英语演讲稿-失败之我见

英语演讲稿-失败之我见

My Definition of Failure

　　S－U－C－C－E－S－S. SUCCESS. Success is the catch-word of the times. It
goes without saying that almost all of us want to be successful.
Like it or not, however, we must admit that it s not easy to achieve
success. More often than not, we have to deal with its opposite,
namely failure.
　　But first of all, what is failure? It is hard to define, because
dif-ferent people have different answers. However, as far as I'm
con-cerned, I think real failure is not to try hard.
　　It's commendable that you set your mind on the best and
con-stantly strive for it. At many times, however, it's unlikely
that you'll do the best, because of the scarcity of No. 1 and
because of the fact that the attainment of the very best involves
many things, some of which are beyond your expectation. In addition
to your own merit, that of your competitors also plays an important
part. So it is a more sensible, but no less commendable thing for
you to compete with yourself, not with others. You don t have to do
best. But you should always try to do your best in whatever you are
determined to do. If you have given it 100 percent, you are not a
failure, even though you are outplayed by others. Because you have
given it 100 percent, there s nothing to regret, nor is there any
need to blame yourself. Instead, you should give credit to yourself
for trying.
　　I don t like finding excuses for our failures, because we haven t
failed at all. Take myself for example. Last year, I enrolled for
the Sports Meet in my university and competed in the 3,000－meter
race. I did this not because I m gifted in or good at running, but
because I wanted to fulfill a childhood dream. I had been an
in-competent student of physical education or P.E., ever since I was
a primary school student. As a weak student of P.E., I never got a
chance to participate in a sports meet. I envied my classmates who
were good at sports. I used to dream of becoming one of them and
displaying my skills in a sports meet. After I entered university, I
spent much of my spare time on physical exercises, such as running,
the long jump. Although I can run much faster than before, I m not
capable of winning a prize or a good place in a campus－wide run-ning
competition. In spite of that, I still entered for the event,
be-cause I wanted to challenge myself and fulfill my athletic dream.
I could have stayed away and had an easy time of it by not going in
for this race. But I chose to accept the challenge and face the
difficul-ties. I trained hard for the race, so when I came out last
but one in the competition, I didn t call my attempt a failure,
because I had tried and struggled.
　　Real failure is not to try hard. “I will forgive myself if I fail;
I won t forgive myself if I don't try”, because “It's better to have
fought and lost than not to fight at all”.
　　Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic
movement once said：“the most important thing in Olympic Games is not
to win, but to take part, just like the most important thing in life
is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential thing is not to
have conquered, but to have fought well.”
　　But what if we did fail in something? Simple. First, don t panic,
because failure is not the end of the world. As the English saying
goes, he who falls today may rise tomorrow. Second, try, try again,
because nothing is really over until the moment we stop try-ing. So
long as we persist and never give up, we will succeed eventually.
　　No failure is sweet. However, just as bitter medicine cures
sickness, failure may prove to be very instructive, so long as we
can put it in perspective. There is a saying that failure is the
mother of success. It's natural for us to get depressed for a
certain period of time, but we shouldn't inflate the importance of
our temporary setback and be disheartened by setbacks, even never
recover. We should be undaunted by failures and motivated to strive
even harder to succeed.
　　Real failure is not to try hard. It is my firm belief that one's
earnest efforts will not be wasted. They will pay off either in
other ways or at other times. In this sense, today's failure
prepares tomorrow's triumph.
　　At last, let's bear Goldsmith's remarks in mind：“Our greatest
glory consists not in never falling, but rising every time we fall。”
　　Thank you all!