If you’ve ever taken a class in drawing, painting or pottery and in spite of your best effort, couldn’t make the final result look anything like the model shown, you may have thought, “I don’t have a creative bone in my body.”
According to some scientists, who for the past 20 years have put the elusive subject of creativity through the rigors of research, you are underrating yourself. Da Vinci you may never be, but when it comes to creativity, we are all somewhat blessed. It’s learning to foster this unique tool of extraordinary productivity, and then applying it in everything you do, that counts to tell you from figures like Da Vinci.
“Even if we don’t have the good fortune to discover a new chemical element or write a great story, the love of the creative process for its own sake is available to all,” says Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in Creativity: Flow and Psychology of Discovery and Invention.
Most people believe the realm of creativity has been awarded to those perceived to have special talent. We look upon these “creative geniuses,” as we often call them, with awe and a bit of envy. Their abilities, most people assume, are bestowed by good genes, or, as if in Greek mythology, from some kind of divine inspiration.
There is no argument that the world is never short of highly talented and creative people. They are masters of their trades and stand heads-and-shoulders above commoners, making new pathways for others to follow, and providing greater context and understanding of our world. It could be said that without creativity humanity would not evolve so rapidly.
But like a publicly recognized creative baseball player who hones his skill through years of continuous training, foregoing other pursuits for the sole passion, people who show the slightest reluctance for arduous labor are bound to witness their boasted ability disappear.
After closely studying 91 creative and influential people, including novelists, playwrights, composers, musicians and scientists, Csikszentmihalyi concludes that no one would ignore the sweat they shed and their almost insane willingness to follow their creative endeavor to the very end, wherever that may be. These are the very things we all can master, so long as we’d like to.
8. It’s widely believed that creativity comes from__________.
A.good training people receive from artistic classes |
B.the tool we learn from masters like Da Vinci |
C.the inborn genes or relevant gifts |
D.certain Greek historical textbooks |
9. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A.Common people rather than creative ones lead in various professions. |
B.People’s admiration of geniuses makes humanity develop quickly. |
C.The field of baseball requires more gifts than hard work. |
D.The essence of creativity lies in devotion and effort. |
10. The underlined word “
foregoing” is closest in meaning to
.
A.giving up | B.combining | C.referring to | D.extending |
11. What is the passage mainly about?
A.How ordinary people and scientists view things differently. |
B.People’s misunderstanding of creativity and its true nature. |
C.The reasons for the development of various trades and humanity. |
D.Ordinary people’s unwillingness to follow the examples of creative ones. |