Today we make room for a remarkably narrow range of personality styles.We're told that to be great is to be bold,to be happy is to be sociable.We see ourselves as a nation of extroverts——which means that we've lost sight of who we really are. One-third to one-half of Americans are introverts——in the other words, one out of every two or three people you know. If you'er not an introvert yourself, you are surely raising, managing, married to, or coupled with one. 如今,我们接受的性格类型极其有限。我们被告知,要出众就得有胆识,要快乐就得擅交际。我们自认是个由性格外向者组成的国家——这意味着我们忽视了真实的自我。三分之一到一半的美国人性格内向——换言之,你认识的每两到三个人中就有一个内向者。如果你本人不内向,那你的子女、同事、配偶或伴侣中肯定有一个是内向的。 If these statistics surprise you, that's probably because so many people pretend to be extroverts.Closet introverts pass undetected on playgrounds, in high school locker rooms, and in the corridors of corproate America.Some fool even themselves, until some life event——a layoff, an empty nest, an inheritance that frees them to spend time as they like——jolts them into taking stock of their true natures. You have only to raise this subject with your friends and acquaitances to find that the most unlikely people consider themselves introverts. |