英语智慧背囊 07-我被法学院开除的日子
 音频下载[点击右键另存为][00:00.00]The Day I Flunked out of Law School 我被法学院开除的日子[00:06.07]The dean of the University of Colorado School of Law decided [00:11.32]that I couldn’t return to classes next fall [00:13.85]because my grades were too low. [00:16.02]He said I would never make a lawyer. [00:18.52]Even today words cannot describe my upset. [00:22.27]I’d never really failed at anything significant. [00:26.19]After all, the University of Colorado at Boulder was a Taj Mahal— [00:30.67]the door to judicial clerkships and prestigious law firms. [00:34.38]But I decided to try again and went to see Clifford Mills, [00:38.78]the dean of Westminster College of Law— [00:41.29]a poor man’s school with no tenured professors or law review. [00:45.10]After reading my college transcript, [00:47.64]Dean Mills let me enroll at Westminster, [00:50.58]on one condition, [00:51.89]that I repeat all my first-year classes, [00:54.43]this time paying attention. [00:56.26]“I’ll be looking over your shoulder,” [00:58.80]he said. [00:59.65]One door had closed. [01:01.63]But others opened. [01:02.73]Given a second chance, [01:04.59]I worked much harder, [01:05.89]becoming fascinated by the law of evidence. [01:08.52]In my second year the professor who taught the course passed away. [01:12.35]I was asked to take over— [01:14.55]inconceivable at a law school like Boulder. [01:17.38]Evidence became a lifelong specialty, [01:21.09]and for many years I taught classes on the subject for judges, [01:25.16]law students and practicing lawyers throughout the country. [01:28.43]Meanwhile I worked days in the Denver City Attorney’s office as a clerk. [01:33.57]It was anything but glamorous. [01:35.44]But it led to a job as an assistant city attorney after graduation. [01:39.70]I became a county judge at age 28, [01:43.19]one of Denver’s youngest. [01:44.73]Later I was elected as a district judge, [01:48.22]and then appointed by the President to the federal judiciary [01:51.60]as a U.S. district judge. [01:53.37]And, ultimately, I did return to Boulder— [01:56.11]to receive the University of Colorado’s George Norlin Award, [01:59.82]and an honorary doctorate of law. [02:02.11]Sooner or later everyone will fall short at something important to them— [02:06.70]whether it be a job, [02:08.23]a dream or a relationship. [02:10.55]Flunking out of law school, [02:12.71]I believe, made me a better judge, [02:14.92]it certainly taught me about the frailties of the human condition, [02:18.30]and about the need to give people second chances. [02:21.26]But failure also taught me that life [02:23.98]is a road with uNPRedictable forks and unexpected tomorrows. [02:28.13]To take advantage of them, [02:30.45]you can’t let yourself be destroyed by a defeat, [02:33.39]or let others set the limits on your ability to achieve. |
