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1、Read the following passage and do the exercises attached.WOMEN AND SUCCESSJUDY TAMEWome n are freque ntly their own worst en emies.Life is not easy for wome n. But the n it is not easy for anyone. Obstacles are a part of life. Our socioeconomic origin, accent, race, sex, can represent obstacles for
2、both men and women. In this essay, however, I will be dealing specifically with the obstacles and opportunities for women.There are two ways to deal with obstacles. We can complain about how rotten the world is to women, or can work hard to overcome the obstacles. And if we can t overcome the obstac
3、les thenwe can do someth ing else.Negativity and PositivityThe two ways of dealing with obstacles reflect two attitudes to ourselves and to the world about us.Negative wome n give power to the things that happe n to them. They actually give away their own power to events and other people. The sen ti
4、me nts you con sta ntly find them express ing are of the sort: “ How can I live a decent life in a male dominated society? But what they are really say ing is: “ lallow society to have power over me by not crediting myself with the power to be respon sible and to make choices.”Being responsible and
5、making choices does not mean the freedom to do everything our hearts desire. That might be won derful, but the in the real world our range of choices is con stra ined by events outside our con trol. But this fact does not mean that we should not ack no wledge those very important areas where we do h
6、ave full self-sovereignty （自主权） .For women, or rather, for women in the relatively free semi-capitalist portions of the earth - those areas are:* the choice of a life partner （in cludi ng the choice whether to have one or not）* the choice of whether or not to bear childre n* the choice of whether or
7、 not to have a job or career. （How ironic it is that wome n here have more choices tha n men. They have the opti on of being supported by men!）These areas of free choice are in fact the most importa nt life decisi ons we have.In the past, because of the econo mic dominance （统治） of men over wome n, a
8、nd because of legal disabilities, it was difficult for women to have these options. The growth of free market relati on ships, the con seque nt econo mic progress and prosperity, and the classical liberal （自由主 义的）ideals of in dividual liberty have removed most of those difficulties and will, i n tim
9、e, remove them all.Perhaps the reason that so many women choose the loser mentality （心态）-the assumption that the world is basically hostile -is to mask their own lack of life skills and fear of freedom. It is interesting how many movements whose professed （公开声称的） goals are freedom are actually motiv
10、ated by the fear of freedom.Positive Mental AttitudeThe most important life skill is in fact a subjective one. It is a positive mental attitude. Some areborn with it. Others, like me, have to lear n it. I n fact, it is very easy to lear n because itmore pleasant to practice than negativity. When del
11、ivering this essay as a speech I illustrated this point by the slightly tongue in cheek（随便说说）“ Oh Joy ” process. I simply asked the audieneeto raise their hands and chant“ Oh Joy! ” The physical and verbal manifestation of positivity madeevery one in the audie nee feel good.The esse nee of positive
12、men tal attitude is two in terl in ked attitudes: the recog niti on that reality iswhat it is, and self responsibility. We don t have freedom of choice about our sex or about maleattitudes to us. But we do have freedom and resp on sibility over our own experie nee. We can thus turn our experienee, g
13、ood or bad, into negative or positive contributions to our well-being（健康）.The world is often a difficult place to live. To the negative woman this is a burden. To the positive self-actualizing （自我实现的） woman this is a challenge.The Techniques of SuccessThe fun dame ntal tech nique of success is to us
14、e every situati on, comfortable or un comfortable, for our adva nceme nt. There is a say ing in In sight, one of the best of the self-help and aware ness groups, that Whatwe focus on is what we get ” . This probablyaccounts for the appalling （另人惊 骇的） black holes of disaster that some women get thems
15、elves into and why others achieve success.How does the positive woman differ from the loser? Firstly, she assumes success. If it does not occur in a particular con text she asks herself what she has lear ned from the experie nee and does something else. Secondly, she has a positive self image. “ Sex
16、ism that is, irrational and unfair attitudes to women, does exist. But the positive woman does not allow it to matter. She does what she wants to do any way, with or without support.In his book Executive Tun e-Up: Pers onal Effect iven ess Skills for Bus in ess and Professi onal People, Dr. Karl Albrecht lists the con trast ing characteristics of the effective and the in effective person. Let s consider some of them:Th
