The Door That Opened

I failed the city speech competition in my second year of high school. For a whole week I refused to speak in front of anyone.

高二那年，我在市里的演讲比赛中失败了。整整一个星期，我拒绝在任何面前说话。

My teacher did not comfort me. Instead, she gave me a harder task. She asked me to read my speech aloud in the corridor every morning.

老师没有安慰我，反而给了我一个更难的任务。她让我每天早上在走廊里大声朗读我的演讲稿。

At first I felt foolish, reading to an empty hall. But after three weeks, my voice stopped shaking.

一开始，对着空荡荡的大厅朗读让我觉得自己很傻。但三个星期之后，我的声音不再发抖了。

The next year I entered the same competition and won third place. Failure did not close a door for me. It showed me which door to open.

第二年，我参加了同一个比赛，拿了第三名。失败并没有为我关上大门，它只是告诉了我该打开哪扇门。