Developing Self-Confidence 培养自信

　　Confidence is a feeling—an inner fire and an outer radiance1, a basic satisfaction with what one is plus a reading out to become more. Confidence is not something a few people are born with and others are not, for it is an acquired characteristic.

　　自信是一种感觉—一种来自内心的火焰和外在的灿烂，使人们可以获得更多基本的满足感。自信不是某些人天生就有而另一些人没有，它是后天培养起来的性格。

　　Confidence is the personal possession of no one; the person who has it learns it – and goes on learning. The most gifted individual on earth has to construct confidence in his gifts from the basis of faith and experience, like anybody else. The tools will differ from one person to the next, but the essential task is the same. Confidence and pose are available2 to us all according to our abilities and needs – not somebody else’s – provided we utilize our gifts and expand them.

　　自信不是任何人的私有财产;人们通过学习获得自信并且坚持继续学习。这个世界上最聪明的人也要像其他人一样，在信念和经历的基础上来培养自信。一个人和另一个人用的工具可能不同，但是核心的任务是一样的。倘若运用我们的才智并使之不断增长，依靠我们自己的而不是别人的能力和需求，我们就可以做到自信和沉着冷静。

　　One of the most rewarding3 aspects of confidence is that it sits gracefully on every age and level of life – on children, men, women, the famous, the obscure4, rich, poor, artist, executive, teen-ager, the very old. And you can take it with you into old age. There is nothing more inspiring than an old person who maintains his good will, humor, and faith in himself, in others, in the future. Conversely, the root cause of old people’s despair is feeling of not being wanted, of nothing to contribute, no more to conquer and become.

　　自信最令人满意的方面之一是它不分年龄和生活水准不懈地跟随我们每个人—小孩，男人，女人，名人，平凡人，富人，穷人，艺术家，行政人员，青少年，老人。你还可以把自信带入老年。再没有比一个老人能够保持对自己，对别人和未来怀有美好意愿、心情、信念更能鼓舞人心的了。相反，老人绝望的根本原因是不被需要，无所贡献，无所征服和无所成就的感觉。

　　Most people have more to work with than they realize. One noted physicist calls this unused excellencies and finding and releasing this potential in ourselves is one of the major challenges of modern life. The great danger is not that we shall overreach our capacities but that we shall undervalue and under-employ them, thus blighting5 our great possibilities.

　　大多数人都比他们意识到的更大有可为。一位著名的物理学家把它称之为未被利用的优点，找到并且释放我们身上的这些潜能是当代生活中重要的挑战之一。最多的危险不是我们高估我们的能力，而是我们会低估并且不能充分利用这些能力，这会破坏我们的潜能。