Does luck have anything to do with success?

You see, luck does exist. When it appears, mathematicians describe in such a way that something has an extremely small probability but it does happen. People often say, one has to have an opportunity to succeed. In this case, luck is the opportunity, and to some extent is an indispensable factor to achieve success.

When people say luck has nothing to do with success, I wonder it is not their attention to deny the existence of luck, but to encourage. Because luck in fact is a factor that one can not and should not count on, even though we know people who have succeeded have their own luck. By contrast, hard work is something that everyone can count on, and as is often the case, hard work might bring luck. Therefore, luck itself is of no hope, and lack of luck should not be an excuse to failure.

something should be given preferential financing.

One skill needed to be successful in the world today

People succeed not merely because they have one or more certain skills. However, if I have to choose one skill which is to be useful to success, I think it should be the ability to convince or persuade others.

By convincing or persuading we get what we want from others. When we were children, we always managed to persuade our parents to buy us candies; when we were in high school, we had to persuade our classmates to play with us; when we applied for a job after graduation, we had better be able to successfully convince the employer that we are qualified employees. Besides, some day, we will all have to convince a person whom we love that we are indeed outstanding husbands or excellent wives.

By convincing or persuading we become more and more sturdy and powerful. Nobody is capable of doing everything perfect. By persuading others to cooperate with us, we can achieve much more than we could only by ourselves. Mr. Yu Minhong, CEO of Beijing New Oriental Education & Technology Group, had successfully convinced his alumni including Mr. Wang Qiang and Mr. Xu Xiaoping to strive after an ideal- to build a most influential private university in China, and today, they have been so close. Mr. Yu, while answering a journalist, said that he once persuaded Chinese students to go abroad, his current work is to convince those students to return to their homeland with their enhanced intelligence.

Ironically, it is ourselves who need us to persuade and convince most. We by nature are weak, yet have to be stronger to face up to tough surroundings. All too often we need encouraging. Amazingly enough, it is ourselves who can indeed encourage. When we are in trouble, we need convince ourselves not to give up; when we are in plain sailing, we need persuade ourselves not to be negligent. By convincing ourselves, we become more and more independent, and more and more robust, both of which are characteristics essential to success.

Spend money exploring outer space, or for basic needs on Earth?

Throughout the world, there are millions and millions of people who are homeless, and even cannot afford to eat. These people need help from the government. If the government has so much money to spend on space exploration, they should easily be able to have enough money to help these people gain entry to the working world. The government could set up programs which allow homeless people to train for jobs. This would be a much better way to spend money than exploring space.

Pollution is another major problem which plagues all of the industrial nations. Instead of spending money on other planets, we should be focusing on how to fix the one we live on. The ozone layer is getting thinner and thinner every year, which means that the sun's radiation is causing more damage to people and the environment. The government need to design a method to drastically reduce pollution, or else we might need to move to one of those other planets they are exploring.

In addition to the problems of pollution and homelessness, the general population could use the money as well. In many countries, including our own, the health care and education system leave so many things to be desired. I think that more money should be put towards making citizens healthier and wiser.

plague: v. 折磨，使苦恼

frivolously: adv. 轻浮地，愚昧地

put forward: 放出，拿出，提出

keep track of 明了

The most important characteristic that a person can have to be successful in life

To be successful in life, one should have the characteristic of independence, that is, he/she has the ability to think critically. By critical thinking, one is capable of analyzing insightfully, concentrating on the right target, thereby making a wise decision.

Thinking critically can enable one to analyze problems insightfully. We live in a world where controversial issues are often simply taken for granted. For example, most people are reluctant to think carefully about issues like whether boys and girls should take separate classes. Recently a high school in Beijing announced that their students from then on take separate classes. Many parents support such ridiculous decision without careful consideration. They are poor thinkers. Critical thinking is but to ask some simple yet essential questions, which always brings amazing sometimes appalling outcomes. Is such a scheme capable of eliminating underage sexual behaviors among adolescents? Is such a scheme guarantee boys and girls free of negative effects? Sadly, the decision had been made but the question left unanswered.

Thinking critically can help one concentrate on right targets. We all have only and exactly 24 hours a day, but we often have mountainous work to do in hands, along with which many personal affairs seem equally urgent. Concentrating on right targets is probably the only way to overcome such dilemmas. For example, ETS has recently announced that GRE examination will be transformed back to paper based test. Grumbles are all around, and complains are posted almost on every BBS on the Internet. But if students think critically, however, they will find out the simple fact that even if ETS had made an awkward decision, test preparers should concentrate on the right target—preparing test as prudently as possible, and at the same time, grumbling never helps.

Only by thinking critically can one make decisions wise and prudent. Sound decision making is essential to success. Decisions such as which movie theater we should go tonight are simple enough to make by tossing a coin, but decisions such as which university or which major we should choose are complicated enough so that we need careful comparisons. A comparison sheet will help a lot, simply by listing several relevant questions such as "Am I really interested in this major?" or "Are there more opportunities in the city where the university locates?" By analyzing insightfully and concentrating on the right targets, wise decisions are not hard to reach at all.

Only people who earn a lot of money are successful?

China is host to over one billion people. While the majority of China's population is not rich; in fact, it is a very small percentage of people who hold the status of being wealthy. Does this mean that the vast majority of Chinese people are unsuccessful? The answer to this is irrefutably "no".

There are many measures of success, and money is one of them. However, money is far from the main measure of success. To prove this point, one need only consider the possibility that a man could be wealthy beyond belief, but not consider himself successful. Perhaps he inherited his money, and has done nothing of value in his life. Perhaps he earned the money through ill means. Whatever the situation, it is more than possible that a rich man could be considered unsuccessful, either by himself, or by others.

Many people believe that the main measure of success is happiness, rather than material goods. Without happiness, even a person with money, status and children would not be successful. However, a low paid schoolteacher might think he/she was very successful if he/she succeeded in getting children to learn their material well. Or perhaps a housewife, who makes no money of her own, would feel successful if she raised a healthy, well-adjusted child and kept her home looking wonderful.

It is also important to look at the difference between self-perceived success and one's success in the eyes of another person. Perhaps the outside world views a man as unsuccessful if he does not have a lot of money, but he views himself as very successful because of his achievements in life. Whose opinion is more important? I believe that if one thinks he/she is successful, then he/she is, no matter what other people say.

In conclusion, money is not the only measure of success. Anyone can be successful, whether they are rich or poor. What matters is how one views himself/herself; if one is proud of one's achievements in life, and feels that he/ she has lived a fulfilling life, then he/she is successful.

irrefutably ［iˈrefjətəbli］ adv. 无可辩驳地

self-perceived ［ˌselfpəˈsi:vd］ adj. 自认为的