“Creativity is the key to a brighter future,” say education and business experts. Here is how schools and parents can encourage this important skill in children.
If Dick Drew had listened to his boss in 1925, we might not have the product that we now think greatly important: a new type of tape. Drew worked for the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. At work he developed a kind of material strong enough to hold things together. But his boss told him not to think more about the idea. Finally, using his own time, Drew improved the tape, which now is used everywhere by many people. And his former company learned from its mistake. Now it encourages people to spend 15 percent of their working time just thinking about and developing new ideas.
Creativity is not something one is just born with, nor is it necessarily a character of high intelligence. The fact that a person is highly intelligent does not mean that he uses it creatively. Creativity is the matter of using the resources one has to produce new ideas that are good for something.
Unfortunately, schools have not tried to encourage creativity. With strong attention to test results and the development of reading, writing and mathematical skills, many educators give up creativity for correct answers. The result is that children can gain information but can’t recognize ways to use it in new situations. They may know the rules correctly but they are unable to use them to work out practical problems.
It is important to give children choices. From the earliest age, children should be allowed to make decisions and understand their results. Even if it’s choosing between two food items for lunch, decision-making helps thinking skills. As children grow older, parents should try to let them decide how to use their time or spend their money. This is because the most important character of creative people is a very strong desire to find a way out of trouble.
1. What did the company where Drew once worked learn from its mistake?| A．It should encourage people to work a longer time. |
| B．People should be discouraged to think freely. |
| C．People will do better if they pay all attention to their work. |
| D．It is necessary for people to spend some of their working time developing new ideas. |
| A．It is something that most people are born with. |
| B．It is something that has nothing to do with intelligence at all. |
| C．It is a way of using what one has learned to work out new problems. |
| D．It is something that is not important to the life in the future at all. |
| A．They don’t attach importance to creativity education. |
| B．They don’t want their students to make mistakes. |
| C．They pay no attention to examination marks. |
| D．They think it impossible to develop creativity in class. |
| A．Allow them to have a try. |
| B．Try to help them as much as possible. |
| C．Take no notice of whatever they do. |
| D．Order them to spend the least money. |
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【推荐1】With the wide, application of the Internet, Uber, a new approach to your destination instead of taking an ordinary taxi, has become more popular recently. However, benefits won’t come without its fair share of drawbacks. The ride-sharing experience is about to get awkward.
Uber drivers are a part of the so-called sharing economy: They use their own vehicles, receive customer reviews via the app’s five-star rating system and make their own hours and choices. Unlike other services, Uber claimed that drivers all over the country could dearly alert customers that tipping is not included. Those drivers that expect to be tipped can make their wishes known. But the company is holding to its official no-tip-required line. “Once you arrive at your destination, your fare is automatically charged to your credit card on file－there’s no need to tip.” Although drivers value the freedom to push a button rather than punch a clock like ordinary taxi drivers, lack of a clear policy leaves Uber drivers m a vulnerable (脆弱的) and awkward position: If they ask a customer for a tip or put up a sign, that customer could give the driver a low star-rating, and the driver could finally be removed from the app.
But has the company done a good job working with customers? Some observers say that this new grey area for tipping will create awkwardness about whether they should tip or not. Providing an option to tip on an app sends a clear message to customers to reach into their pockets. According to Guinn’s 2015 survey of roughly 500 people, merely 30% people would be more likely to leave a tip if they were presented with a “no tip” button.
If the service is twice as expensive during a rain storm or public transport delay, the customer has the right not to tip, However, if the driver is extra helpful or avoids traffic to reach your destination in a more timely manner, you could give an extra tip, says Uber, who will leave tipping options in the hands of the consumer rather than the app.
