托福词汇之“自我纵许self-licensing”

　　Self-licensing is the unconscious tendency to allow yourself to dosomething bad after you have done something good.

　　“自我纵许”指做了一些好事之后会无意识地允许自己做点不好的事。

　　Imagining yourself as “doing good” can sometimes lead to bad things. Youeat more at Thanksgiving because you went to the gym in the morning. The “good”action somehow licenses the “bad” action, because you have a self-image as ahealthy person.

　　觉得自己“在做好事”有时会导致一些不好的事。感恩节你吃的比之前多，因为那天早晨你去了趟健身房。“好的”的行为有时会成为“坏”行为的通行证，因为你已经树立了一个健康的自我形象。

　　It's what many diet experts say may be behind why so many of us fall offthe diet rails on our “cheat days.”

　　节食专家称这种“自我纵许”的心理正是我们很多人在节食的过程中偶有几天“放纵偷懒”的背后原因。

　　Washington Post staff writer Michael Rosenwald described the followingeveryday examples of self-licensing behavior:“We drink Diet Coke – with QuarterPounders and fries at McDonald's. We go to the gym – and ride the elevator tothe second floor. We install tankless water heaters – then take longer showers.We drive SUVs to see Al Gore's speeches on global warming.”

　　《华盛顿邮报》撰稿人迈克尔·罗森沃德列出了一些日常生活中“自我纵许”的例子：“我们喝着健怡可乐，同时在麦当劳吃大汉堡和薯条。我们去健身房，然而上二楼都要坐电梯。我们安装即热式热水器，然后洗澡花的时间更长了。我们开着SUV去听艾尔·戈尔的全球变暖演讲。