失败真的是成功之母吗？《实验心理学：综合》（Journal of Experimental Psychology: General）上的一项研究表明，这种观念是错误的。
🤔️小作业：
1. What did the experiments in the study suggest about people's perceptions of success after failure?
A) People often assume that failure directly leads to future success.
B) People assume failure has no impact on future success.
C) People believe failure leads to better opportunities in the future.
D) People believe that failure is a result of poor preparation.
无注释原文：
Failure's 'Benefits' Might Be Overrated
From: US NEWS
Winston Churchill once said, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”
It's one of countless platitudes claiming that failure leads to success.
But there's strong evidence that such a notion is wrongheaded and can lead to terrible real-world consequences, researchers said in a new report.
In fact, many people do not learn from their failures, and it's folly to expect otherwise, according to findings published June 10 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
“People often confuse what is with what ought to be,” lead researcher Lauren Eskreis-Winkler, an assistant professor of management and organizations at Northwestern University, said in a news release. “People ought to pay attention and learn from failure, but often they don't because failure is demotivating and ego-threatening.”
A series of 11 experiments involving more than 1,800 participants found that people often don't gain wisdom from failure, and that expecting them to do so can have potentially terrible consequences:
People vastly overestimated the percentage of prospective nurses, lawyers and teachers who pass licensing exams after previously failing them.
Nurses tended to overestimate how much colleagues would learn from a past error.
People assumed that heart patients would embrace a healthier lifestyle, when many don't.
“People expect success to follow failure much more often than it actually does,” Eskreis-Winkler said. “People usually assume that past behavior predicts future behavior, so it's surprising that we often believe the opposite when it comes to succeeding after failure.”
Telling people they will succeed after failure might blunt the sting of a fiasco, but that mindset won't automatically translate into folks learning a lesson, researchers said.
On the other hand, people can recalibrate their expectations of others when given more information about how little failure actually pays off.
Experiments found people were more supportive of taxpayer funding for rehabilitation and drug treatment programs when they learned about the low rates of success for people using those programs.
“Correcting our misguided beliefs about failure could help shift taxpayer dollars away from punishment toward rehabilitation and reform,” Eskreis-Winkler said.
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注：完整题目见本文开头；中文文本为机器翻译并非一一对应，仅供参考
含注释全文：
Failure's 'Benefits' Might Be Overrated
From: US NEWS
Winston Churchill once said, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”
温斯顿·丘吉尔（Winston Churchill）曾说过：“成功就是屡受挫败，而热情不减。”
It's one of countless platitudes claiming that failure leads to success.
这只是众多宣称“失败是成功之母”的观念之一。
platitude
platitude /ˈplæt.ɪ.tjuːd/ 表示“陈词滥调；老生常谈”，英文解释为“a remark or statement that may be true but is boring and has no meaning because it has been said so many times before”举个🌰：He doesn't mouth platitudes about it not mattering who scores as long as the team wins. 他不会说这样的套话：只要球队赢了，谁进球都不重要。
But there's strong evidence that such a notion is wrongheaded and can lead to terrible real-world consequences, researchers said in a new report.
但研究人员在一份新报告中指出，有确凿证据表明，这种观念是错误的，而且可能会带来严重的现实问题。
notion
notion /ˈnəʊ.ʃən/ 表示“观念；看法；理解；概念”，英文解释为“a belief or idea”举个🌰：The show's director rejects the notion that seeing violence on television has a harmful effect on children. 节目制片人们并不认为看到电视上的暴力场景会对孩子们造成不良影响。
wrongheaded
wrongheaded /ˌrɒŋˈhed.ɪd/ 表示“判断错误的；执迷不悟的”，英文解释为“based on ideas or judgments that are not suitable for a particular situation”
In fact, many people do not learn from their failures, and it's folly to expect otherwise, according to findings published June 10 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
6月10日发表在《实验心理学：综合》（Journal of Experimental Psychology: General）上的一项研究表明，事实上，许多人并没有从失败中吸取教训，而期望从失败中吸取教训是不现实的。
“People often confuse what is with what ought to be,” lead researcher Lauren Eskreis-Winkler, an assistant professor of management and organizations at Northwestern University, said in a news release. “People ought to pay attention and learn from failure, but often they don't because failure is demotivating and ego-threatening.”
“人们常常将现有情况与理想目标混为一谈，”首席研究员、美国西北大学管理与组织学助理教授劳伦·埃斯克雷斯-温克勒（Lauren Eskreis-Winkler）在新闻稿中指出。“人们应该关注失败并从失败中吸取教训，但人们往往做不到，因为失败会打击人的积极性并伤及自尊。”
demotivating
demotivating /ˌdiːˈməʊ.tɪ.veɪ.tɪŋ/ 表示“使人泄气”，英文解释为“making someone less enthusiastic about a job or task”举个🌰：Constant criticism can be very demotivating. 不断的批评可能会让人非常沮丧。
ego
ego /ˈiːɡəʊ, ˈɛgəʊ/ 表示“自我价值感；自我，自我意识；自我评价；自我中心；自负；自尊心”，英文解释为“Someone's ego is their sense of their own worth. For example, if someone has a large ego, they think they are very important and valuable.”举个🌰：He had a massive ego, never would he admit he was wrong. 他有极强的自我价值感，从来不会承认他错了。
A series of 11 experiments involving more than 1,800 participants found that people often don't gain wisdom from failure, and that expecting them to do so can have potentially terrible consequences:
一系列涉及1800多名参与者的11项实验发现，人们往往不会从失败中吸取教训，而期望他们吸取教训可能会带来潜在的严重后果。
People vastly overestimated the percentage of prospective nurses, lawyers and teachers who pass licensing exams after previously failing them.
