Do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up? Maybe a fireman? A baker? A ballerina? You probably have some sort of idea what you ultimately want to do with your life. BUT are you actually doing it? Are you working towards it? Or have you given up all hope on your dreams with the burdens of daily life pulling you down?
你還記得自己夢想長大時做什么嗎？消防員？烘焙師？芭蕾舞演員？你都可能對自己最終想做點兒什么還有些想法。但你真的在做嗎？你是在朝著這個方向努力嗎？還是你在生活的壓力下已放棄了自己的夢想？

Pursuing your dreams comes along with many benefits! Here are some reasons why you should not give up on your dreams:
追隨你的夢想可以帶來很多益處！下面是你為什么不應該放棄夢想的幾個理由：

1. Failure.
失敗

This word seems counter-intuitive in reasons not to give up your dreams, but failure is more beneficial than you might think. Most people don’t pursue their dreams for fear of failure. Little do they know, this is one of the biggest ways we learn and grow!
把這個詞當做不要放棄夢想的理由似乎有悖直覺，但是失敗比你想象的要有用。大部分人都因為害怕失敗而放棄追求夢想。殊不知，這是我們學習和成長的最好的一個途徑！

Many famous and successful Americans had to fail over and over again to achieve what they hoped to in life. Abraham Lincoln failed at war, as a businessman, as a lawyer and even at politics at first. He pushed on through and became president of the United States. Thomas Edison’s teachers called him “stupid” and he was fired multiple times before “failing” 1000 times attempting to invent the lightbulb. Michael Jordan was once cut from his high school basketball team. He later said,
美國有很多著名的成功人士在追求他們想要的生活時都經(jīng)歷了一次又一次的失敗。亞伯拉罕·林肯打戰(zhàn)失敗過，做商人時失敗過，做律師時失敗過，就連做政客時剛開始也失敗過。他繼續(xù)努力才成為美國總統(tǒng)。托馬斯·愛迪生的老師曾說愛迪生“愚蠢”，他在發(fā)明電燈泡前失敗了1000多次，在此之前，還被解雇了很多次。邁克爾·喬丹曾一度被高中籃球隊除名。后來他說，

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career.
I’ve lost almost 300 games
26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot … and missed.
I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed.”
“在我的職業(yè)生涯中，我有9000多個投球沒有投中。我輸?shù)谋荣悗缀跤?00場。有26次，大家相信我能投入致勝的一球…..但是我沒能。在我的生活中，我一次又一次地失敗。這就是為什么我現(xiàn)在成功了?！?/div>

If we can learn anything from these successful men, it would be to never give up on our dreams simply because of fear of failure.
如果說我們能從這些成功人士身上學到些什么的話，那就是不要因為害怕失敗而放棄夢想。

2. Persistence.
毅力

With that failure comes persistence. Persistence is something that can only be learned through hardships. If you never fall down, you can’t learn how to get back up. Each time we pick ourselves back up and forge through, we get a little bit stronger and more capable of achieving our ultimate goals.
失敗會帶來毅力。只有歷盡艱辛，才會擁有毅力。如果你從未失敗，你不會學會如何重新爬起來。每當我們重新振作前進時，我們都會更加堅強，更有能力去實現(xiàn)我們最終的目標。

3. It’s better to try and fail than to wonder what might have been.
嘗試和失敗比去猜想會發(fā)生什么要好的多

Have you ever regretted trying something in your life? Perhaps it was trying out for the school play. Or asking that special someone out on a date. That feeling of wondering what could have been might still eat at you even years down the road.
在你的生活中，你有沒有后悔去嘗試什么東西？也許是去嘗試學校的演出。也許是邀請那個特別的人出去約會。如果不去嘗試，那幾年之后，那種去猜想會發(fā)生什么事的感覺可能仍然在折磨著你。

How do you avoid that feeling of regret? By trying. You don’t have to do something huge, but sitting down and making a plan with small steps on how you will achieve your dreams will start you off in the right direction. Little by little you will forge a path towards your goals.
如何能避免那種遺憾的感覺？嘗試。你不必去做大事，但是坐下來，為如何實現(xiàn)夢想而制定一步一步的計劃會讓給你從正確的方向開始。漸漸地，你會找到通往目標的道路。

4. Successes along the way.
前進道路上的成功

If your dreams are big enough, you will have stepping stones of success along the way. Small achievements can be celebrated. These small victories can help push you through to the next goal and soon enough, your dreams will be realized.
如果你的夢想足夠大，那么在前進的路上，你會擁有成功的墊腳石。小的成就值得慶祝。這些小的勝利能把你推向下一個目標，不久你的夢想就會實現(xiàn)。

5. The pursuit.
追求

Many valuable experiences are found in the pursuit.Memories, friendships, skills, life lessons, love. Basically, life is what happens when we make our way towards a goal. Applying for that college which seems out of reach, we might meet our soul mate. In seeking for that promotion, we might meet a best friend or mentor. Signing up for that team, we might get to travel the world. In order to value the pursuit, we need to follow our dreams!
在追求的過程中，會有很多寶貴的經(jīng)驗?；貞?、友誼、技能、生活經(jīng)驗和愛這些都是。基本上，生活就是我們朝著目標前進的路上所發(fā)生的事情。去申請對我們來說有點兒遙不可及的大學，我們可能會遇到自己的靈魂伴侶。在尋求提升時，我們可能遇到最好的朋友或?qū)煛：湍侵蜿牶灱s，我們可能會周游世界。要想讓追求超值，我們需要追隨自己的夢想！

6. Success is often just around the corner.
成功往往就在眼前

If only you knew how close you were! If only you knew what an impact would be for one more phone call, one more interview, and just one more late night working on your passions. Often we give up far too soon. We can’t see what the future holds for us, but we sure can keep striving towards our dreams.
只要你知道離得有多近！只要你知道憑著激情再打一個電話、再進行一次面試、再多熬一次夜會帶來什么樣的影響。我們常常過早放棄。我們看不到未來是什么樣子，但是我們能朝著夢想繼續(xù)努力。

7. Setting an example.
樹立榜樣

Finally, if you have children (or might have them some day), you will be setting a good example. Do we want our children to tell stories about how comfortable we were sitting on our couch watching sitcoms, or do we want to be remembered for the passion we had for life? Hopefully we can show the future generations what it means to chase after our dreams. Most importantly, in the words of Winston Churchill,
最后，如果你有孩子（或?qū)頃校銜樗麄儤淞⒁粋€好榜樣。我們想讓孩子講起我們時，說我們愜意地坐在沙發(fā)上看情景喜劇嗎？還是我們因?qū)ι畹募で槎粍e人記??？希望我們可以告訴后代什么是追隨夢想。最重要的是，用溫斯頓·丘吉爾的話來說，

“Never Never Never give up.”
“永遠永遠永遠都不要放棄。”