We often talk about ourselves as if we have permanent genetic defects(缺陷) that can never be changed. “I’m impatient.” “I’m always behind.” “I always put things      !” You’ve surely heard them. Maybe you’ve used them to describe      .
These comments may come from stories about us that have been       for years—often from     childhood. These stories may have no      in fact. But they can set low expectations for us. As a child, my mother said to me, “Marshall, you have no mechanical （操作机械的） skills, and you will never have any mechanical skills for the rest of your life. ” How did these expectations       my development? I was never       to work on cars or be around      . When I was 18, I took the US Army’s Mechanical Aptitude Test. My scores were in the bottom for the entire nation!
Six years later,     , I was at California University, working on my doctor’s degree. One of my professors, Dr. Bob Tannbaum, asked me to write down things I did well and things I couldn’t do. For my strong points, I       down, “research, writing, analysis, and speaking. ” For the       , I wrote, “I have no mechanical skills. ”
Bob asked me how I knew I had no mechanical skills. I explained my life       and told him about my       performance on the Army test. Bob then asked, “      is it that you can solve        mathematical problems, but you can’t solve easy mechanical problems?”
Suddenly I realized that I didn’t       from some sort of genetic defect. I was just living out expectations that I had chosen to      . At that point, it wasn’t just my family and friends who had been       my belief that I was mechanically hopeless. And it wasn’t just the Army test, either. I was the one who kept telling myself, “You can’t do this!” I realized that as long as I kept saying that, it was going to remain true.      , if we don’t treat ourselves as if we have genetic defects that we can never get over, we can do well in almost       we choose.

A．away B．off C．up D．down

A．them B．myself C．yourself D．others

A．said B．spoken C．spread D．repeated

A．as long as B．as far back as C．as well as D．as much as

A．evidence B．wisdom C．cause D．meaning

A．lead B．improve C．affect D．change

A．encouraged B．demanded C．hoped D．agreed

A．means B．tools C．facilities D．hammers

A．therefore B．somehow C．instead D．however

A．settled B．turned C．took D．got

A．short B．other C．weak D．latter

A．experiences B．trips C．roads D．paths

A．unexpected B．poor C．excellent D．average

A．When B．What C．How D．Why

A．challenging B．advanced C．common D．normal

A．handle B．separate C．suffer D．come

A．believe B．doubt C．adopt D．receive

A．weakening B．strengthening C．questioning D．accepting

A．As a result B．At the same time C．In addition D．Instead

A．everything B．something C．nothing D．none