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每个人迟早都会在一些人生重大事情上遇到挫折——无论它是工作、梦想，还是一份感情。我相信，被法学院开除使我成了一名更好的法官。它确实教我认识了人性的弱点，体会到给予人们第二次机会的必要性。

但失败也使我懂得，人生之路充满了未知的变数，要充分利用这些变数，你就不能让自己被一次挫折击垮，也不能让别人束缚你的手脚。

The Day I Flunked out of Law School

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. He said I would never make a lawyer.

Even today words cannot describe my upset. I’d never really failed at anything significant.

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

But I decided to try again and went to see Clifford Mills, the dean of Westminster College of Law—a poor man’s school with no tenured professors or law review.

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.

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

One door had closed. But others opened.

Given a second chance, I worked much harder, becoming fascinated by the law of evidence.

In my second year the professor who taught the course passed away. I was asked to take over—inconceivable at a law school like Boulder.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. Meanwhile I worked days in the Denver City Attorney’s office as a clerk. It was anything but glamorous. But it led to a job as an assistant city attorney after graduation. I became a county judge at age 28, one of Denver’s youngest.

Later I was elected as a district judge, and then appointed by the President to the federal judiciary as a U.S. district judge.And, ultimately, I did return to Boulder—to receive the University of Colorado’s George Norlin Award, and an honorary doctorate of law.

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

Flunking out of law school, I believe, made me a better judge, it certainly taught me about the frailties of the human condition, and about the need to give people second chances. But failure also taught me that life is a road with unpredictable forks and unexpected tomorrows.To take advantage of them, you can’t let yourself be destroyed by a defeat, or let others set the limits on your ability to achieve.

参考译文

我被法学院开除的日子

科罗拉多大学法学院的院长决定我从下个秋季学期起就不能去上课了，我的分数太低了。他说我永远也当不了律师。

即便到今天，也无法用言语描述我当时的失落。在大事上我从未真正失败过。

毕竟，玻尔得的科罗拉多大学是一座泰姬陵——一扇通向司法职业和大牌律师事务所的大门。

然而，我决定再试一下，去找威斯敏斯特法学院的的克利福德·米尔斯院长，威斯敏斯特学院则是一所技校——一个没有终身教授和法学刊物的穷人学校。

米尔斯看了我的大学成绩单，录取了我，但条件是：我得重修一年级的所有课程，并得用心学习。

“我会一直盯着你的。”他说。一扇门关闭了，但其他的门却敞开了。有了第二次机会，我学习努力了许多，并迷上了证据法。

第二年，教证据法的教授去世了。学校请我来上这门课——这在玻尔得那样的法学院是不可思议的。证据法成了我终生的专业，多年来我给全国各地的法官、法学院学生和挂牌律师讲授这门课。同时白天我在丹佛市检察官办公室当职员。工作没什么意思，但在那儿得到了锻炼，于是毕业之后我成了一名助理检察官。28岁时我成了丹佛市最年轻的县法官之一。

然后又当选为地区法官，之后由总统任命到联邦司法部担任美国地区法官。而最终呢，我确实又回到了玻尔得——去接受科罗拉多大学的乔治·诺林奖和荣誉法学博士学位。

每个人迟早都会在一些人生重大事情上遇到挫折——无论它是工作、梦想，还是一份感情。我相信，被法学院开除使我成了一名更好的法官。它确实教我认识了人性的弱点，体会到给予人们第二次机会的必要性。

但失败也使我懂得，人生之路充满了未知的变数，要充分利用这些变数，你就不能让自己被一次挫折击垮，也不能让别人束缚你的手脚。

词汇释义

1.flunk n. 失败，不及格 v. （使）失败，（使） 考试不及格

Several students have been flunked out.
有几名学生因考试不及格而被迫退学。

2.clerkship n. 书记的职位

3.tenure n. 享有，保有时间

4.glamorous adj. 富有魅力的，迷人的

My job is not a very glamorous one but it does have its moment.
我的工作虽不算十分吸引人，但也自有其乐趣所在。

5.judiciary n. 司法部，司法制度，法官 adj. 司法的，法院的，法官的

6.doctorate n. 博士学位

I am going to start my doctorate in biochemistry next year.
我准备明年开始攻读生物化学博士学位。

7.frailty['freilti] n. 脆弱，意志薄弱，虚弱，弱点

One of the frailties of human nature is laziness.
人性的弱点之一是懒惰。