大學(xué)英語精讀第五冊UNIT 3. Your Key to a Better Life

Do you want a better life? According to the author of the following article, the solution is easy. Simply change the way you look at yourself - and you will change the way you live. Improving your self-image is your key to living a better life.

Your Key to a Better Life

by Maxwell Maltz

    The most important psychological of this century is the discovery of the "self-image." Whether we realize it or not, each of us carries about with us a mental blueprint or picture of ourselves. It may be vague and ill-defined to our conscious gaze. In fact, it may not be consciously recognizable at all. But it is there, complete down to the last detail. This self-image is our own conception of the "sort of person I am." It has been built up from our own beliefs about ourselves. But most of these beliefs about ourselves have unconsciously been formed our past experiences, our successes and failures, our humiliations, our triumphs, and the way other people have reacted to us, especially in early childhood. From all these we mentally construct a "self," (or a picture of a self). Once an idea or a belief about ourselves goes into this picture it becomes "true", as far as we personally are concerned. We do not question its validity, but proceed to act upon it just as if it were true.
    This self-image becomes a golden key to living a better life because of two important discoveries:
    1. All your actions, feelings, behavior -- even your abilities -- are always consistent with this self-image.
    In short, you will "act like" the sort of person you conceive yourself to be. Not only this, but you literally cannot act otherwise, in spite of all your conscious efforts or will power. The man who conceives himself to be a "failure type person" will find some way to fail, in spite of all his good intentions, or his will power, even if opportunity is literally dumped in his lap. The person who conceives himself to be a victim of injustice, one "who was meant to suffer" will invariably find circumstances to verify his opinions.
    The self-image is a "premise," a base, or a foundation upon which your entire personality, your behavior, and even your circumstances are built. Because of this our experiences seem to verify, and thereby strengthen our self-images, and a vicious or a beneficent cycle, as the case may be, is set up.
    For example, a schoolboy who sees himself as an "F" type student, or one who is "dumb in mathematics," will invariably find that his report card bears him out. He then has "proof". A young girl who has an image of herself as the sort of person nobody likes, will find indeed that she is avoided at the school dance. She literally invites rejection. Her woebegone expression, her hang-dog manner, her over-anxiousness to please, or perhaps her unconscious hostility towards those she anticipates will affront her - all act to drive away those whom she would attract. In the same manner, a salesman or a businessman will also find that his actual experiences tend to "prove" his self-image is correct.
    Because of this objective "proof" it very seldom occurs to a person that his trouble lies in his self-image or his own evaluation of himself. Tell the schoolboy that he only "thinks" he cannot master algebra, and he will doubt your sanity. He has tried and tried, and still his report card tells the story. Tell the salesman that it is only an idea that he cannot earn more than a certain figure, and he can prove you wrong by his order book. He knows only too well how hard he has tried and failed. Yet, as we shall see later, almost miraculous changes have occurred both in grades of students, and in the earning capacity of salesmen - when they were prevailed upon to change their self-images.
    2. The self-image can be changed. Numerous case histories have shown that one is never too young nor too old to change his self-image and thereby start to live a new life.
    One of the reasons it has seemed so difficult for a person to change his habits, his personality, or his way of life, has been that heretofore nearly all efforts at change have been directed to the circumference of the self, so to speak, rather than to the center. Numerous patients have said to me something like the following: "If you are talking about 'positive thinking', I've tried that before, and it just doesn't work for me." However, a little questioning invariably brings out that these individuals have employed "positive thinking," or attempted to employ it, either upon particular external circumstances, or upon some particular habit or character defect ("I will get that job." " I will be more calm and relaxed in the future." "This business venture will turn out right for me," etc.) But they had never thought to change their thinking of the "self" which was to accomplish these things.
    Jesus warned us about the folly of putting a patch of new material upon an old garment, or of putting new wine into old bottles. "Positive thinking" cannot be used effectively as a patch or a crutch to the same old self-image. In fact, it is literally impossible to really think positively about a particular situation, as long as you hold a negative concept of self. And, numerous experiments have shown that once the concept of self is changed, other things consistent with the new concept of self, are accomplished easily and without strain.
    One of the earliest and most convincing experiments along this line was conducted by the late Prescott Lecky, one of the pioneers in self-image psychology. Lecky conceived of the personality as a "system of ideas", all of which must seem to be consistent with each other. Ideas which are inconsistent with the system are rejected, "not believed," and not acted upon. Ideas which seem to be consistent with the system are accepted. At the very center of this system of ideas -- the keystone -- the base upon which all else is built, is the individual's "ego ideal," his "self-image," or his conception of himself. Lecky was a school teacher and had an opportunity to test his theory upon thousands of students.
    Lecky theorized that if a student had trouble learning a certain subject, it could be because (from the student's point of view) it would be inconsistent for him to learn it. Lecky believed, however, that if you could change the student's self-conception, which underlies this viewpoint, his attitude toward the subject would change accordingly. If the student could be induced to change his selfdefinition, his learning ability should also change. This proved to be the case. One student who misspelled 55 words out of a hundred and flunked so many subjects that he lost credit for a year, made a general average of 91 the next year and became one of the best spellers in school. A boy who was dropped from one college because of poor grades, entered Columbia and became a straight "A" student. A girl who had flunked Latin four times, after three talks with the school counselor, finished with a grade of 84. A boy who was told by a testing bureau that he had no aptitude for English, won honorable mention the next year for a literary prize.
    The trouble with these students was not that they were dumb, or lacking in basic aptitudes. The trouble was an inadequate self-image ("I don't have a mathematical mind"; "I'm just naturally a poor speller"). They "identified" with their mistakes and failures. Instead of saying "I failed that test" (factual and descriptive) they concluded "I am a failure." Instead of saying "I flunked that subject" they said "I am a failure." Instead of saying "I flunked that subject" they said "I am a flunk-out." For those who are interested in leaning more of Lecky's work, I recommend securing a copy of his book: self consistency, a Theory of Personality. The Island Press, Now York, N.Y.


