英语六级快速阅读辅导

 　　Passage 1　　The Power of Personal Attitudes?

　　Each of us is made up of various physical, vital, and mental parts. There is our physical body and its organs, muscles, etc; the vital being with its sensations, emotions and feelings, and the mental part with its thoughts, memories, reasoning power, beliefs, etc. Somewhere between our emotions and our thought processing lie our attitudes -- our emotional perceptions about life, about others, even towards our own selves. Attitudes generally express positively¹ and negatively. E.g. when I have good feelings towards my work or towards others, the attitude is positive. When I feel reluctant to do certain things that are necessary, or show hostility² towards certain individuals, then my attitude is negative.?

　　Attitudes About Ourselves, Others, Life?

　　Though we have many attitudes about all aspects of life, if we look a little closer we can identify three basic types—those that have to do with ourselves, those we have about others and the objects around us, and those we have towards life itself. An example of a negative attitude about ourselves is having low self-esteem, or low self-confidence. An example of a wanting attitudes about others is a feeling ill will towards another person, or being mistrustful of others. An example of a negative attitude towards life is being pessimistic that things will never turn out well. The good news however is that if we change any negative attitude to the positive, life tends to quickly respond. Consider this true story, where a person changed her attitude about certain people:?

　　A woman was working as a temporary employee for a large medical organization. For months, she complained about certain coworkers at her job. At the time, she had decided³ to develop a 30-day plan to secure a full-time⁴ position. One part of her plan was to change her attitude toward these particular individuals. In the days that followed, she persisted in following her plan, especially focusing on her wanting attitude toward others. She was shocked however when a month into her plan, she was suddenly asked to work for the organization full time -- her first non-temporary job in nearly a decade!?

　　That is the power of changing a negative attitude toward others.?

　　Negative Expressions Attracts Negative Response?

　　So far we have indicated that changing a negative attitude can attract sudden instances of good fortune. Inversely⁵, if we take to a negative attitude, we can attract instances of bad fortune. For example, if we speak negatively about another person, it is likely that problematic circumstances will arise.?

　　A man “A” met a fellow instructor⁶ “B” before a class he was to perform that day. One of the things they discussed were problems they had experienced in earlier classes. In particular, A kept talking about how the students at a certain client were particularly difficult to work with. He persisted in expressing his feelings. Though that instructor rarely had problems with his students, later on that day, as well as in the next two classes, he had a series of difficulties with his students!?

　　As we see, when we express negative sentiment in life—whether it is ill will towards certain individuals or complaining about situations—we tend to elicit⁷ ill fortune. The best approach then is to avoid all negative expressions or complaining about others. In our moment-to-moment activities, we need to be mindful of our thoughts and feelings, and catch any negative expression—whether it us a flawed attitudes, a limited opinions, or a hasty, reflexive reaction. This is indeed serious business, because such expressions can literally⁸ destroy a work.

　　The Power of an Overall Positive Attitude?

　　In addition to having the right attitudes towards others and life around us, it is always best to have an overall positive attitude. Here’s another real-life incident to show you what I mean:?

　　A management consultant⁹ was hoping to have a key meeting with the principle officers of a company with over $100 billion in assets. For days, he fretted¹⁰ about the deal as the potential client failed to contact him. He developed greater and greater doubts that the meeting would ever take place. Finally, he remembered that it was important to have a positive attitude in these situations. He decided to change his attitude about the potential meeting from worry and concern to being positive. A very short time later, he was contacted by the client that the meeting could in fact take place. He was thrilled. In addition, years of high-level consulting work followed with the client!?

　　That is the power of having a generally positive attitude.?

　　“I have a meeting with G, an important audio salesperson¹¹. We work through a system to get him committed and productive. We discuss the fact that he must commit. During the meeting, I am conscious of my attitude that is negative about our chances of success. I struggle to reverse them. We are then interrupted as the store is then filled with customers, and a good one for that salesperson to boot!”?

　　An overall positive attitude has the power to attract sudden good fortune from the world around us. We have also seen that when difficult circumstances come in your way, and you do not get overwrought by them, maintaining a positive calm attitude, life can suddenly reverse and cancel the problem or otherwise bring sudden instances of good fortune.

　　1. The main purpose of this article is to introduce the main parts of our physical body.?

　　2. Our attitudes are our emotional perceptions about life and about others.?

　　3. One’s low self-esteem shows a negative attitude about himself.?

　　4. Even if we change any negative attitude to the positive, life will not change at all.?

　　5. The story of the woman who finds a job by changing her attitude towards others shows us the power of changing a positive attitude toward others.?

　　6. If we speak positively about another person, good things will happen.?

　　7. The story about the man "A" and the man "B" shows us if we speak negatively about another person, it is likely that problematic circumstances will arise.?

　　8. When we express negative sentiment in life, the best approach is to avoid _________ about others.?

　　9. Besides having the right attitudes towards others and life around us, we should _________.?

　　10. When difficult circumstances come in your way, __________ can help you to reverse life and cancel the problem.

 

1 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

2 hostility   

n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争

参考例句：

• There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
• His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

5 inversely   

adj.相反的

参考例句：

• Pressure varies directly with temperature and inversely with volume. 压力随温度成正比例变化，与容积成反比例变化。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The amount of force needed is inversely proportional to the rigidity of the material. 需要的力度与材料的硬度成反比。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

7 elicit   

v.引出,抽出,引起

参考例句：

• It was designed to elicit the best thinking within the government. 机构的设置是为了在政府内部集思广益。
• Don't try to elicit business secrets from me. I won't tell you anything. 你休想从我这里套问出我们的商业机密, 我什么都不会告诉你的。

8 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

9 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

10 fretted   

焦躁的，附有弦马的，腐蚀的

参考例句：

• The wind whistled through the twigs and fretted the occasional, dirty-looking crocuses. 寒风穿过枯枝，有时把发脏的藏红花吹刮跑了。 来自英汉文学
• The lady's fame for hitting the mark fretted him. 这位太太看问题深刻的名声在折磨着他。

11 salesperson   

n.售货员，营业员，店员

参考例句：

• A salesperson works in a shop.售货员在商店工作。
• Vanessa is a salesperson in a woman's wear department.凡妮莎是女装部的售货员。