Katie Couric 2012 Commencement, 第七部分

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从这片开始,我开始注意 Consonant Stops. Sounds like /p/, /b/, /d/, /t/, /k/, /g/ when they appear at the end of a word, Americans generally do not release many of the final stops. Please do let me know if you see that I have over done it or have not done enough. Thanks a lot for any helpful tips.

In the commercial break before I went on, I could hear the two anchors…and they were talking about ME.

“Who IS that girl?” One asked. “I don’t know but she looks like she’s 16 years old.” I sounded even younger as I squeaked out, “President Reagan is beginning his day with a meeting in the Oval Office with National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski.

The president of CNN called after I appeared, he called the assignment desk and said he never wanted to see me on the air again.

Needless to say, I was devastated. Thank God for Haagen-Dazs.

Bill Co*****y offered his own version of an early career nightmare in an essay for my book. It was the sixties, and he was performing in a Chicago comedy club. He walked out on stage and delivered a 25-minute routine in exactly 12 minutes because nobody laughed. Convinced that he would be fired, he faced the club manager. “I want you to go back to your hotel room,” the manager said, “and send Bill Co*****y here to do the second show.”

Meanwhile, Kathryn Stockett, who wrote a pretty successful little book called "The Help," got 60 rejection letters…that's right, 6-0 before an agent finally said yes.  

Rejection can be the ultimate reality check. It makes you work harder and get better. My boss at CNN wasn’t being mean. He was actually right - I stunk. Bill Co*****y’s club manager wasn’t a jerk. Bill just wasn’t funny that night. As for Kathryn Stockett, I really don’t have an explanation for that one…but after five years of writing and three and half years of rejection she had plenty of time to polish her prose.  

Rejection can be humbling.  

And speaking of humility, class of 2012, it’s time for the tough love portion of the program. I tend to hate it when cultural observers make rash generalizations about entire generations BUT, here’s the rap on yours.  

By the way, this may be more about your parents, than you. And since I’m THEIR generation, let me preface this with….guilty as charged!  

They say you’ve been over coddled, over parented. You haven’t learned to deal with disappointment or setbacks, or rejection, because you haven’t really had to. After all, everyone made the soccer team and everyone got a trophy, right?