单选题 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 without 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 it 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 students 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 newly found confidence stimulated him to go at arithmetic problems 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.
单选题 According to the passage, which statement is NOT true?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。A项对应于第一段第三句中的后半部分:...he may accept another person"s mistaken estimate of his ability;C项对应于第一段第一、二句;D项对应于第一段最后一句。只有B项对应于第一段第三句中的前半部分,但与原文意思不符。
单选题 A person who believes in his incompetence will ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。文章第二段列举了认为自己不行的人的种种表现:不会真正努力,不会努力工作,没有成功所必需的自信。所以A、B、C三项都是正确的。
单选题 As a boy, Alfred Adler was poor at arithmetic because ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 推理判断题。文章第三、四段以著名医生Alfred Adler。为例,指出别人的错误评价影响了他对自己的信心,从而变成了与别人眼中相符的低能者,直到有一天自己重新找回自信,发挥出自己的能力并最终取得成功。由此可以推断:他的算术不好并不是没有这方面的能力,而是缺乏自信。
单选题 Which of the following is the most important factor to Adler"s success?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 推理判断题。本文通篇论述的就是自信和决心对一个人成功的重要性,作者以Adler为例也是为了说明这一点,所以选confidence and determination。
单选题 Adler"s experience made him realize that ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。文章最后一段的第一句指出,这一经历让Alfred Adler认识到:...many people have more ability than they think they have,这就是选项B的意思。