NEW WORDS

    blueprint
n.  a design for a building or machine, with white lines on blue paper; a detailed plan or scheme
    vague
a.  not clear or distinct
    ill-defined
a.  not adequately explained; not well marked out; unclear
    recognizable
a.  that can be recognized, identifiable
    conception
n.  general understanding, idea; the act of forming an idea, plan, etc.
    humiliation
n.  the act or process of lowering pride, dignity or self-respect; the state or feeling of being humiliated
    triumph
n.  the act of winning; success
v.  be victorious or successful
    construct
vt. build or put together
    validity
n.  truth or soundness; legal force, being legally binding 正確；（法律上）有效
    consistent
a.  in agreement; keeping to the same principles and habits
    consistency
n. 
    lap
n.  the front part of a seated person between the waist and the knees
    victim
n.  a person harmed, killed or suffering some hardship or loss 受害者
    injustice
n.  lack of justice; an unjust act
    verify
vt. prove to be true, confirm; check for accuracy 證明；核實
    premise
n.  a statement that is taken as true, used as the basis for an argument; assumption 前提；假設(shè)
    thereby
ad. by means of that, in that way
   
    vicious
a.  evil, wicked; savage and dangerous
    vicious cycle
    a set of events in which cause and effect follow each other until this results in a return to the first usu. undesirable or unpleasant position and the whole matter begins again 惡性循環(huán)
    beneficent
a.  doing good; kind or generous
    rejection
n.  (an example of) rejecting or being rejected 
    woebegone
a.  very sad in appearance 愁眉苦臉
    hang-dog
a.  (of an expression on the face) unhappy esp. because ashamed or sorry 慚愧的；自覺有罪的
    unconscious
a.  having lost consciousness; unaware
    hostility
n.  ill-will; antagonism
    affront
vt. be rude to or hurt the feelings of, esp. intentionally or in public; offend 當眾侮辱，有意冒犯
    businessman (business woman)
    a person who works in business, esp. as an owner, director, or top manager of a company
    objective
a.  existing outside the mind, real; not influenced by personal feelings or opinions, fair
    sanity
n.  the state of having a sound and healthy mind
    miraculous
a.  being or resembling a miracle
    prevail
vt. be stronger or more successful; be most common or frequent
    heretofore
ad. until now, before this time 迄今為止；在此之前
    circumference
n.  the line round the outside edge of a figure, object, or place; the length round the outside of a circle 周圍；周長
    external
a.  on, of, or for the outside
    defect
n.  something missing or imperfect; fault
    venture
n.  a course of action, esp. in business, in which there is a risk of loss as well as a chance of gain 商業(yè)冒險
    folly
n.  (an act of) stupidity
    patch
n.  a piece put in to mend a hole or a tear  補釘
    garment
n.  an article of clothing
    effectively
ad. in an effective manner; with great effect
    effective
a. 
    negative
a.  not positive or helpful; expressing a refusal or denial
    concept
n.  a general idea
    keystone
n.  the middle stone in the top of an arch, which keeps the other stones in place; an idea, belief, etc. on which everything else depends 拱頂石；基礎(chǔ)
    ego
n.  one's opinion of oneself; self-esteem
    ideal
a.  perfect in every way
n.  a perfect example; high principles or perfect standards
    theorize
v.  form a theory; speculate
    inconsistent
a.  not in agreement with each other; tending to change
    underlie
vt. be a hidden cause or meaning of
    viewpoint
n.  a point of view
    accordingly
ad. in a way suitable to what has been said or what has happened; therefore 相應(yīng)地；因此
    induce
vt. lead (sb.) to do sth., often by persuading  引誘，勸
    definition
n.  the act of explaining the nature of a thing; a precise statement in which the mature of a thing is made clear
    self-definition
n.  definition of one's own character, identity, or the like
    misspell
vt. spell wrongly
    flunk
vt. fail (an exam or study course); to mark the exam answers as unsatisfactory
    credit
n.  a completed unit of a student's work that forms part of a course, esp. at a university 學(xué)分
    speller
n.  one who spells words
    counselor
n.  someone who advises or guides; adviser
    counsel
vt., n.
    honorable
a.  deserving or winning honor or respect
    honorable mention
    an honorary award next below those that win prizes 榮譽獎
    literary
a.  (typical) of literature; fond of, studying, or producing literature
    mathematical
a.  of or using mathematics; (of numbers, reasoning, etc.) exact, precise
    factual
a.  based (only) on facts
    descriptive
a.  that describes
    flunk-out
n.  a person who is dismissed from school for failure
 

PHRASES & EXPRESSIONS

down to the last detail
    in every detail
in short
    in a word, in summary
as the case may be
    whatever the case may be (used to indicate that the statement being made applies equally to the two or more alternatives that have been mentioned)
bear out
    support; confirm
occur to
    come into one's mind, enter one's head
lie in
    involve, be caused by
prevail (up) on
    think of, imagine
identify with
    consider oneself to be equal to or the same as


PROPER NAMES

    Maxwell Maltz
    馬克斯韋爾·馬爾茨
    Jesus Christ
    耶穌基督
    Prescott Lecky
    普雷斯科特·萊基
    Columbia
    哥倫比亞(大學(xué))