For most people, graduation is an exciting day - the culmination¹ of years of hard work. My graduation day... was not.

对于大多数人而言，毕业那天是让人兴奋——多年的苦读结束了。而我的毕业日，并不是这样的。

I remember that weekend two years ago. Family and friends had flown in from across the country to watch our class walk across that stage. But like everyone else in my graduating class, I had watched the economy turn from bad to worse my senior year.

我记得那个两年前的周末，家人和朋友们从各地飞来，观看班级列队走过毕业舞台，但是我们毕业班的每个人都清楚，在大四那年，经济环境每况愈下。

We graduates had degrees, but very limited prospects². Numerous applications had not panned out and I knew that the next day, when my lease ended, I would no longer have a place to call home.

我们虽然都有学位，但是就业前途渺茫。许多应届毕业生都没有找到工作，隔天我租的房子就到期了，我要无家可归了。

The weeks ahead weren’t easy. I gathered up everything I couldn’t carry and put it into storage. Then, because I knew my small university town couldn’t offer me any opportunities, I packed up my car and drove to Southern California to find work.

之前的几周也并不顺利。我把带不走的东西都打包起来放在仓库。大学所在的这座小镇也不能提供我什么就业机会。我整理行装驱车驶向南卡罗来纳州找工作。

But what I thought would take a week dragged into two, and then four, and 100 job applications later, I found myself in the exact same spot as I was before. And the due date to begin paying back my student loans was creeping ever closer.

我想我可能要花上一周时间，但是2周、4周过去了，投了100份简历，我发现自己又回到了原点。而且我还要面临逐渐临近的学生贷款还款日。

You know that feeling when you wake up and you are just consumed with dread³? Dread about something you can’t control - that sense of impending⁴ failure that lingers over you as you hope that everything that happened to you thus far was just a bad dream? That feeling became a constant in my life.

你了解那种一醒来就陷入恐惧的感觉么？恐惧到让你不能自已，要面对一次又一次的失败，而不仅仅是一个噩梦，这种感觉在你的生命中开始持续。

Days felt like weeks, weeks like months, and those many months felt like an unending eternity⁵ of destitution⁶. And the most frustrating⁷ part was no matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t seem to make any progress.

一天好像漫长到一周，一周漫长到一个月，那些日子让人饱受贫困，而且不知道何时才是尽头。最让人沮丧的是，不管我多么的努力，都没有一点改善。

I channeled my frustration⁸ into a children’s book. Beyond the River was the story of an unlikely hero featuring a little fish who simply refused to give up on his dream.

我把这些情绪写进了一本儿童书，《大河的彼端》，它不是一本讲英雄的书，而是讲一条小鱼在梦想之路上坚持不懈的故事。

And then one day, without any sort of writing degree or contacts in the writing world - just a lot of hard work and perseverance⁹ - I was offered a publishing contract for my first book!

一天，不是写作科班出生的我联系了出版社，靠着我的努力和韧劲，我最终出版了我的第一本书！

After that, things slowly began to fall into place. I was offered a second book deal. Then, a few months later, I got an interview with The Walt Disney Company and was hired shortly after.

从那以后，一切开始步入正规。我又签约了第二本书。几个月以后，我收到了来自迪士尼公司的面试，不久后就开始受雇工作。

The moral of this story is... don’t give up. Even if things look bleak¹⁰ now, don’t give up. Two years ago I was huddled¹¹ in my car drinking cold soup right out of the can. Things change.

这个故事告诉我们，不要放弃，即使未来渺茫，也不要放弃。2年前我蜷在车子里喝着罐头里的冷汤。事情会有转机。

If you work hard, give it time, and don’t give up, things will always get better. Often times our dreams lie in wait just a little further upstream... all we need is the courage to push beyond the river.

只要你努力工作，不要放弃，假以时日，事情就会改变。很多时候，只需要一些逆流而上的勇气，我们的梦想就能到达大河的彼端。