Overcoming Fear of Failure：Facing Your Fear of Moving Forward

It's almost impossible to go through life without experiencing some kind of failure. People who do so probably live so cautiously that they go nowhere. Put simply, they’re not real living at all. But, the wonderful thing about failure is that it's entirely up to us to decide how to look at it.

We can choose to see failure as"the end of the world, "or as proof of just how inadequate we are. Or, we can look at failure as the incredible learning experience that it often is. Every time we fail at something, we can choose to look for the lesson we're meant to learn. These lessons are very important; they're how we grow, and how we keep from making that same mistake again. Failures stop us only if we let them. Failure can also teach us things about ourselves that we would never have learned otherwise.

For instance, failure can help you discover how strong a person you are. Failing at something can help you discover your truest friends, or help you find unexpected motivation to succeed.

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人的一生几乎不可能不经历某种失败。但是，失败的妙处就在于，完全由我们来决定如何看待它。

我们可以选择将失败看作是“世界末日”。或者像以往一样，把它看作令人难以置信的学习经历。每当我们在某件事上失败时，我们会选择寻找应学习的教训。这些教训非常重要；他们教会我们如何成长，如何避免再次犯相同的错误。如果失败阻止我们前进，那么唯一的条件就是我们允许它的发生。

失败还可以教会我们认识自己，那是我们在别处永远无法学习到的。例如，失败可以帮助你发现自己的能力。失败可以帮助你发现最真实的朋友，或者帮助你找到预料之外的成功动力。

【解析】

一、总述

考题文章来自于知名网站Mind Tools上一篇名为“Overcoming Fear of Failure：Facing Your Fear of Moving Forward”一文。文章略有删减，总词数151词，共3段，10句话。题目难度适中，题材常规，符合英语二翻译历年的考题规律。相似题材的文章曾经考过，如2010年“承受力”这篇文章。考题贴近生活，总体难度较低，考生可从容应对，个别语句较为抽象，略有难度，下面进行解析。

二、难句剖析

1.【原文】But, the wonderful thing about failure is that it's entirely up to us to decide how to look at it.

【分析】本句话易于简单，由主句加上that引导的表语从句构成，表语从句中嵌套这how引导的宾语从句。其中，the wonderful thing about failure 可以理解为“失败的妙处”，be up to sb.表示“取决于某人”；it's entirely up to us to decide how to look at it可以理解为“完全由我们来决定如何看待它”，把无灵主语it译成有灵主语“我们”，更符合汉语习惯。

【译文】但是，失败的妙处就在于，完全由我们来决定如何看待它。

2.【原文】Or, we can look at failure as the incredible learning experience that it often is.

【分析】本句话由主句和that引导的定语从句构成。其中，look at failure as the learning experience需要注意措辞，incredible是形容词，最常见的意思是“不能相信的”，但也有“难以置信的、极大的、极好的”之意；结合语境，翻译成“难以置信的”较为通顺，因此这半句话可理解为“把它看作令人难以置信的学习经历”，为避免上下文重复，可将failure译成代词“它”。

【译文】或者像以往一样，把它看作令人难以置信的学习经历。

3.【原文】Failures stop us only if we let them.

【分析】本句由主句和only if引导的条件状语构成，only if基本的词义为“只要……就，只是在……的时候，只有”的意思，也有“除了”的含义。本句考点之一在于状语从句翻译时需要前置，其二在于选取only if符合语境的词义。

【译文】除非我们允许失败的发生，否则失败无法阻止我们前进。