每日一词学英语(54): graft

一位心理学家兼畅销书作者说，要想出人头地，至少要下1万小时苦功夫才行。他自己身体力行了吗？The bestselling pop psychologist says greatness requires 10,000 hours of hard graft. So has he put in the groundwork? (From The Sunday Times, June 21, 2009: News review interview: Malcolm Gladwell)

这位心理学家对出人头地(greatness)的定义是“really successful at something”，1万小时可以理解为“roughly a decade”，也可以是7年或者5年，取决于你每天投入的时间。

Hard graft是in the British sense of hard work，最早起源于19世纪的澳大利亚和新西兰。To graft is “to push the tool down to its full depth each time the soil is lifted”，意思就是脚踏实地的埋头苦干。

努力了不一定会成功，但成功的人一定都是努力过的。如果你觉得自己不成功，不妨先问问自己：Have I put in the groundwork with 10,000 hours of hard graft?