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译文与重点词汇

    一个人对自己的认识(idea: knowledge，opinion)也许会阻碍(prevent: stop)他做好工作.他也许会认为自己不能胜任( capable：competent，qualified)。一个小孩可能认为自己很笨，因为他不懂如何最大限度地发挥他的智( mental)能(faculties: ability);或者他可能接受了别人对自己能力的错误(mistaken: false .wrong)评价(estimate: evaluation).年龄偏大的人可能常感到受挫( handicap: frustrate).因为他错误地认为(belief ：idea，thought)自己的年龄人了，无力(incapable: unable)再学新东西了。

    一个-为自己无筐的人不可能尽力( effort: endeavor)去做事，凶为他觉得那将是徒劳的.于是，他就不会有信心( confidence: faith)地去下作，而信心又是成功所必需的。因此他可能(likely：possible)失败(fail: defeat)，而失败(failure)又将加深(strengthen: enhance)他对自己能力缺乏(incompetence)的错误认识。

[FS:PAGE]    阿尔弗雷德-爱德勒，一名著名的医生.曾有段经历可说明(illustrate: demonstrate, exemplify)这一点.他小时候刚开始(get off: start)算术(arithmetic: math)很差，他的老师认为他没有算术能力，并将她的想法告诉了他父母，以使他们不要对他期望太高。这样，他们也产生(develop：create)了同样的看法，“阿尔弗雷德不会算术，这真是件太糟糕的事?’他接受了他们对他的错误评价，觉得努力也没有用，因而算术成绩很差，结果也正如他们所料(expect: anticipate)。

    一天，爱德勒成功地解出(solve：resolve. tackle)了一道全班没人能解出的难题，这给了他信心。他从此不再相信(reject：discard. get rid of)自己没有算术能力并决心(determine：decide)做给别人看.他重新找到了信心激励( stimulate：motivate. stir)，他以新的热忱去学习。不久他的算术成绩就相当( extraordinarily: extremely, quite)好了。

    这段经历(experience)使他认识到(realize: know, learn)：许多人的能力比他们自己认为的要强。他们之所以成功机会少(lack)是因为他们常常不知道如何运用自己的能力，缺乏信心和决心，这无异于缺乏能力。