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Self-Discipline

We all have our weaknesses; perhaps we smoke too much, take a drink too many, lounge precious hours away before the television set. Let us begin by doing without that extra cigarette, that second or third cocktail. If we have a mania for television, we should postpone our next session until we have done something that is really worthwhile... If we habitually overeat, a little healthy abstinence should be the rule. Presently since we no longer abuse our bodies by over indulgence, we shall experience the first recompense of self-denial in a sense of improved physical well-being.

Once we are really undery we should deepen and extend our moral purpose. We should resolve, for example, to carry out our duties more conscientiously; never to hurt others, thoughever much they may hurt us; to keep our temper no matter how great the provocation.

Nothing can describe the sense of power and contentment which is the fruit of hard-won victory. Only through self-discipline can we know perfect happiness.

Mankind's supreme fallacy is the belief that the more we have the happier we shall be, that the fullest enrichment of our lives can come only from an abundance of possessions... .

The younger generation, especially is possessed by this mania for " a goog time". Parental authority has become a joke, discipline is a forgotten word, self-restraint does not exist, we indulge our children in the delusion that we are good to them.

A.J. Cronin (born in 1996), Unless you Deny yourself

(1) Once we are really under way; once we are really engaged in this process.

Questions

1. According to the author, what does self-discipline consist in?
2. What are the good effects of this exercise and the bad ones of its lack?
3. According to the general belief what does happiness consist in? Make a comment on it.
4. For the younger generation what does "good time" mean? Do you agree with them?

5. Translate into French: "Once we are really............ of possessions"