By Jennifer Bragg

In the United States， it is not uncommon for a child to be asked by an adult， “What do you want to be when you grow up？” This usually refers to career choice， and the answers are sometimes very amusing for the adult asking the question.

Of course， not everyone knows what they want to do with their life when theyre a kid. Our first ideas often come from our parents and relatives， who may or may not continue to influence us as we get older. When it comes to choosing a career， only some people end up doing something they are passionate about. For others， it takes decades before a persons talents and passions are realized.

In 2014， the newspaper USA Today co-conducted a poll of American workers aged 40 to 59 to find out where they were in their careers as “preretirees”.2 Nearly one-third of the 1，000 respondents said they wanted to change careers within the next five years. Their reasons？ They said they wanted something with less pressure and more time to enjoy life outside of work.

It is not at all uncommon for Americans to have many careers over a lifetime. However， there have been times—for example， the mid-20th Century—when it was unusual to stray outside the norm of a longstanding career.3 Why risk financial and job security by trying something different？ In those days， practicality trumped4 passion.

對(duì)于成人而言，職業(yè)是生活最重要的組成部分之一，然而在當(dāng)今壓力巨大、競(jìng)爭(zhēng)激烈的社會(huì)中，職業(yè)選擇似乎往往難以與個(gè)人興趣完美匹配。當(dāng)大多數(shù)人為了安穩(wěn)和現(xiàn)實(shí)的考量而長(zhǎng)期從事同一職業(yè)時(shí)，有的人則在人生的晚年逐漸找到了真正的天賦和熱愛(ài)的事情。這些大器晚成者的人生華章也許姍姍來(lái)遲，但卻依然精彩紛呈。追尋卓越的道路有著無(wú)限可能，大器晚成也是華麗的綻放。

There have been rare cases when a person shows a great talent and skill that isnt revealed until much later in life. This type of person is known as a “l(fā)ate bloomer”. In some cases， there are those who switched careers completely to follow a dream； in others， success didnt come until later.

Here are some examples：

Grandma Moses5

Anna Mary Robinson Moses was in her late 70s when she made her debut6 as one of the most famous American painters. As a child she loved art. But as an adult she had little time for it—between raising five children， maintaining a small business and running a farm with her husband.

For years， Moses spent her spare time embroidering and quilting scenes of American country life.7 But arthritis8 made it too painful to keep up as she became older. Her sister encouraged her to take up painting instead， so Moses taught herself to depict country scenes on canvas instead of cloth.9 Eventually she gained fame for her simple pictures of folk life. An art critic called her“Grandma Moses” and that was how she was known until she died in 1961 at the age of 101. Over 30 years， she painted more than 1，500 pictures.

Julia Child10

Julia Child is an American institution when it comes to culinary art，11 but it wasnt always that way. During World War II， Child worked for the U.S. government in Washington， D.C.， first as a typist then as a researcher. She was later sent to Sri Lanka12 and then Kunming， China， where she met and married Paul Child， who loved good food.

In 1948， Paul and Julia moved to Paris. As the wife of a diplomat， she had time to study cooking， so she enrolled at Cordon Bleu school13 in Paris when she was in her 40s. She excelled in learning to cook French cuisine， and eventually she and two other women published the legendary14 book， Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Child was also a pioneer of the television cooking shows that are so common today， with her program The French Chef. She continued to appear on television well into her 80s， often cooking alongside worldfamous chefs. She died in 2004 at the age of 91.

Colonel Sanders15

You dont have to go too far in Beijing—or any major Chinese city—to find a KFC restaurant. The famous fast-food chain is known for its delicious， crispy16 chicken， based on a “secret recipe” that was developed by a man named Harland Sanders.

In 1930， when he was 40 years old， Sanders purchased a gas station in Kentucky17， where he served up his fried chicken to hungry customers. Before that， Sanders had many different jobs， from farm worker to insurance salesman. When he was 63 years old， he started opening franchises18 so more people could enjoy his chicken.

Sanders popular “Kentucky Fried Chicken” restaurant became known as KFC in 1991. By the time he died in 1980， he saw his company grow to a two-billion-dollar business with 6，000 stores. Today there are about 20，000 KFCs around the world in more than 120 countries.

Martha Stewart19

From cooking to entertaining to design， for decades Martha Stewart has been a go-to resource for millions of Americans when it comes to home and lifestyle.20 From a young age， Stewart learned how to cook and sew from her mother， and how to garden from her father. But in her early adulthood she modeled to help pay for college and worked in New York as a stock broker21.

