Are you a loser? Great. Because studies show that if you want to be a success, you need to know how to fail.
The Secret of Success
Many social scientists agree that what successful people have in common is this: They were failures.
There’s George Washington, the top general of America’s troops in the Revolutionary War, who lost two huge battles and was nearly fired. There’s Steve Jobs, who developed failed products, before returning to change the world with the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. The list goes on: From Katy Perry and Hall of Fame basketball legend Michael Jorden to Glee star Chris Colfer. They were dropped from record labels, cut from basketball teams, or bullied in school. They used to feel humiliated, lost and hopeless.
But they eventually figured out how to move forward. Experts call this resilience---being able to recover from setbacks. Amy Fineburg, Ph.D.,a specialist in psychology said “We grow by pushing beyond the limits of what we can do today.” So next time you fail a test or strike out at bat or sing off-key, don’t give up.
“That’s how we grow,” says Amy Fineburg, Ph. D., an Alabana educator who specializes in Psychology. “We grow by pushing beyond the limits of what we can do today.”
Miranda’s Story
Miranda stared tae kwon do when she was 7, and for years she lost every competition she entered. She decided to quit. However, at the urging of her father, she worked harder, got improved, kept at it and improved even more. Miranda never became the champion she’s dreamed of becoming, but she stuck with it long enough to earn her black belt by age 12.
“I could easily have said: I’m a failure, I should never have tried,” she says. “But I’m really proud that I kept at it.”
The experience taught Miranda that she could fail and still go on to succeed. Today at 17, she finally winning medal---at Irish stepdancing. When she first started, she was bad at that, too. But her experience in tad kwon do built up her resilience muscles. So she didn’t see her struggle in dance as failures. She saw them as part of the process of achieving success.
The Right Attitude
One of history’s proudest failures was inventor Thomas Edison. He looked at his failures as situations that he could fix. So how resilient are you? Say you do poorly on a text in school, do you say, “I did badly because I watched TV last night?” Then how to move in is obvious: Turn off the TV and study harder. Or would you say, “I failed the test because I have zero talent in math?” With this type of thinking, changes seem impossible to make.
The good news? Studies show that with Practice, people can change their way of thinking.
Just ask Michael Jordan
“I’ve missed more than9,000 shots in my career,” he says. “I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
1. How many people mentioned were failures before they succeed?| A．5 | B．6 | C．7 | D．8 |
| A．Next time you fail a test or strike out at bat, don’t give up |
| B．We grow by pushing beyond the limits of what we could do today. |
| C．She saw her struggles in dance as part of the process of achieving success. |
| D．I failed the test because I have zero talent in math |
| A．Failure is the mother of success |
| B．No success, no failure |
| C．Many a hand makes light work |
| D．No smoke, no fire |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Life Lessons
Life is not easy when you are pursuing something worthwhile and ready to learn from the best experiences.
It takes consistent time and effort to be successful in any area. However, people usually get discouraged when it takes more time than they thought it would. At this time, people refer only to people who have already achieved what you want to be, which most people fail to do. Look at any successful person and you’ll notice one thing common in all of them. They took time to learn and mastered their skills like no one else.
Be brave to take the road less travelled. In our whole life, we always want to follow the same path that everyone suggests, do the same things everyone does, take the same career path everyone takes, wear the same clothes everyone wears, and hang out with the same people we work with.
You don’t have to live your life in a way society wants you to.
| A．You have to break the rules sometimes. |
| B．After al life lessons are always learned the hard way. |
| C．There is no elevator to success; you have to take the stairs. |
| D．The reason why we follow others is that we are scared to fail. |
| E．It always takes tests and then fails us to learn anything worthwhile. |
| F．The general rule goes that the harder you try, the greater results you get. |
| G．Many old beliefs are being performed these days and are followed blindly. |
【推荐2】The idea of low material desire, low consumption and refusing to work, marry and havechildren, concluded as a“lying down”lifestyle, recently struck a chord with many young Chinese who are eager to take pause to breathe in this fast-paced and highly-competitive society.
Many millennials(千禧一代)and generation Zs complained to the Global Times that burdens, including work stress, family disputes and financial pressure, have pushed them“against the wall”. They said they hate the“involution(内卷)”, joking that they would rather give up some of what they have than get trapped in an endless competition against peers.
