成名不怕迟

Miguel de Cervantes 米格尔·德·塞万提斯

Before he wrote Don Quixote， Miguel de Cervantes lived an interesting life marked by 1）brushes with death， ongoing 2）financial troubles and ended up 3）behind bars more than once. He suffered several gunshot wounds and lost the use of his left hand while serving in the Spanish 4）military， and later 5）endured five years as a prisoner and slave after being kidnapped by pirates.

在寫《堂吉诃德》之前，米格尔·德·塞万提斯的人生可谓相当“精彩”——几次和死神擦肩而过，经常陷入财政困境，而且还不止一次入狱。他在西班牙军队服役时受过几次枪伤，左手被“废”了;他后来更被海盗绑架，过了五年囚犯和奴隶的生活。

Unable to support himself as a writer， Cervantes spent his 30s and 40s working as a 6）purchasing agent for the 7）Navy and as a tax collector. He was in his late-50s when he finally published Don Quixote in 1605， but its release marked the beginning of the most creative period of his life. The elderly Cervantes went on to publish several more poems and novels， including the second part of Don Quixote， which came out just months before his death at age 68.

塞万提斯无法靠写作维持生计，所以他三四十岁的时候一直为海军当采购员和收税员。1605年，他终于在接近六十岁的时候发表了《堂吉诃德》，而他一生中最富创造力的时期才正式开始。人过中年的塞万提斯陆续发表了数首诗歌和数部小说，其中包括《堂吉诃德》的第二部。该作品面世后没过几个月塞万提斯就去世了，享年68岁。

Paul Cezanne 保罗·塞尚

Painter Paul Cezanne is now considered one of the fathers of modern art， but he spent most of his life dealing with his 8）craft and enduring 9）rejection.

Born into a wealthy family， Cezanne traveled to Paris as a young man to 10）pursue a career in the arts. His early efforts often left him cold， however， and he destroyed many paintings and even briefly 11）abandoned art for a while.

Cezanne kept trying throughout the 1870s， but he sold very few paintings and often saw his work 12）criticized by art experts. He didnt get his first one-man exhibition until 1894， when he was 56， and received no public attention until the early 1900s. By then， Cezanne had finally found a style all his own. He went on to produce such masterpieces as Pyramid of Skulls and The Bathers before his death in 1906 at the age of 67.

画家保罗·塞尚如今被誉为现代艺术之父，但其实他把一生中大部分时间都花在了绘画技巧上，还经常被拒绝。

塞尚出生在一个富有的家庭，年轻时他去到巴黎，希望以艺术为职业。然而早期的努力却经常令他心灰意冷，他还毁掉了很多画作，甚至一度放弃了艺术。

在19世纪70年代这十年里，尽管塞尚不停地尝试，能卖掉的画作少之又少，而且作品还经常被专家批评。直到1894年，56岁的他才终于有机会开个人画展，到了20世纪初才得到公众关注。到了那时，塞尚终于找到了完全属于自己的风格，并画出了《头骨的金字塔》和《浴女》等杰作。塞尚在1906年与世长辞，享年67岁。

Julia Child 朱莉娅·查尔德

Americas famous chef Julia Child had been a television star for most of the 1960s， 70s and 80s， yet her 13）love affair with food started pretty late in life. Long before she ever made her first 14）soufflé， Child pursued a career in writing and advertising and worked for the Office of 15）Strategic Services during World War II. It wasnt until she moved to Paris with her husband Paul in 1948 that she finally had her first taste of French food. “I was 16）hooked，” she later remembered， “and for life， as it turned out.”

Child 17）eventually went to a Parisian cooking school and 18）collaborated on the classic book Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Following a popular appearance on a Boston public television program in 1963， the 50-year-old began hosting The French Chef， the first of several cooking shows that helped introduce Americans to 19）fine dining.

