晨读英语美文： Self-Esteem
Self-esteem is the combination of self-confidence and self-respect—the conviction that you are competent to cope with life’s challenges and are worthy of happiness. Self-esteem is the way you talk to yourself about yourself. Self-esteem has two interrelated aspects; it entails a sense of personal efficacy and a sense of personal worth.It is the integrated sum of self-confidence and self-respect. It is the conviction that one is competent to live and worthy of living.
Our self-esteem and self-image are developed by how we talk to ourselves. All of us have conscious and unconscious memories of all the times we felt bad or wrong—they are part of the unavoidable scars of childhood. This is where the critical voice gets started. Everyone has a critical inner voice. People with low self-esteem simply have a more vicious and demeaning inner voice.
Psychologists say that almost every aspect of our lives—our personal happiness, success, relationships with others, achievement, creativity, dependencies—are dependent on our level of self-esteem. The more we have, the better we deal with things.
Positive self-esteem is important because when people experience it, they feel good and look good, they are effective and productive, and they respond to other people and themselves in healthy, positive, growing ways. People who have positive self-esteem know that they are lovable and capable, and they care about themselves and other people. They do not have to build themselves up by tearing other people down or by patronizing less competent people.
Our background largely determines what we will become in personality and more importantly in self-esteem. Where do feelings of worthlessness come from? Many come from our families, since more than 80% of our waking hours up to the age of eighteen are spent under their direct influence. We are who we are because of where we’ve been. We build our own brands of self-esteem from four ingredients: fate, the positive things life offers, the negative things life offers and our own decisions about how to respond to fate, the positives and the negatives. Neither fate nor decisions can be determined by other people in our own life. No one can change fate. We can control our thinking and therefore our decisions in life.
自尊是自信和自重的综合体，是一个人深信自己能应付生活的挑战，确信自己有资格享有幸福人生。自尊就是自己如何评价自己。
自尊包括两个相互关联的部分：它源自对个人能力和价值的认识。说到底就是自信和自重的集合体。自尊即是应对生活挑战的信心以及自身存在价值的认同。
我们的自尊和自我形象取决于对自我的评价。对于所有感觉糟糕或难受的时刻，我们每一个人，有意识的或无意识的，都会记得，这其中还包括童年生活留下的不可避免的伤痕。自我批判的声音就是从这里开始产生的。每一个人的内心都会有这个自我批评的声音，而自尊心弱的人仅仅是因为这个内心的声音更多的是一种恶性的、自我贬低的声音而已。
心理学家们认为，个人的幸福感、成功、与他人的关系、成就、创造力、依赖性，包括我们生活的所有方面都取决于我们不同程度的自尊。自尊意识越强，我们就能更好地处理事务。感受到这种积极的自尊是相当重要的，拥有积极的自尊使自己感觉良好，并给别人良好的印象，工作效率提高，更加卓有成效；并且总是以一种健康、积极和发展的态度回应自己或是别人。拥有积极的自尊的人清楚自己受人喜爱，清楚自己能力很强，他们既关心自己也关心别人。他们也不需要通过诋毁比人或对能力不如自己的人摆出一副神气活现的样子来建立自己所谓的地位。
我们的经历在很大程度上决定了本人的个性，而其中最重要的部分是自尊。那么这种无用的自我感觉是从何而来的呢？其实大多是来自我们的家庭，应为在我们18岁之前，我们清醒着的时间80%以上都在家中度过，置身于家庭的直接影响之下。我们的出生决定了我们将会成为哪一种人。我们独有的自尊由两个不同的方面形成：命运，包括生活中遇到的机遇和挫折；以及我们决定如何应对命运，当然也包括机遇和挫折。在我们生活中，其他人既不能控制我们的命运，也不能改变我们的决定。没有人可以改变命运。但是在我们的一生中，我们能控制我们的思想从而控制自己的决定。
Conviction
1. the act of finding sb guilty of a crime in a court of law; the fact of having been found guilty 判罪；定罪；证明有罪
She has six previous convictions for theft. 她有六次盗窃前科。
He plans to appeal against his conviction. 他不服判决，准备上诉。
an offence which carries, on conviction, a sentence of not more than five years’ imprisonment 定罪后可判处五年或以下监禁的罪行
2. a strong opinion or belief 坚定的看法（或信念）
strong political/moral convictions
坚定不移的政治╱道德信念
She was motivated by deep religious conviction.
她的行动是出于虔诚的宗教信仰。
a conviction that all would be well in the end
最终一切都会好起来的坚定信念
3. the feeling or appearance of believing sth strongly and of being sure about it 深信；坚信；坚定；肯定
‘Not true!’ she said with conviction.
“不真实！”她肯定地说道。
He said he agreed but his voice lacked conviction.
他说他赞同，但语气不坚定。
The leader’s speech in defence of the policy didn’t carry much conviction.
那位领导人为政策辩护的讲话不是很有说服力。
Entail: to involve sth that cannot be avoided 牵涉；须要；使必要
The job entails a lot of hard work.
这工作需要十分艰苦的努力。
The girls learn exactly what is entailed in caring for a newborn baby.
姑娘们正好在学怎样照看新生儿。
It will entail driving a long distance every day.
这意味着每天都要长途开车。
Efficacy: the ability of sth, especially a drug or a medical treatment, to produce the results that are wanted （尤指药物或治疗方法的）功效，效验，效力
Vicious: violent and cruel 狂暴的；残酷的
a vicious assault/attack/murder
猛烈的袭击／进攻；残忍的谋杀
a vicious criminal/gang
凶残的罪犯／匪帮
She has a vicious temper.
她性情暴虐。
Demeaning: putting sb in a position that does not give them the respect that they should have 降低身分的；失去尊严的
He found it demeaning to work for his former employee.
他觉得为自己以前的雇员工作有失体面。
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