Even Intelligent People Can Fail

1._________

The unusual things about the innovators (创新者) who succeeded in making our modern world is how often they failed. Turn on a light, take a photograph, watch TV, search the web, jet across the Pacific Ocean, talk on a cell-phone. The innovators who left us these things had to find the way to success through a maze (错综复杂) of wrong turns.

2._________

We have just celebrated the 125th anniversary of American innovator Thomas Edison’s success in heating a thin line to white, hot heat for 14 hours in his lab in New Jersey, US. He did that on October 22, 1879, and followed up a month later by keeping a thread of common cardboard alight (点亮着的) in an airless space for 45 hours. Three years later he went on to light up half a square mile of downtown Manhattan, even though only one of the six power plants in his design worked when he turned it on, on September 4, 1882.

3.________

“Many of life’s failures,” Edison said, “are because that people did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Before that magical moment in October 1879, Edison had worked out no fewer than 3,000 theories about electric light. But in only two cases did his experiments work.

4.________

No one likes failure, but the smart innovators learn from it. Mark Gumz, the head of a camera maker, attributes some of the company’s successes in technology to understanding failure. His popular phrase is：“You only fail when you quit.”

5._________

Over two centuries, the most common quality of the innovators has been persistence (坚忍不拔). That is another way of saying they had the emotional ability to keep on with what they were doing. Walt Disney, the founder of Disneyland, was so penniless after a series of financial failures that he was left shoeless in his office because he could not afford the $1.50 to get his shoes from the repair shop. Pioneering car maker Henry Ford failed with one company and was forced out of another before he developed the Model T Car.

你的一天活动安排如下，请你据此写一篇日记。

Even Intelligent People Can Fail

_________

The unusual things about the innovators (创新者) who succeeded in making our modern world is how often they failed. Turn on a light, take a photograph, watch TV, search the web, jet across the Pacific Ocean, talk on a cell-phone. The innovators who left us these things had to find the way to success through a maze (错综复杂) of wrong turns.

_________

We have just celebrated the 125th anniversary of American innovator Thomas Edison’s success in heating a thin line to white, hot heat for 14 hours in his lab in New Jersey, US. He did that on October 22, 1879, and followed up a month later by keeping a thread of common cardboard alight (点亮着的) in an airless space for 45 hours. Three years later he went on to light up half a square mile of downtown Manhattan, even though only one of the six power plants in his design worked when he turned it on, on September 4, 1882.

________

“Many of life’s failures,” Edison said, “are because that people did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Before that magical moment in October 1879, Edison had worked out no fewer than 3,000 theories about electric light. But in only two cases did his experiments work.

________

No one likes failure, but the smart innovators learn from it. Mark Gumz, the head of a camera maker, attributes some of the company’s successes in technology to understanding failure. His popular phrase is：“You only fail when you quit.”

_________

Over two centuries, the most common quality of the innovators has been persistence (坚忍不拔). That is another way of saying they had the emotional ability to keep on with what they were doing. Walt Disney, the founder of Disneyland, was so penniless after a series of financial failures that he was left shoeless in his office because he could not afford the $1.50 to get his shoes from the repair shop. Pioneering car maker Henry Ford failed with one company and was forced out of another before he developed the Model T Car.

你的一天活动安排如下，请你据此写一篇日记。

交换：exchange vt.?

2003年11月25日          星期六            晴

1. Your friend ________________.(你的朋友来上学时心情很不好)

2. I wonder if it’s because I haven’t been able to be outdoors for so long that I’ve ______________________everything_____________________.（我不知道这是不是因为我长久无法出门的缘故，我变得对一切与大自然有关的事情都无比狂热。）

3. I __________________________until half past eleven in order to have a good look at the moon by myself.(我熬到11点半故意不睡觉，为的是独自好好看看月亮。)

4. But as the moon gave ___________________light, I_______________open a window.(但是因为月光太亮了，我不敢打开窗子。)

5. I ____________________at dusk when the window was open.(我碰巧在楼上，窗户是开着的。)

6. ______________________in a year and a half that I’d seen the night__________.(这是我一年半以来第一次目睹夜晚。)

7. Mother asked her if she was very hot _______________________.(妈妈问她穿这么多衣服是不是很热。)

8. It _____________________German than the English we speak at present.(当时的英语更多地是以德语为基础，而我们今天所说的英语不是。)

9.________________________,there is no such thing as standard English.(信不信由你，没有什么标准英语。)