Emotional Debt

Many people today live under the weight of debt from loans or credit cards. As harmful as financial debt is, there is another form of debt that is even more damaging—emotional debt. Dr. James Richard states that emotional debt occurs “when we experience emotional pain that remains unresolved.” If the pain is not dealt with, it will affect us our entire lives.

Throughout the years, we have chances for happiness, love and success. But unresolved pain can emerge, causing us to respond in ways that aren’t reasonable. When we have a tendency to respond inappropriately, we often hurt those around us. Unfortunately our unresolved problems sometimes become too much for them to handle, causing them to abandon the relationship.

People with destructive patterns should check their lives for signs of unresolved pain. Your emotional debt can come from various forms of past abuse (辱骂) or neglect. You may be holding onto painful memories of controlling parents or very demanding teachers. You may not have dealt with the pain of a broken relationship or the death of a loved one. Any negative emotion that you have controlled over the years can come back to cause harm when you least expect.

Recognize your feelings, but don’t focus on them all the time. Acknowledging and confronting your pain is difficult, but recognizing it is the first step toward dealing with it.

Admit you are angry about the past, and discuss it with someone you trust, or write it down. This will ease some of the anger you’ve kept for years.

Refuse to be a victim and accept responsibility for dealing with your painful past. This puts you in charge and limits the power your emotions have over you.

Take specific steps to resolve your emotional debt now instead of dealing with the consequences later.

参考范文：

Emotional debt is unresolved emotional pain and can harm us unexpectedly, like breaking relationships. It can originate from any negative emotion you’ve controlled. Therefore, to avoid its negative effects, measures should be taken to address it as soon as possible. First, recognize your pain. Second, express it orally or in a written way. And then, deal with it actively.

本文是一篇说明文。文章介绍说，情感债务是未解决的情感痛苦，可能会意外地伤害我们，比如分手。它可以源于你所控制的任何负面情绪。因此，为了避免其负面影响，应该尽快采取措施解决它。首先，认识到你的痛苦。第二，用口头或书面的方式表达。然后，积极地处理它。

(详解)

1. 要点摘录

①As harmful as financial debt is, there is another form of debt that is even more damaging—emotional debt.

②When we have a tendency to respond inappropriately, we often hurt those around us.

③Your emotional debt can come from various forms of past abuse (辱骂) or neglect.

④Recognize your feelings, but don’t focus on them all the time.

⑤Admit you are angry about the past, and discuss it with someone you trust, or write it down.

⑥Refuse to be a victim and accept responsibility for dealing with your painful past.

⑦Take specific steps to resolve your emotional debt now instead of dealing with the consequences later.

2. 缜密构思

将第1、2两个要点进行重组，将第3、7两个要点分别改写，将第4、5、6三个要点分别进行总结整合。

3. 遣词造句

Emotional debt is unresolved emotional pain and can harm us unexpectedly, like breaking relationships.

It can originate from any negative emotion you’ve controlled.

Therefore, to avoid its negative effects, measures should be taken to address it as soon as possible.

First, recognize your pain.

Second, express it orally or in a written way.

And then, deal with it actively.

(点睛)

(高分句型1) “It can originate from any negative emotion you’ve controlled.” (运用了省略关系代词引导的定语从句。)

(高分句型2) “Therefore, to avoid its negative effects, measures should be taken to address it as soon as possible.” (运用了含有情态动词的被动语态用法。)