“Instead of always following the’virtues’of struggle, endure and sacrifice to bear thestresses, they prefer a temporary lying down as catharsis(宣泄)and adjustment,”said ascholar. “It is no wonder that some young people, under the growing pressures from child-raising to house costs today, would try to live in a simple way and leave the worries behind.”
Interestingly, the majority of millennials and Gen Zs reached by the Global Times, whoclaim to be big fans of the lying down philosophy, admitted that they only accept a temporarylying down as a short rest. It is true that with the great improvement of living conditions, some Chinese youths have partially lost the spirit of hardship and are not willing to bear toomuch hard work. But in fact, lying down is not entirely comfortable. Young people who liedown always feel guilty about their constant loss of confidence in pursuing the dreams beyondtheir reach.
“Young people on campus have both aspirations and confusion about their future, butmost of us have refused to set ourselves up in chains to waste opportunities and challenges,”apostgraduate student told the Global Times. “It’s no use running away. I have to ‘stand up’and face the reality sooner or later.”
1. What might have caused the“lying down”lifestyle among the young?| A．Growing pressure from family and social life. |
| B．Improvements in living conditions. |
| C．Increasing material possessions from families. |
| D．Temporary adjustment to failure in competitions. |
| A．Discussion. | B．Argument. | C．Meeting. | D．Agreement. |
| A．Understanding. | B．Objective. | C．Supportive. | D．Unclear. |
| A．They would rather escape than take challenges. |
| B．They really enjoy the“lying down”lifestyle. |
| C．They find their dreams far beyond their reach. |
| D．They never really drop their responsibilities. |
【推荐3】I used to think the whole purpose of life was pursuing happiness. Everyone said the path to happiness was success, so I searched for that ideal job, that perfect boyfriend, and that beautiful apartment. But instead of ever feeling fulfilled, I felt anxious and lost. Eventually. I decided to go to graduate school for positive psychology to learn what truly makes people happy.
And what's the difference between being happy and having meaning in life? Many psychologists describe happiness as a state of comfort and ease, feeling good in the moment. Meaning, though, is deeper. The famous psychologist Martin Seligman says meaning comes from belonging to and serving something beyond yourself and from developing the best within you. Our culture is obsessed with happiness, but I came to see that seeking meaning is the more fulfilling path.
There are four pillars of a meaningful life.
The first pillar is belonging. Belonging comes from being in relationships where you're valued for who you are and where you value others as well. For many people, belonging is the most essential source of meaning.
For others, the key to meaning is the second pillar: purpose. Finding your purpose is not the same thing as finding that job that makes you happy. A doctor told me her purpose is healing sick people. Many parents tell me, “My purpose is raising my children.” The key to purpose is using your strengths to serve others. Without something worthwhile to do, people flounder, thus losing the aim of life.
The third pillar of meaning is also about stepping beyond yourself, but in a completely different way: transcendence (超然). Transcendent experiences can change you. Transcendent states are those rare moments when you're lifted above the hustle and bustle of daily life, your sense of self fades away, and you feel connected to a higher reality. For me, I’m a writer, and it happens through writing. Sometimes I get so in the zone that I lose all sense of time and place.
The fourth pillar is storytelling, the story you tell yourself about yourself. Creating a narrative from the events of your life brings clarity. It helps you understand how you became you. But we don’t always realize that we're the authors of our stories and can change the way we’re telling them. Your life isn't just a list of events. You can edit, interpret and retell your story, even as you're constrained by the facts.
That’s the power of meaning. Happiness comes and goes. But when life is really good and when things are really bad, having meaning gives you something to hold on to.
1. What can we know from the first two paragraphs？| A．Life might be fulfilled by landing ideal jobs． |
| B．Life dilemma is challenging for us to get out of． |
| C．Meaning is highly valued in our culture． |
| D．Happiness is what most people try to achieve． |
| A．Confused | B．Distracted |
| C．Disappointed | D．Saddened |
| A．Belonging | B．Purpose |
| C．Transcendence | D．Storytelling |
| A．meaning is superior to happiness |
| B．meaning is the way to success |
| C．chasing meaning can make people happy |
| D．meaning has deeper psychological significance |
【推荐1】Here is a situation: you and a new acquaintance(相识的人) are having a conversation. The conversation has a pleasant atmosphere. You leave, satisfied. Hours later, a thought appears. “Ugh, I really shouldn’t have said that.” You can’t stop replaying the conversation over and over, picking out moments when you sounded like a babbling (胡言乱语的) baby. You finally conclude that you’re a fool who doesn’t know how to communicate.
