The Day I Flunked out of Law School 我被法學院開除的日子

獲取更多精品英語課程，請關注微信公眾號：Jerry的英語課堂

The Day I Flunked out of Law School 我被法學院開除的日子
The dean of the University of Colorado School of Law decided
that I couldn’t return to classes next fall
because my grades were too low.

科羅拉多大學法學院的院長決定我從下個秋季學期起就不能去上課了，我的分數太低了。

He said I would never make a lawyer.

他說我永遠也當不了律師。
Even today words cannot describe my upset.

即便到今天，也無法用言語描述我當時的失落。

I’d never really failed at anything significant.

在大事上我從未真正失敗過。

After all, the University of Colorado at Boulder was a Taj Mahal—
the door to judicial clerkships and prestigious law firms.

畢竟，玻爾得的科羅拉多大學是一座泰姬陵——一扇通向司法職業(yè)和大牌律師事務所的大門。

But I decided to try again and went to see Clifford Mills,

然而，我決定再試一下，去找威斯敏斯特法學院的的克利福德·米爾斯院長，

the dean of Westminster College of Law—
a poor man’s school with no tenured professors or law review.

威斯敏斯特學院則是一所技?！粋€沒有終身教授和法學刊物的窮人學校。

After reading my college transcript,
Dean Mills let me enroll at Westminster,
on one condition,
that I repeat all my first-year classes,
this time paying attention.

米爾斯看了我的大學成績單，錄取了我，但條件是：我得重修一年級的所有課程，并得用心學習。

“I’ll be looking over your shoulder,” he said.

“我會一直盯著你的?！彼f。
One door had closed.
But others opened.

一扇門關閉了，但其他的門卻敞開了。
Given a second chance,
I worked much harder,
becoming fascinated by the law of evidence.

有了第二次機會，我學習努力了許多，并迷上了證據法。

In my second year the professor who taught the course passed away.

第二年，教證據法的教授去世了。

I was asked to take over—
inconceivable at a law school like Boulder.

學校請我來上這門課——這在玻爾得那樣的法學院是不可思議的。

Evidence became a lifelong specialty,
and for many years I taught classes on the subject for judges,
law students and practicing lawyers throughout the country.

證據法成了我終生的專業(yè)，多年來我給全國各地的法官、法學院學生和掛牌律師講授這門課。

Meanwhile I worked days in the Denver City Attorney’s office as a clerk.
同時白天我在丹佛市檢察官辦公室當職員。

It was anything but glamorous.

工作沒什么意思，

But it led to a job as an assistant city attorney after graduation.
但在那兒得到了鍛煉，于是畢業(yè)之后我成了一名助理檢察官。

I became a county judge at age 28,
one of Denver’s youngest.

28歲時我成了丹佛市最年輕的縣法官之一。
Later I was elected as a district judge,
然后又當選為地區(qū)法官，

and then appointed by the President to the federal judiciary
as a U.S. district judge.

之后由總統任命到聯邦司法部擔任美國地區(qū)法官。
And, ultimately, I did return to Boulder—
to receive the University of Colorado’s George Norlin Award,
and an honorary doctorate of law.

而最終呢，我確實又回到了玻爾得——去接受科羅拉多大學的喬治·諾林獎和榮譽法學博士學位。

Sooner or later everyone will fall short at something important to them—
whether it be a job,
a dream or a relationship.

每個人遲早都會在一些人生重大事情上遇到挫折——無論它是工作、夢想，還是一份感情。

Flunking out of law school,
I believe, made me a better judge,

我相信，被法學院開除使我成了一名更好的法官。
it certainly taught me about the frailties of the human condition,
and about the need to give people second chances.

它確實教我認識了人性的弱點，體會到給予人們第二次機會的必要性。

But failure also taught me that life
is a road with unpredictable forks and unexpected tomorrows.
但失敗也使我懂得，人生之路充滿了未知的變數，

To take advantage of them,
you can’t let yourself be destroyed by a defeat,
要充分利用這些變數，你就不能讓自己被一次挫折擊垮，

or let others set the limits on your ability to achieve.

也不能讓別人束縛你的手腳。