Commencement Address by J. K.

Rowling
“The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination”

I. Explain the following in English:

graduate
inadvertently
wrack one’s mind and heart for
to extol formal
impoverished backgrounds
quixotic (ideas, thoughts)
cartoon anvil
please bear with me
ennobling experience
it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships
to be truly above the price of rubies
revelatory
proceed/precede
Amnesty International
Graduate: (noun) A person who has completed a course of study and received a degree or
diploma. (verb) To complete a course of study and receive a degree or diploma.
Inadvertently: Unintentionally, accidentally.
Wrack one’s mind and heart for: To search desperately for something, often causing mental
or emotional strain.
To extol formal: To highly praise or glorify something formal or traditional. "Formal" in this
context could refer to education, etiquette, or a specific style.
Impoverished backgrounds: Coming from poverty or a lack of resources.
Quixotic (ideas, thoughts): Impractical, idealistic, or unrealistic, often to the point of seeming
foolish. (Named after Don Quixote, a literary character known for his unrealistic chivalry.)
Cartoon anvil: A large, heavy object that falls on a character's head in cartoons, usually for
comedic effect. It is used metaphorically to describe something that suddenly and unfairly
causes a setback.
Please bear with me: A polite way to ask for patience or understanding, especially when
explaining something complex.
Ennobling experience: An experience that uplifts or inspires someone, making them feel more
noble or morally good.
It means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships: This emphasises the difficulties and
frustrations that someone might face in a particular situation. ("Petty" refers to small and
unimportant things, while "hardships" are difficult challenges.)
To be truly above the price of rubies: This means something is incredibly valuable and
irreplaceable, far more valuable than any material possession. (Rubies are precious gemstones.)
Revelatory: Something that is very informative or enlightening, revealing something new or
important.
Proceed/Precede: These words sound similar but have opposite meanings. "Proceed" means to
continue or go forward, while "precede" means to come before something else.
Amnesty International: An international organisation that works to protect human rights and
promote justice.

II. While watching the video, come up with synonyms for the following:
bear to collapse
sickness to achieve
important, vital to imagine
skip, miss

III. Find words, phrasal verbs and phrases that mean the following:
1. kind of situation, solution that will end well for everyone involved in it;
2. breathe in a lot of air at one time;
3. to look at something with your eyes partly closed in order to see better;
4. to try to remember something that happened in the past literary;
5. to think carefully about something, or to say something that you have been thinking
about;
6. to make it possible for someone to do something, or for something to happen;
7. in the future;
8. at the beginning of a new and important event or development;
9. to give the correct amount of importance or attention to two separate things;
10.thinking back to a time in the past, especially with the advantage of knowing more now
than you did then;
11.to have difficulty doing something;
12.to be especially proud of something that you do well, or of a good quality that you have;
13.have a natural skill or ability to do sth;
14.if something happens that way, it happens because you did not do anything to change it;
15.a problem that delays or prevents progress, or makes things worse than they were
16.a situation in which you have a lot of problems that seem to be caused by bad luck;
17.to write something quickly and untidily;
18.disappear without any way of finding them;
19.when someone says or does something in a way that shows a lack of respect for other
people and is likely to offend them;
20.to make someone suffer something unpleasant;
21.to work with someone secretly, especially in order to do something dishonest or illegal;
22.to be able to understand someone else's feelings, problems etc, especially because you
have had similar experience.

II. Watch and fill in the gaps with words you hear:
1. … a commencement address is a great responsibility
2. I’ve … Baroness Mary Warnock.
 3. I have asked myself what I wish I had known … my own graduation, and what important
lessons I have learned in the 21 years that have … between that day and this.
4. I have … two answers.
5. I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself, and what those
closest to me expected … me.
6. They might well have found out … the first time … graduation day.
7. … your age, in spite of a distinct lack … motivation at university, where I had spent far
too long in the coffee bar writing stories, and far too little time at lectures.
8. What is more, I cannot criticise my parents … hoping that I would never experience
poverty.
9. You might be driven by a fear … failure quite as much as a desire … success.
10.So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my
graduation day, I had failed … an epic scale.

III. Come up with English equivalents for the following:

думати, притримуватись думки;

походити, бути родом з;
захцянка, примха;
платити заставу;
досягти компромісу;
включати, спричиняти, потребувати;
протягом багатьох років;
одноліток;
бути знайомим з чимось, кимось;
відбуватися, траплятися, мати місце;
мінливість, зрадливість (долі);
до останнього подиху;
джерело, першооснова чогось;
розпачливий, безнадійний;
відплата, помста

IV. Comment on these statements:

This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently
influence you to abandon promising careers in business, the law or politics for the giddy
delights of becoming a gay wizard.
I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of
view. There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction;
the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.

Hardly had my parents’ car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and
scuttled off down the Classics corridor.

Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the Fates, and I do
not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of unruffled privilege
and contentment.

I had no idea then how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it
was a hope rather than a reality.

Failure meant a stripping away of the inessential.

Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed
in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been
realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old
typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt
my life.

Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know
that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.

What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.

As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters. (Seneca)