What you’ve experienced is the liking gap, a theory that explains that people commonly underestimate how well they’re liked after communicating with another person. Researchers published the first study on it just a few years ago in Psychological Science. To find and demonstrate the liking gap, the researchers looked at several scenes where people were just getting to know each other: as strangers got acquainted in a lab, as freshmen got to know their roommates, and as strangers got to know each other in a workshop. In each scene, researchers asked each person how much they liked the person they talked with, and how much they thought their conversation partner liked them. Across the board, people rated their “perceived liking” lower than they were actually liked. The liking gap usually exists between newly acquainted people, but researchers say it also exists between friends who haven’t communicated with each other for a long time.
The liking gap exists because we can’t ask people how much they like us after a conversation. We have to run back over the conversation and reevaluate everything we said, wondering how it sounded to a stranger. Those guesses are often influenced by an inner talk that’s rather negative. As the researchers learned, people underestimate how well-liked they are, even in situations where the person they’re talking with gives signals(smiles or hand gestures) that they like the conversation. Because we are too absorbed in thinking about what we’re saying and how it sounds to notice those signals, the liking gap still exists.
The liking gap is important for us to understand the influence we have on other people. People like us more than we realize, which in turn means we have more influence than we realize.
One comfort is that, in the case of the college roommates, researchers found that the liking gap narrowed with time. While you may feel stupid around new people or just people you haven’t contacted for years, it is scientifically demonstrated that the feeling won’t continue. As you get to know someone better and feel more confident in your communication with them, the gap gets smaller.
1. How do you feel at last in Paragraph 1?| A．Satisfied. | B．Regretful. | C．Surprised. | D．Cheerful. |
| A．By comparing people’s answers. | B．By observing people’s expressions. |
| C．By researching the content of the talks. | D．By judging the views people expressed in the talks. |
| A．Because we are interested in the words. |
| B．Because we pay much more attention to ourselves. |
| C．Because our inner talks disagree with those positive signals. |
| D．Because our conversation partners give those signals out of politeness. |
| A．It makes people feel stupid all the time. | B．It reduces people’s influence on others. |
| C．It lets people underestimate their influence. | D．It leads to less communication among people. |
【推荐2】Although baby dolls are usually targeted at children, the toys have been inspiring the imaginations of an older age group as well. One assisted living home company has brought dolls which sound like and look like tiny humans to live with the elderly people with Alzheimer’s (老年痴呆症) as a way to help improve their health.
The dolls bring joy to the patients’ days and help them remember what it means to look after and care for someone. One unexpected effect of the toys is that many patients have even been able to abate their anxiety medication as they focus on looking after the dolls.
During Cuddle (拥抱) Therapy, they cuddle, hold, rock, and tend to them, looking after the dolls as they were babies. While it has been shown that caring for the dolls greatly alleviates (减轻) the senior citizen’s sadness and anxiety, it also allows them to express love and recreate a sense of connection to their environment and the world.
Although Cuddle Therapy isn’t the most high-tech solution, patients have a strong emotional response and show signs of improvement when it comes to their mental health. Executive Director at Poet’s Walk Warrenton, Terra Brown said, “Among the various forms of recreation therapy that our caregivers provide, we have found Cuddle Therapy is one of the simplest and most effective. It is also one of the most successful as it gives our residents a sense of purpose that they long for.” The therapy is offered in four U. S. states. April Hannewald’s mother is a patient at Poet’s Walk Memory Care Community in Nevada, and because of Cuddle Therapy, she’s become re-energized and feels a greater sense of purpose. “My mother is not very verbal any more, but when I’m pushing her around in a wheelchair, she immediately starts talking in full sentences when we pass the baby dolls,” saying things like these, “Oh look! What are the babies doing?” Hannewald said.
