今天的听力材料来自 Derek Sivers，文章叫 If it’s not a hit, switch。
“这篇文章讲的意思是不要傻傻地坚持。他认为成功并不是来自无谓的坚持，而来自不断的尝试与创新。”
很赞的一篇!
1听力原文
If it’s not a hit, switch
By Derek Sivers
For the first time in my life, I had made something that people really wanted.
Before that, I had spent twelve year trying to promote①my various projects. Trying every marketing approach. Networking, pitching②, pushing③. It always felt like an uphill④battle,
trying to open locked or slamming（砰地关上）doors. I made progress, but only with massive effort.
But now... Wow! It was like I had written a hit song. A songwriter can write a hundred songs,then suddenly one of them really resonates with⑤ people and becomes a hit. Who knows why? It’s not that it’s necessarily⑥ better. But through some random circumstance or magic combination of ingredients, people love it.
Once you’ve got a hit, suddenly all the locked doors open wide. People love the hit so much that it seems to promote itself. Instead of trying to create demand, you’re managing the huge demand.
So what’s the lesson learned here?
We’ve all heard about the importance of persistence. But I had misundersto--od.
Success comes from persistently improving and inventing, not from persistently doing what’s not working.
We all have lots of ideas, creations, and projects. When you present one to the world, and it’s not a hit, don’t keep pushing it as-is⑦. Instead, get back to improving and inventing.
Present each new idea or improve ment to the world. If multiple⑧peopleare saying, “Wow! Yes! I need this! I’d be happy to pay you to do⑨this!”then you should probably do it. But if the response is anything less, don’t pursu-e it.
Don’t waste years fighting uphill battles against locked doors. Improve or invent until you get that huge response.
2听力笔记
①=encourage 促进；推动
eg.policies to ~ economic growth 促进经济增长的政策
②~sth (at sb./sth.)
使产品或服务针对，面向；确定销售对象（或目标市场）
eg.The new software is being pitched at banks.
这种新软件以银行为目标市场。
③推销新主意，产品。
Push his latest movie.推销新电影。
④漫长而艰难的，费力的（战斗、斗争、任务等）
~battle/struggle/task
⑤~with sb./sth.
使产生联想；引起共鸣；和...的想法（或观念）类似
⑥not necessarily 不一定，未必
⑦as-is 按照原样
⑧adj.数量多的；多种多样的
⑨付费，付酬做某事。
