扑通一声落下；扑街；失败
【例】The play is a flop.
这个戏剧演砸了。
【近义词】bust n. 失败
feature n. 特点；特色功能
【例】the features of a car 汽车的特色
the feature of a city 城市吸引人的特色
【辨析】characteristic n. 特点；特征
The device was late to the market and had limited features, but was nonetheless priced in the same range as the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy.
该设备上市太晚，功能有限，但定价却与iPhone和三星Galaxy处于同一档。
flop n. 扑通一声落下；扑街；失败
【例】The play is a flop.
这个戏剧演砸了。
【近义词】bust n. 失败
feature n. 特点；特色功能
【例】the features of a car 汽车的特色
the feature of a city 城市吸引人的特色
【辨析】characteristic n. 特点；特征
Jeff Bezos, the tech giant’s chief executive at the time, would later argue that such misfires were the cost of an organisation relentlessly focused on continual innovation. “If you think that’s a big failure, we’re working on much bigger failures right now,” he said two years after the fiasco.
当时的亚马逊CEO杰夫·贝佐斯后来争辩说，这种失误是组织坚持不懈地专注于持续创新的代价。“如果你认为那是一次重大失败，那么我们现在正在进行更大的失败。”他在那次惨败两年后说道。
relentlessly adv. 不松懈地；坚持地
【例】She relentlessly pushed forward with the plan.
她坚持继续推进计划。
The weather was relentlessly hot.
天气持续酷热。
fiasco n. 灾难；巨大的失败
【例】The show was a fiasco.
这表演简直是车祸现场。
【近义词】disaster/catastrophe n. 灾难
Mistakes are unavoidable. But they are rarely the end of the story. Graham went on to transform the Washington Post from a city newspaper into a respected national institution; Amazon’s market value today is around 15 times what it was when it made its disastrous foray into phones.
错误是不可避免的。但错误很少是故事的结局。格雷厄姆后来将《华盛顿邮报》从城市报纸转变为受人尊敬的全国性文化机构，亚马逊今天的市值大约是它灾难性地进军手机市场时的15倍。
foray n. （新领域的）初步尝试
【例】the scientist’s foray into fiction
科学家对撰写小说的初步尝试
【近义词】venture n. 冒险行动；涉足
课后练习
What does the author think about mistakes?
A. Mistakes should be completely avoided.
B. Mistakes lead to nothing but humiliation.
C. Mistakes can always be turned into wealth.
D. Mistakes are inevitable and bring opportunities.
Katharine Graham was regretful about ____.
A. her husband's suicide
B. her many silly mistakes
C. the burden of her job
D. her lack of experience
What did the words of Jeff Bezos mean?
A. Fire phone was in fact a success in disguise.
B. Failures would not prevent him from innovating.
C. He was not responsible for the failure of Fire phone.
D. Fire phone's failure was small compared with past setbacks.
The transformation of the Washington Post shows that ____.
A. mistakes can lead to the downfall of an institution
B. mistakes may not determine the final outcome
C. mistakes are unlikely to cause great losses
D. mistakes are too rare to have any impact