1. What is the feature of the dolls brought by that assisted living home company?| A．They can take any shape. | B．They can do various things. |
| C．They can make sounds of various animals. | D．They’re like real human babies in appearance. |
| A．Reduce. | B．Double. | C．Repeat. | D．Check. |
| A．They can remind the elderly patients of their childhood. |
| B．They can take care of the elderly patients when necessary. |
| C．They can help improve the elderly patients’ mental condition. |
| D．They can replace the elderly patients’ family and stay with them. |
| A．To explain how to use the dolls. | B．To show the dolls are very popular. |
| C．To show the dolls are really helpful. | D．To explain why people buy the dolls. |
【推荐3】Map reading, growing fruit and vegetable and basic car service are also more common skills among the baby boomer generation. But according to a new survey, just one in three 18- to 25-year-olds are able to do basic DIY, compared to two-thirds of those aged 58 and over.
Sarah Clarke-Kuehn, Chief Operating Officer-Commercial, said, “The survey findings are so interesting as they highlight a very common incorrect conception related to ‘getting old’.”
When asked at what age they thought developing new skills becomes “difficult”, Gen Z respondents said they were 35 years old, while those aged over 58 believed this number was 63 years old. The belief is that there is a boundary between learning new skills and getting a sense of achievement. But we know that this is just not the case. The benefits in continuing to enjoy life, as well as developing new talents are very significant—both physically and mentally as we grow older.
Neuroscientist and author, Dr Julia Jones, said, “We underestimate our brain’s ability to continue learning. Our brain is the most complex and precise structure in the known universe but we only use a small part of its true potential throughout our lifetimes. To boost continued brain health, we should learn complex and novel skills at all ages. This becomes more important as we age, because these learning experiences help to build new connections between neurons (神经细胞) that maintain intelligence and reduce the risk of future brain decline.”
“Learning languages and musical instruments are believed to be effective at boosting neuroplasticity (神经可塑性) due to their complex nature, but all learning is beneficial and can bring a sense of achievement, purpose and social engagement.”
Dr Jones added. “Find a new hobby and throw yourself into a wonderful learning experience or pick up an old pastime and improve those skills. I’m currently learning to play the guitar and it’s opened up a whole new world of music and fun.”
1. What is mentioned about the young generation in the text?| A．They lose interest in DIY. |
| B．They have no idea in plants. |
| C．Many of them lack some basic skills. |
| D．Many of them own poor reading skills. |
| A．Learning brings a sense of belonging. |
| B．It is never too late to learn in one’s life. |
| C．It is necessary to show off one’s talents. |
| D．The benefits of lifelong learning are temporary. |
| A．The significance of knowing the structure of the brain. |
| B．The difficulties in improving the ability of the brain. |
| C．The reasons for taking full advantage of the brain. |
| D．The process of protecting the brain from risk. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Negative. | C．Doubtful. | D．Unclear. |
【推荐1】How’s this for a coincidence (巧合)? Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born in the same year, on the same day: Feb. 12, 1809. Although people hardly think of them together, yet we want to say that they belong together. It’s not just because they were both great men, and not because they happen to live at the same time. Rather, it’s because the scientist and the politician each started a revolution that changed the world.
They were both revolutionaries in the sense that both men changed the realities when they were born. They seem and sound modern to us, because the world they left behind them is more or less the one we still live in. So, considering the joint greatness of their contributions and the coincidence of their birthdays ---- it is hard to wonder: who was the greatest man? It’s an apples and oranges--- or Superman vs. Santa---comparison. But if you limit the question to influence, very quickly the balance tips in Lincoln’s favor.
As great as his book on evolution is, it does no harm to remember that Darwin hurried to publish The Origin of Species because he thought he was about to be scooped (抢先) by his fellow naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace. Lincoln, however, is unique. True, his election as the president did cause the recession (衰退) and the war, but that war seems certain to happen---not a question of if but when. Certainly we know what happened after he was murdered: Reconstruction was organized and then abandoned, leaving the issue of racial (种族的) equality unsolved for another century.
Surely we should not deny Darwin’s accomplishment. But their same birthdays gave us a great opportunity to observe these men of their time.