美國著名厨师朱莉娅·查尔德是20世纪60至80年代的电视明星，然而她对美食的强烈兴趣是很迟才产生的。在她做出第一个蛋奶酥以前，查尔德一直从事写作和广告的工作，并在二战期间为（美国）战略情报局工作。一直到1948年她和丈夫保罗搬到巴黎后，她才第一次尝到了法国美食。“我被迷住了，”她后来回忆道，“而且还是一辈子（都被迷住了）。”

查尔德后来到了巴黎一家烹饪学校学习，还跟人合作出版了经典之作——《掌握烹饪法国菜的艺术》。1963年，她在波士顿一档公共电视台节目中露面，大受欢迎。随后，这位50岁的女士开始主持《法兰西厨师》——最早让美国人接触精致餐饮的烹饪类节目之一。

Ray Kroc 雷·克洛克

After volunteering as an ambulance driver during World War I， Ray Kroc spent most of his career as a paper cup and milkshake machine salesman. During a 1954 trip to visit 20）clients in San Bernardino， California， he was impressed by the production methods of a local burger restaurant owned by the brothers Maurice and Richard McDonald. Convinced their operation could be a huge success， the 53-year-old Kroc joined forces with the McDonalds and later bought out their entire business in 1961.

Over the next two decades， he 21）transformed McDonalds into the United States most successful fast food restaurant. By the time of his death in 1984， the business Kroc had purchased for only $2.7 million was worth $8 billion. “I was an overnight success，” Kroc once joked， “but 30 years is a long， long night.”

一战期间，雷·克洛克自愿去当一名救护车司机。而战后的大部分时间，他主要从事纸杯和奶昔机的销售工作。1954年，在到（美国）加利福尼亚州的圣博娜迪诺市拜访客户期间，他看到莫里斯和理查德·麦当劳兄弟的汉堡店所采用的先进生产方式，从此留下了深刻的印象。克洛克深信他们的操作模式将会大获成功，53岁的他加入了麦当劳兄弟的队伍，后来更在1961年买断了整个生意。

随后的二十年里，他把麦当劳变成了美国最成功的快餐店。直到克洛克1984年去世时，当年他仅以270万美元买下的生意已经价值80亿美元。“我一夜成名，”克洛克曾开玩笑说，“但30年是非常漫长的一夜。”

J.K. Rowling J. K. 罗琳

Long before she had written a story so magical that it gathered millions of children under its spell， things werent looking too good for J.K. Rowling.

She worked as an English teacher in Porto before moving in with her sister in Edinburgh， when she found herself jobless and separated from her husband. Rowling was in a bad situation. But actually， that was probably a good thing.

“Had I really succeeded at anything else， I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one area where I truly belonged. I was set free， because my greatest fear had been realized， and I was still alive， and I still had a daughter whom I 22）adored， and I had an old typewriter， and a big idea. And so 23）rock bottom became the 24）solid 25）foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” She said.

That big idea was the Harry Potter series. And now， Rowling has won several awards， and Harry Potter has become the best-selling book series in history.

在J. K. 罗琳写出那个充满魔力并让数百万孩子为之着迷的故事之前，她的情况看起来不太好。

她曾在（葡萄牙）波尔图当过英语教师，随后和妹妹搬到了爱丁堡——这时她发现自己没有工作，还和丈夫分居。她的状况很差，但事实上，那也许是件好事。

“如果我以前在其他地方成功了，那么我也许永远不会有决心投身到这个真正属于我的领域。我自由了，因为我最大的恐惧已经成为现实，而我依然活着，依然有深爱着的女儿，我还有一台旧打字机和一个大大的梦想。我生命中的最低点成为了我重建生活的坚实基础。”她说道。

那个大大的梦想就是《哈利·波特》系列。现在，罗琳获得了数个奖项，《哈利·波特》也成为了史上最畅销的系列图书。

1） brush with death 与死神擦肩而过

2） financial a. 财政的

3） behind bars 关在监牢里

4） military n.（集合名词）军队

5） endure v. 忍耐，忍受

6） purchase v. 购买

7） navy n. 海军

8） craft n. 工艺，手艺

9） rejection n. 拒绝

10） pursue v. 追求;从事

11） abandon v. 放弃

12） criticize v. 批评，挑剔

13） love affair 强烈爱好;风流韵事

14） soufflé n.（法）舒芙蕾，蛋奶酥

15） strategic a. 戰略的

16） hook v. 沉迷，上瘾

17） eventually ad. 最后

18） collaborate v. 合作;合著

19） fine a. 精美的，精细的

20） client n. 客户

21） transform v. 转换，改变

22） adore v. 非常喜欢

23） rock bottom 最低点

24） solid a. 坚固的

25） foundation n. 基础