A person may have an idea about himself that will prevent him from doing good work. He may have the idea that he is not capable of it. A child may think he is stupid because he does not understand how to make the most of his mental faculties, or he may accept another person's mistaken estimate of his ability. Older people may be handicapped by the mistaken belief that they are incapable of learning anything new because of their age.

    A person who believes that he is incapable will not make a real effort, because he feels that it would be useless. He won't go at a job with the confidence necessary for success. He is therefore likely to fail, and the failure will strengthen his belief in his incompetence.

    Alfred Adler, a famous doctor, had an experience which illustrates this. When he was a small boy he got off to a poor start in arithmetic. His teacher got the idea that he had no ability in arithmetic and told his parents what she thought in order that they would not expect too much of him. In this way, they too developed the idea, Isn't it too bad that Alfred can't do arithmetic?" He accepted their mistaken estimate of his ability, felt that is was useless to try, and was very poor at arithmetic, just as they expected.

    One day Adler succeeded in solving a problem which none of the other student had been able to solve. This gave him confidence. He rejected the idea that he couldn't do arithmetic and was determined to show them that he could. His new found confidence stimulated him to go at arithmetic problem with a new spirit. He now worked with interest, determination, and purpose, and he soon became extraordinarily good at arithmetic.

    This experience made him realize that many people have more ability than they think they have, and that lack of success is as often the result of lack of knowledge of how to apply one’s ability, lack of confidence, and lack of determination as it is the result of lack of ability.

    附：passage3譯文與重點詞匯

    一個人對自己的認識(idea: knowledge，opinion)也許會阻礙(prevent: stop)他做好工作.他也許會認為自己不能勝任( capable：competent，qualified)。一個小孩可能認為自己很笨，因為他不懂如何最大限度地發揮他的智( mental)能(faculties: ability);或者他可能接受了別人對自己能力的錯誤(mistaken: false .wrong)評價(estimate: evaluation).年齡偏大的人可能常感到受挫( handicap: frustrate).因為他錯誤地認為(belief ：idea，thought)自己的年齡人了，無力(incapable: unable)再學新東西了。

    一個-為自己無筐的人不可能盡力( effort: endeavor)去做事，兇為他覺得那將是徒勞的.于是，他就不會有信心( confidence: faith)地去下作，而信心又是成功所必需的。因此他可能(likely：possible)失敗(fail: defeat)，而失敗(failure)又將加深(strengthen: enhance)他對自己能力缺乏(incompetence)的錯誤認識。

[FS:PAGE]    阿爾弗雷德-愛德勒，一名著名的醫生.曾有段經歷可說明(illustrate: demonstrate, exemplify)這一點.他小時候剛開始(get off: start)算術(arithmetic: math)很差，他的老師認為他沒有算術能力，并將她的想法告訴了他父母，以使他們不要對他期望太高。這樣，他們也產生(develop：create)了同樣的看法，“阿爾弗雷德不會算術，這真是件太糟糕的事?’他接受了他們對他的錯誤評價，覺得努力也沒有用，因而算術成績很差，結果也正如他們所料(expect: anticipate)。

    一天，愛德勒成功地解出(solve：resolve. tackle)了一道全班沒人能解出的難題，這給了他信心。他從此不再相信(reject：discard. get rid of)自己沒有算術能力并決心(determine：decide)做給別人看.他重新找到了信心激勵( stimulate：motivate. stir)，他以新的熱忱去學習。不久他的算術成績就相當( extraordinarily: extremely, quite)好了。

    這段經歷(experience)使他認識到(realize: know, learn)：許多人的能力比他們自己認為的要強。他們之所以成功機會少(lack)是因為他們常常不知道如何運用自己的能力，缺乏信心和決心，這無異于缺乏能力。