人们严重高估了此前未能通过考试的准护士、律师和教师通过考试的比例。
overestimate
overestimate /ˌəʊ.vəˈres.tɪ.meɪt/ 表示“过高估计；过高评价”，英文解释为“to think that something is better or more important than it really is”举个🌰：The benefits of nuclear technology, she said, had been grossly overestimated. 她说，核技术的好处被大大高估了。
prospective
prospective /prəˈspek.tɪv/ 表示“有望的；可能的；预期的；潜在的；即将发生的；行将来临的”，英文解释为“expected to do sth or to become sth；expected to happen soon”如：prospective buyers, employers, parents, etc. 潜在的客户/可能成为雇主的人/即将为人父母者等。
licensing
licensing /ˈlaɪ.sən.sɪŋ/ 表示“许可；授权”，英文解释为“the act of giving people official permission to do, have, or sell something”举个🌰：In many countries, licensing is used as a method of deciding who should sell what. 在许多国家，授权被用作决定谁应该销售什么的方法。
Nurses tended to overestimate how much colleagues would learn from a past error.
护士们通常认为同事能从过去的错误中吸取教训，但现实情况并非如此。
People assumed that heart patients would embrace a healthier lifestyle, when many don't.
人们普遍认为心脏病患者在经历治疗后会更加注重健康生活方式，但实际上很多人未能做到。
assume
assume /əˈsjuːm/ 1）表示“假定；假设；认为”，英文解释为“to think or accept that sth is true but without having proof of it”举个🌰：It is generally assumed that stress is caused by too much work. 普遍认为，紧张是工作过重所致。
2）表示“承担，担任；僭取，夺取；呈现，具有”，英文解释为“to take or begin to have responsibility or control, sometimes without the right to do so, or to begin to have a characteristic”举个🌰：The new president assumes office at midnight tonight. 新总统在今晚午夜就职。
“People expect success to follow failure much more often than it actually does,” Eskreis-Winkler said. “People usually assume that past behavior predicts future behavior, so it's surprising that we often believe the opposite when it comes to succeeding after failure.”
“人们往往认为失败之后成功的可能性比实际情况要高得多，”劳伦·埃斯克雷斯-温克勒说。“人们通常认为，过去的行为预示着未来的行为，因此谈到失败后取得成功的问题上，我们的想法与之相反，这一点令人惊讶。”
Telling people they will succeed after failure might blunt the sting of a fiasco, but that mindset won't automatically translate into folks learning a lesson, researchers said.
研究人员表示，告诉人们“失败后能成功”或许能缓解挫折感，但这种心态并不意味着他们能从中吸取教训。
blunt
blunt /blʌnt/ 作动词，表示“使变钝”，英文解释为“to make something less sharp” 也可以表示“使（情感）减弱”，英文解释为“to make a feeling less strong”举个🌰：My recent bad experience has blunted my enthusiasm for travel. 最近的倒霉经历已经使我对旅游的热情减弱了不少。
作形容词，1）表示“（铅笔、刀等）钝的，不锋利的”，英文解释为“A blunt pencil, knife, etc. is not sharp and therefore not able to write, cut, etc. well.”
2）表示“直率的；生硬的；直截了当的”，英文解释为“saying what you think without trying to be polite or considering other people's feelings”举个🌰：I'll be blunt - that last piece of work you did was terrible. 我就直说了——你创作的最后一件作品糟糕透了。
sting
sting /stɪŋ/ 表示“（眼睛、皮肤等的）灼痛，刺痛；蜇”，英文解释为“a sudden burning pain in your eyes, on your skin, etc., or the ability to cause such pain”举个🌰：She had several bee stings. 她被蜜蜂蜇了几下。
2）表示“痛苦；刺痛，刺伤；刺激”，英文解释为“the feeling of being upset by something”如：the sting of defeat 失败的痛苦。
fiasco
fiasco /fiˈæs.kəʊ/ 表示“完全失败；尴尬的结局”，英文解释为“something planned that goes wrong and is a complete failure, usually in an embarrassing way”举个🌰：The show was a fiasco - one actor forgot his lines and another fell off the stage. 演出彻底搞砸了，一个演员忘了台词，另一个跌下了舞台。
On the other hand, people can recalibrate their expectations of others when given more information about how little failure actually pays off.
另一方面，当人们认识到失败并不总是能带来积极的改变时，他们会调整对他人的期望。
recalibrate
recalibrate /ˌriːˈkæl.ɪ.breɪt/ 表示“重新调整（看法、期望等）”，英文解释为“to change the way you do or think about something”举个🌰：You need to recalibrate your expectations. 你需要重新调整你的期望。
Experiments found people were more supportive of taxpayer funding for rehabilitation and drug treatment programs when they learned about the low rates of success for people using those programs.
实验发现，当人们了解到康复和戒毒项目的人成功率很低时，他们会更支持纳税人为这些项目提供资金。
rehabilitation
rehabilitation /ˌriː.həˌbɪl.ɪˈteɪ.ʃən/ 表示“恢复（正常生活）；康复；（囚犯）获得改造”，英文解释为“the process of returning to a healthy or good way of life, or the process of helping someone to do this afterthey have been in prison, been very ill, etc.”举个🌰：Many amputees in the early stages of their rehabilitation feel despair. 在康复初期，许多截肢病人感到绝望。
“Correcting our misguided beliefs about failure could help shift taxpayer dollars away from punishment toward rehabilitation and reform,” Eskreis-Winkler said.
“纠正我们对失败的错误认识，有助于让纳税人的钱更多地用于康复和改革，而不是一味地惩罚，”劳伦·埃斯克雷斯-温克勒说。
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