If we were fully aware of the closely linked meanings and implications of the ideas we encounter,we could easily sort out the sound ones from the unsound,the wise from the foolish,and the helpful from the harmful.But we are seldom fully aware.In many cases,we take ideas at face value and embrace them with little or no thought of their associated meanings and implications.In the course of time,our actions are shaped by those meanings and implications,whether we are aware of them or not.
To appreciate the influence of ideas in people's lives,consider the series of events set in motion by an idea that was popular in psychology more than a century ago and whose influence continues to this day--the idea that "intelligence is genetically determined and cannot be increased."
That idea led researchers to devise tests that measure intelligence.The most famous(badly flawed)test determined that the average mental age of white American adults was 13 and that,among immigrants,the average Russian's mental age was 11.34;the average Italian's,11.01;the average Pole's,10.74;and the average mental age of "Negroes,"10.41.
Educators read the text results and thought,"Attempts to raise students' in telligence are pointless,"so they replaced academic curricula with vocational curricula and embraced a methodology that taught students facts but not the process of judgment.
*The statement"Belief in oneself is an important element in success"is very different because it specifies that belief is not the only element in success.
Translation:
自翻：
如果我们能够足够意识到接近的相关联的意思并且还能预计到这些想法可能的结果，那么我们就能够辨别出这些想法当中隐含的含义，能够从愚蠢的含义中剥离出聪明的含义，从有害的含义中剥离出有用的含义。但是我们很少能够拥有足够的意识。在很多情况下，我们识别出观点表面的价值并且不经过思考或仅仅是少量思考的情况下信奉当中关联的意义以及可能的结果。在时间的流淌中，无论我们是否能够意识到这种存在，我们的行动都符合于这些可能的结果以及含义当中。
为了理解观点在人的一生当中的影响，心理学将近一个世纪前就在流行思考这些观点对人们行为的一系列影响，并且这些影响一直持续到了今天——这个观点就是“智力是遗传基因决定的，并不会后天提高”
这个观点引导研究人员设计出衡量智力的测试。最著名的（缺陷最严重的）测试平均智力年龄是美国成人白人的是13岁，并且包括移民的平均俄罗斯智力年龄是11.34，意大利平均智力年龄是11.01；波兰人是10.74，黑人的智力年龄是10.41。
教育学家读了测试报告的结果思考后得出”想要提高学生的智力是没有意义的“，因此他们使用职业课程替换了学术课程，并且接受了教育学生事实而不是提高判断力这一方法论。
*“自信是获取成功的一个非常重要的因素”这一声明是很不一样的，因为这详细的说明了自信并不是成功唯一的因素。
难怪笑来老师说这本书的译本就不要看了，在翻译的过程中明显感觉到用英语可以理解的句子转换成汉语后总有些词不达意，可是仅按自己的理解翻译的话又怕错过了作者的意图，越来越能感受到如果能学会一门外语是什么样的感觉。
这是第六篇死磕文，相信这种文字关注的人不会很多，怎么办呢？管他呢...
因为成长比成功更重要。
