Most of us fail in our efforts at self-improvement because our schemes are too ambitious and we never have time to carry them out.

我们大多数我完善却遭到失败，这是因为我们规划过于宏大，而又根本没有时间去实施。

Poor Jo tried desperately to be good, but her bosom enemy was always ready to flame up and defeat her, and it took years of patient effort to subdue it.

可怜乔拼命表现得好，可是她胸敌老是爆发出来，使她遭到失败。看来经过许多年耐心努力才能制服它。

They attempted to pillage Hungary for what  they needed and were soundly defeated.

他们试图掠夺匈牙利以获取他们需西，但遭到彻底失败。

If you curse someone and take them out, you'll also be defeated in retribution.

如果你咒骂某并将其除掉，你也会遭到报应失败。

I mean, his great achievement was in 2002, he made it into the second round of the presidential election, even though he then got completely trounced.

我意思是，他一大成就是在2002年进入了总统选举第二轮，尽管随后他遭到了彻底失败。

To think more flexibly entails a risk-we could fail and be ridiculed.

更灵活地思考意味着一种风险——我们可能会失败并遭到嘲笑。