人教版高二英语课文下册Unit 18 Inventions - Reading
WHAT WILL. YOU THINK OF NEXT?
Throughout history, great thinkers have used their creativity and imagination to change the world . How do they come up with ideas for new inventions? Thinkers who have changed the world do not seem to have much in common. They come from different cultures and have different backgrounds, and only some of them did well at school. Creativity is not about getting high test scores, having a high IQ or being smart. Instead, it seems that creative thinking, which is one of the most highly valued skills in society, is a matter of habits. By thinking about the way we think and practising good thinking strategies, we can become more creative.
Knowledge and learning are important if we want to be successful, but we must also realise that what we know and what we have learnt may also limit our thinking. To "think outside the box" is to try new ways to solve a problem. Inventors often rephrase a problem to allow for creative solutions and also try "impossible" or "crazy" solutions. If we look only for the correct answer and reject ideas that do not provide a complete answer, we may get stuck. Partial solutions, and even failures, give us more information and clues that help us move towards a better solution. Creative thinking is a conscious effort to break away from old thought patterns in order to explore new possibilities.
Good solutions and new ideas are often the result of a change in perception. By looking at a problem in as many ways as possible, creative thinkers can find solutions that would otherwise remain invisible. As with thinking outside the box, the process includes a series of different attempts and several false starts. Each new way of looking at a situation improves our understanding and makes it easier to discover new possibilities. Great thinkers also like to make their ideas visible. A drawing or a model will help you see things that may otherwise remain hidden.
Every new thought or idea has to be connected to what we already know. Unfortunately, it is easy to limit the possibilities of a new idea by connecting it to only one area of our previous knowledge. Great thinkers are aware of this and try to combine new and old ideas in as many different ways as possible. They also try to make connections that may seem strange at first. By comparing and connecting ideas and objects in new ways, creative thinkers are able to think of new applications and solutions. Many of the things that we use every day were invented by someone who saw similarities between his or her ideas and objects or systems in the world.
Good ideas are no accident. They are the result of a long process of trial and error. Most famous scientists and thinkers are very productive and studies have shown that our most respected scientists produce not only some of the best ideas, but also a great many bad ones. Some of the greatest inventors forced themselves to develop new ideas even when they were tired or did not feel inspired. They all knew that for each new invention that works, there are at least ten that do not.
If we want to develop our creativity, we can try using some of the thinking strategies of the great and famous. We may not be interested in becoming inventors, but we probably all want to find new ways to improve our life. Who knows, perhaps your next thought will be a new idea that changes the world.
