大学英语（第五册）复习（原文及全文翻译）——Unit 3 - Your Key to a Better Life（生活更美好的关键）

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

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 self-definition, 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 learning 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.

参考译文——生活更美好的关键

你想生活变得更美好吗？据下面这篇文章的作者所述，解决这个问题的办法很简单。你只要改变看待自己的方式--你就会改变你生活的方式。改善你的自我意象便是过上更加美好生活的关键。

生活更美好的关键

马克斯韦尔·马尔兹

本世纪最重要的心理学发现就是“自我意象”。不管我们意识到与否，我们每个人的脑子里都有一幅自我“蓝图”或自我画像。在我们有意识的凝视之下，它也许是模糊不清的；事实上，我们也许根本无法有意识地去认识它。但它确实是存在的，每一个细节都完整无缺。这一自我意象就是“我是怎样一种人”的自我概念。它建立在我们的自我信念之上。但是，这些自我信念大部分是根据我们过去的经历，我们的成功和失败、我们的羞辱、我们的胜利以及他人对我们的反应，特别是根据童年时期的种种经历在不知不觉中形成的。根据所有这些以往的经历，我们便在自己的脑子里形成了一个“自我”（或一幅自我画像）。就我们个人而言，一旦关于我们自己的某种想法或信念进入这幅画像，它就变成了“真实的”。我们从不怀疑它是否可信，而是根据它去行动，就好像它是真的一样。

由于以下两项重要发现，这一自我意象便成了开启美好生活之门的金钥匙：

一、你的一切行动、感情、举止，甚至你的才能，都始终与这一自我意象一致。

简而言之，你把自己想象成怎样一种人，你就会怎样行动。而且，不管你有多大的意志力或作出怎样有意识的努力，你也根本不可能不这样去行动。不管一个人有多么良好的意愿或坚强的意志力，如果他把自己想象成一个“失败型的人”，他就会找到某种办法失败，哪怕把机会倒在他怀里他也不会抓住。一个把自己想象成不公正行为的受害者的人，一个“注定要吃苦”的人，总会找到各种环境来证实他的看法。

自我意象是一个“前提”，一个根据，或者一种基础，在此之上建筑着你的整个个性、你的行为，甚至你的环境。正因为如此，我们的种种经历便似乎证实并从而加强了我们的自我意象； 于是，一种恶性——或良性——循环便就此形成了。

例如，一个把自己看作“不及格”型的学生，或者“在数学上很笨”的学生，总会发现他的成绩单证明他的看法是对的。于是，他就有了“证据”。一个自认为没人喜欢的女孩子会发现自己在学校的舞会上的确没有人来理睬。但这种冷遇完全是她自己招来的。她那副愁眉苦脸的表情，她那种总像做错了事似的态度，她那种想讨好别人的过于焦急的样子，或者也许是她对于那些她以为会当面羞辱她的人的无意识的敌意，所有这些会把她本来能吸引的人赶走。同样，一个推销员或一个商人也会发现他的实际经历往往“证明”他的自我意象是正确的。

由于这一客观“证据”，一个人便很少想到自己的问题在于他的自我意象或自己对自己的评价。如果你告诉那位学生，说他只是“以为”自己不能掌握代数，他就会怀疑你神志是否正常。他已经试过多次，但他的成绩单上依然是不及格。如果你告诉那位推销员，说他赚的钱不能超过某个数额只是他的一种想法，他就会用他的订货簿来证明你错了。他非常清楚地知道他曾经作过多么艰苦的努力但却遭到了失败。然而，正如我们后面将会看到的，在他们被说服并改变了他们的自我意象后，学生们的分数和推销员的赚钱能力便都发生了几乎是奇迹般的变化。

二、自我意象是可以改变的。无数病例表明：任何人，不论年龄大小，都来得及改变他的自我意象，从而开始一种新的生活。

一个人似乎难以改变自己的习惯、个性乃至生活方式，原因之一是迄今为止，几乎所有试图改变的努力可以说只是对准了自我的圆周（外在因素），而不是圆心（内在因素）。无数病人对我说过诸如此类的话：“如果你谈的是‘积极思维’，那我以前已经试过了，它对我根本不起作用。”然而，只需稍加询问就会发现，这些人要么把“积极思维”用于（或试图用于）某些特定的外部环境，要么用于某一特定的习惯或性格缺点（如：“我会得到那份工作。”“以后我要更加冷静、放松。”“我这次商业冒险一定会成功”，等等）。但是，他们却从来没有想到改变对将要去完成这些事情的“自我”的看法。

耶稣曾告诫我们，把新布补在旧衣服上或用旧瓶装新酒都是愚蠢的。把“积极思维”当作一块新布或一根拐杖，加在原来那个旧的自我意象上是不会有什么作用的。事实上，只要你对自我持否定概念，你就不可能对某一特定情况进行真正的积极思维。而且，无数实验证明，自我概念一旦改变，与这一新的自我概念相一致的其他事情就可以轻而易举、毫不费力地完成。

已故的普莱斯科特·莱基是自我意象心理学的先驱之一。他在这方面做过最早的也是最具说服力的一系列实验。莱基把个性看作一个“思想系统”，系统内的所有思想着上去必须相互一致。与这一系统不一致的思想一律受到排斥，“不被相信”，也不被奉为行动的圭臬。看上去与这一系统一致的思想则被接纳。这一思想系统的核心是个人的“自我理想”，他的“自我意象”，或自我概念，其他的一切都建筑在这一基石或基础之上。莱基生前是一位教师，因此，他有机会在几千名学生身上检验自己的理论。

莱基的理论认为：如果一个学生在学习某一门学科方面有困难，那可能是因为（从那个学生的角度来看）他认为自己不适于学习那门学科。然而莱基认为，如果你能改变使这个学生产生这种看法的自我概念，那他对于这门学科的态度就会相应地改变。如要能说服这个学生改变他的自我定义，他的学习能力也会随之发生变化。事实证明了他的这一理论。有个学生在100个单词中拼错了55个，而且因为多门功课不及格失去了一年的学分，但在第二年他的各科平均成绩却达到91分，并成为全校拼写最好的学生之一。一个男生因为成绩太差被某所大学开除，后来进了哥伦比亚大学却成了一名全优生。一个女生拉丁语考试四次不及格，同辅导员谈过三次话以后，最后考了个84分。一个男生被某测试管理处断定为没有学习英语的才能， 但在第二年却赢得了文学荣誉奖。

这些学生的问题并不在于他们迟钝或缺乏基本能力。他们的问题在于他们有一个不适当的自我意象（如：“我没有数学头脑”；“我天生不会拼写单词”）。他们把自己同他们的错误和失败“等同”起来。他们不是说“我那次考试失败了”（这种说法是对事实的描述），而是下结论地说“我是个失败者”。他们不是说“我那门功课没及格”，而是说“我是个不及格的学生”。对于那些有兴趣进一步了解莱基工作的人，我建议他们买一本他的书：《自我一致，关于个性的一种理论》（纽约岛屿出版社出版）。

参考资料：

1. 大学英语精读第五册 Unit 3_大学教材听力 - 可可英语

2. 大学英语精读(第三版) 第五册:Unit3A Your Key to a Better Life(1)_大学教材听力 - 可可英语