网络的日新月异，类似facebook的社交网站如火如荼。据一项研究发现，喜欢在这种平台上混的人既自卑又自恋，一种矛盾体。究竟是怎么回事儿呢。就让我们通过今天北京新航道托福频道分享的托福阅读文章：社交矛盾体，来寻找答案。

　　Are you a narcissist? Check your recent Facebook activity.

　　Social-networking sites offer users easy ways to present idealized images of themselves, even if those ideals don't always square with their real-world personalities. Psychology researcher Soraya Mehdizadeh has discovered a way to poke through the offline-online curtain: she has used Facebook to predict a person's level of narcissism and self-esteem.

　　Mehdizadeh, who conducted the study as an undergraduate at Toronto's York University, gained access to the Facebook accounts of 100 college students and measured activities like photo sharing, wall postings and status updates; she also studied how frequently users logged on and how often they remained online during each session. Her findings were published recently in Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking.

　　After measuring each subject using the Narcissism Personality Inventory and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Mehdizadeh discovered narcissists and people with lower self-esteem were more likely to spend more than an hour a day on Facebook and were more prone to post self-promotional photos (striking a pose or using Photoshop, for example). Narcissists were also more likely to showcase themselves through status updates (using phrases like "I'm so glamorous I bleed glitter") and wall activity (posting self-serving links like "My Celebrity Look-alikes").来源：北京新航道托福频道

　　Self-esteem and narcissism are often interrelated but don't always go hand in hand. Some psychologists believe that narcissists—those who have a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, a need for admiration, as well as a lack of empathy—unconsciously inflate their sense of self-importance as a defense against feeling inadequate. Not enough empirical research has been produced to confirm that link, although Mehdizadeh's study seems to support it. Because narcissists have less capacity to sustain intimate or long-term relationships, Mehdizadeh thinks that they would be more drawn to the online world of virtual friends and emotionally detached communication.

　　Although it seems that Facebook can be used by narcissists to fuel their inflated egos, Mehdizadeh stops short of proclaiming that excessive time spent on Facebook can turn regular users into narcissists. She also notes that social-networking sites might ultimately be found to have positive effects when used by people with low self-esteem or depression.

　　"If individuals with lower self-esteem are more prone to using Facebook," she says, "the question becomes, 'Can Facebook help raise self-esteem by allowing patients to talk to each other and help each other in a socially interactive environment?' I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that people with low self-esteem use Facebook."

　　通过上面托福课外阅读：社交矛盾体，想必大家有所了解了。我们希望通过双语阅读，能够自己的阅读能力，积累素材，为考试做好更充分的准备，争取理想的分数，加油。

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