In 1982， when she was in her early 40s， her first book， Entertaining， was published. By then she gave up her Wall Street career to start a small catering business.22 Her food and hosting skills caught the attention of a publisher who offered her a book contract， and over the next 35 years she rose to become a media mogul with a home design label that was sold by major U.S. retailers.23

Today Stewart shows no signs of slowing down. At 76 years old， she runs a multimedia empire and has a net worth of $300 million. She has even taken her business to China， where her home goods sell online via Alibaba.

What can we learn from these powerful examples？ All of them have proven that age is irrelevant when it comes to talent and skill. In todays digital times， it is much easier to switch careers. So imagine what it was like 40， or even 70 years ago—long before computers， smartphones and the Internet—to pursue a career based purely on passion， good ideas， and perseverance.24

1. late bloomer： 才能發(fā)展較遲的人，大器晚成的人。

2. poll： 民意測(cè)驗(yàn)；pre-retiree：接近退休的人士。

3. stray： 偏離；norm： 標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，規(guī)范；longstanding： 存在已久的。

4. trump： 勝過(guò)，打敗。

5. Grandma Moses： “摩西奶奶”（1860—1961），原名安娜·瑪麗·羅伯森·摩西（Anna Mary Robertson Moses），是一位美國(guó)女畫(huà)家，常被當(dāng)做自學(xué)成才、大器晚成的代表，她在晚年成為美國(guó)著名的和最多產(chǎn)的原始派畫(huà)家之一。其作品主要描繪農(nóng)場(chǎng)景色以及她的生活，常作全景風(fēng)景畫(huà)如收獲和制糖場(chǎng)面，共作畫(huà)一千多幅。

6. debut： 首次登臺(tái)，初次亮相。

7. embroider： 刺繡；quilt： 縫制，在……上縫出圖案。

8. arthritis： 關(guān)節(jié)炎。

9. depict： 描繪；canvas： 帆布，油畫(huà)布。

10. Julia Child： 朱莉婭·查爾德（1912—2004），美國(guó)知名廚師、作家與電視節(jié)目主持人。曾登上1966年11月25日的《時(shí)代》雜志封面，她的故事在2009年被翻拍成電影《朱莉與朱莉婭》。

11. institution：（某地方的）知名人士（或事物）；culinary： 廚房的，烹飪用的。

12. Sri Lanka： 斯里蘭卡，亞洲南部島國(guó)，位于印度洋上，英聯(lián)邦成員國(guó)之一。

13. Cordon Bleu school： 藍(lán)帶廚藝學(xué)校，位于法國(guó)巴黎，是世界上規(guī)模最大的西餐料理與甜點(diǎn)烘焙職業(yè)培訓(xùn)學(xué)校。

14. legendary： 大名鼎鼎的，傳奇式的。

15. Colonel Sanders：“桑德斯上校”（1890—1980），原名哈蘭德·大衛(wèi)·桑德斯（Harland David Sanders），肯德基的創(chuàng)始人。直到現(xiàn)在，肯德基商品的外包裝上皆會(huì)印上他的肖像畫(huà)，此肖像畫(huà)也是肯德基集團(tuán)的一個(gè)商標(biāo)。

16. crispy： 松脆的。

17. Kentucky： 肯塔基州，美國(guó)中東部的一個(gè)州，以純種馬和威士忌聞名。

18. franchise： 特許經(jīng)營(yíng)區(qū)，專(zhuān)賣(mài)店。

19. Martha Stewart： 瑪莎·斯圖爾特（1941— ），美國(guó)富商與著名專(zhuān)欄作家。

20. 瑪莎·斯圖爾特在烹飪界、娛樂(lè)業(yè)及設(shè)計(jì)領(lǐng)域都頗具影響力，數(shù)十年來(lái)，她一直是廣大美國(guó)民眾在居家和生活方式方面的活指南。go-to： 有問(wèn)必答的，總被找去解決問(wèn)題的。

21. stock broker： 股票經(jīng)紀(jì)人。

22. Wall Street： 華爾街，位于美國(guó)紐約曼哈頓區(qū)的一條街道，以“美國(guó)的金融中心”聞名于世；catering： 餐飲供應(yīng)，酒席承辦。

23. mogul：（尤指新聞、影視界的）大人物，大亨；retailer：零售商。

24. 想象一下40年甚至70年前的情況是怎樣的吧，在那時(shí)，電腦、智能手機(jī)和互聯(lián)網(wǎng)還都無(wú)跡可尋，人們往往單純地憑借自己的熱情、奇思妙想和堅(jiān)持不懈來(lái)追尋職業(yè)理想。perseverance： 不屈不撓，堅(jiān)持不懈。