1. Why does the author say Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln belong together?| A．They were born on the same day. |
| B．They lived in the same period of time. |
| C．They started revolutions changing the world. |
| D．They were both great men in the history. |
| A．It is hard to tell which one is greater as they are both outstanding. |
| B．The comparison between Darwin and Lincoln is easy and obvious. |
| C．It is difficult to compare them as they are as famous as Superman and Santa. |
| D．There is no point comparing them because they were born on the same day. |
| A．narrow. | B．aggressive. |
| C．independent. | D．ground-breaking. |
| A．Lincoln’s success in election caused reconstruction. |
| B．Lincoln had tried to solve the racial problem. |
| C．Darwin was unique compared with Lincoln. |
| D．Darwin’s theory is similar to Lincoln’s belief. |
The historians chose Abraham Lincoln as American’s greatest president．He had also been named best president in a similar study in 2000．Abraham Lincoln was the president who led the nation through the Civil War in the 1860s, and was able to unite it in the end．He also took the first steps to abolish slavery in America．
Edna Medford, a professor of history at Howard University in Washington, D.C., was an adviser on this study and the earlier one．She says Abraham Lincoln is seen to represent the values the nation most honors, such as truthfulness, moderation, and respect for human rights．
The historians put American’s first president, George Washington, second on the list, while Franklin D．Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Harry Truman follow in that order．John F．Kennedy, the country’s first Roman Catholic president, is sixth on the list．Like Lincoln, Kennedy was murdered while in office．
Among recent presidents, Ronald Reagan was named the tenth best and Bill Clinton rated fifteenth, while the historians put former president George W．Bush at number thirty-six．His father, George H.W．Bush, did much better, being placed at number eighteen．
1. We learn from the text that ___________．
| A．this is the second time that Abraham Lincoln has been chosen as America’s greatest president |
| B．Edna Medford didn’t take part in the study conducted in 2000． |
| C．George H.W．Bush was thought to have done worse in office than George W．Bush |
| D．Harry Truman was rated the fourth-best president by the study |
a．Being able to persuade the public
b．Taking effective measures during a financial crisis．
c．Balancing home life and career．
d．Pursuing equal justice for all．
| A．a,b,c | B．b,c,d | C．a,b,d | D．a,c,d |
| A．John F．Kennedy | B．George Washington |
| C．Bill Clinton | D．George W．Bush |
| A．the ten qualities a great president needs |
| B．a study of American presidents |
| C．the values the American nation honors most |
| D．how Abraham Lincoln improved the country |
【推荐3】There is no doubt that the United States has entered a brand new age, because Donald Trump, the country’s 45th president, is very different from any president before him.
Unlike Hillary Clinton, his opponent, and most former US presidents, who entered the election after years of being politicians, Trump, 70, was a New York real estate businessman.
And he was not a presidential candidate who worked hard to keep a perfect public image of a man who was always caring, fair and wise.
Instead, Trump is famous for being bad-tempered, arrogant(傲慢的) and hateful toward those who disagree with him. He also hates immigrants, both from Latin America and the Middle East, for many problems in the US. This has caused a dangerous division in the country—a country made up of many various races.
But to his supporters, the fact that Trump is not a typical politician is actually one of his advantages. His habit of never hiding his opinions is also considered by many to be a sign that he is not a hypocrite like many politicians are.
“We have seen our country take a downturn in the eyes of the world. We need to go in a different direction, ” Binyomin Weisswasser, 39, a man from Chicago, told the Chicago Tribune. “Trump’s not a politician... I like that he is not always politically correct and speaks his mind. It gives me the feeling that what you see is what you get. You may not like it, but you know what it is.”
But interestingly, many who elected Trump actually followed the “lesser of two evils” principle—one that people use when faced with picking from two unpleasant options—simply because they didn’t think Clinton was a better choice.
“He’s the candidate I disagree less with, ” Jack Stucky, 20, a student at Norwestern University, told the Chicago Tribune. “I don’t think I’d say Donald Trump is going to be the best president ever, but I did think he’d be better than Hillary Clinton.”
It’s true that the US is entering a new age. It’s just not clear yet what kind of age it’s going to be.
1. What’s the difference between Trump and any president before him?| A．He knew little about politics before the presidential election. |
| B．He didn’t try to keep a perfect public image. |
| C．He gained popularity by his bad reputation. |
| D．He is not always politically correct and speaks his mind. |
| A．a dishonest person | B．a caring person |
| C．a shy person | D．a selfish person |
| A．It reports on people’s different views on Trump’s victory in the election. |
| B．It explores the advantages Trump has over Hillary in the election. |
| C．It predicts what changes Trump will bring to the US. |
| D．It analyzes the reasons for Trump’s victory in the election. |
