Famous people ：J.K. Rowling 名人故事系列：J.K. 罗琳

Kelly's Talkshow

I just watched an interview with J.K. Rowling and I have to say, I find her really inspiring.

我刚看了一期关于J.K.罗琳的采访，不得不说，她真励志啊。

---

I know! She's the epitome of a rags to riches success story. I can only imagine how hard it must have been for her as a single mother on welfare.
我知道！她就是白手起家走向成功的典范。我能想象出她作为一个靠领取福利度日的单亲妈妈，当初有多难。

---

Right! Did you know Harry Potter was shot down a dozen times? It wasn't until one of the publisher's daughters fell in love with the book that it was finally signed.

是啊！你知道《哈利波特》曾数次被拒吗？直到有个出版商的女儿喜欢上《哈利·波特》，才得以签约出版。

---

Crazy. But how did she come up with Harry Potter anyway?
哇。但她是怎么想出《哈利·波特》的故事的？

---

Apparently, it came to her on a delayed train to London. She drew on her own experiences with her mother's death to flesh out Harry's backstory.

据说，是在去伦敦延误的列车上想出来的。她将母亲去世的经历也融进了书中，进一步充实成为《哈利·波特》的故事背景。

---

How long did it take to complete?
她写这本书用了多久呀？

---

5 or 6 years for the first novel and 17 years in total. Since then, it's become a full-blown franchise with films, theme parks and a few spin-off books.
第一部小说用了五六年，这一系列一共用了17年。此后，《哈利波特》成为了一个成熟的特许经营品牌，包括电影、主题公园，还有一系列衍生著作。

---

Wow, she really capitalized on her work. Has she written anything outside of the Potterverse?
哇，她从作品中获利颇丰啊！除了《哈利波特》系列以外，她还写了别的什么吗？

---

She's written adult fiction under a pseudonym which has been widely acclaimed.
她还用笔名写了成人小说，也是广受赞誉。

---

She's pretty prolific then, huh? Well, I'm glad to see that she's still churning out books.
那她就是挺多产的啊？这样的话，我很高兴看到她仍在写很多书。

---

Expansion | 知识拓展

A quote on success and failure from J.K. Rowling

J.K.罗琳语录：关于人生成败

---

“By every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew. Now, I’m not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairytale resolution. I had no idea then how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.

“按照通常标准来看，我曾是我所知道的最失败的人。我现在不是要站在这里告诉你们失败很有趣。那是我人生中的一段黑暗时期，当时，我并不知道未来会出现转机，就是媒体后来所描述的那种童话般的解决方案。我不知道眼前的黑暗隧道还有多长，很长一段时间里，隧道尽头的任何光亮都只是一种希冀，而非现实。

---

So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena where I felt I truly belonged.”

那么我为什么要谈论失败的好处呢？理由很简单，因为失败能让人摒弃无关重要的事情。我不再伪装自己，开始做真实的自我，开始把所有精力放在对我而言最重要的事情上。如果我当初真的在其它方面成功了，我可能永远不会有那种决心，去在真正属于我的领域获得成功。”