1. According to the passage compared with taxi drivers, Uber drivers .| A．earn more money and respect | B．enjoy more freedom and chokes |
| C．record the miles while driving | D．give direct reviews to customers |
| A．Uber’s no-tip-required line is too strict to follow. |
| B．It’s up to customers to decide the drivers’ earnings. |
| C．There’s no specific and clear policy on tipping from Uber. |
| D．Uber drivers and customers can’t agree on how much to tip. |
| A．are not clear about how to tip via the app |
| B．tend to do as the “no tip” sign suggests- |
| C．tip because of Uber drivers’ good service |
| D．are awkward when provided with service |
| A．What Uber Cars Bring to Modem Life |
| B．How Uber Cars Benefit Uber Customers |
| C．Take or Not When Facing a Uber Car? |
| D．Tip or Not When Taking a Uber Car? |
【推荐2】Artists always treat businessmen people as money-obsessed bores. Or worse, many business people, for their part, assume that artists are a bunch of pretentious wasters. Bosses may stick a few modernist paintings on their boardroom walls. But they seldom take the arts seriously as a source of inspiration.
The prejudice starts at business school, where “hard” things such as numbers and case studies rule. It is reinforced by everyday experience. Bosses constantly remind their underlings that if you can’t count it, it doesn’t count. Few read deeply about art. Sun Tzu's The Art of War does not count while some tasteless business books are pleasing to them: consider Wess Roberts' Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun.
But lately there are welcome signs of a thaw (缓和) on the business side of the great cultural divide. Business presses are publishing a series of books such as The Fine Art of Success by Jamie Anderson. Business schools such as the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto are trying to learn from the arts.
Mr. Anderson points out that many artists have also been superb entrepreneurs. Damien Hirst was even more enterprising. He upturned the art world by selling his work directly through Sotheby’s, an auction (拍卖) house. Whatever they think of his work, businessmen people cannot help admiring a man who parted art-lovers from £ 75.5 million on the day that Lehman Brothers collapsed.
Studying the arts can help businessmen people communicate more effectively. Most bosses spend a huge amount of time “messaging” and “reaching out”, yet few are much good at it.
Studying the arts can also help companies learn how to manage bright people. Rob Goffee of the London Business School points out that today’s most productive companies are dominated by what they call “clevers”, who are the devil to manage. They hate being told what to do by managers, whom they regard as dullards. They refuse to submit to performance reviews. In short, they are prima donnas. The arts world has centuries of experience in managing such difficult people. Directors persuade actresses to cooperate with actors they hate. Their tips might be worth hearing.
1. What kind of person is Damien Hirst actually?| A．An artist whose works changed the art world. |
| B．A businessman who just cares about money. |
| C．An artist who is good at doing business. |
| D．A businessman who had prejudice toward the arts. |
| A．quite stupid | B．rather proud | C．really bright | D．very efficient |
| A．Good management takes skill and patience. |
| B．Artists should show respect for businessmen. |
| C．Painting is a special form of communication. |
| D．Businessmen have much to learn from artists. |
【推荐3】In the picture Landscape with Diogenes by the 17th century French artist Poussin, the ancient philosopher Diogenes is described casting away his last possession, a drinking bowl. He realizes he doesn’t need it after seeing a youth cupping a hand to drink from a river. The significance for us is that Diogenes’ spiritual descendants (后代) known as “new minimalists” are now everywhere, if not as completely possession-free as he was.
There are hundreds of websites praising the virtues of tidy living. Everyone is trying to cut down on things these days. People are trying to reduce their carbon footprints, their waistlines, and their monthly outgoings. What’s more, there’s a general fear that people are becoming choked by their possessions, and this is fueled by the knowledge that the leading hobby these days seems to be shopping. It’s true, sales of e-readers and e-books go beyond those of paperbacks. As a result, the need for bookshelves is cut out.
However, today’s new minimalists don’t urge us to burn our books and destroy our CDs, but just make sure we have them as digital files. So, for example, I have digitised versions of some of my old vinyl LP (黑胶) records and haven’t, as yet, stimulated myself to take the LPs to the nearest charity shop – and I admit I shall probably go on keeping them. Technology has gone beyond our dreams and there is always the doubt that our hard drives will crash and all will be lost. Far more important, however, is the fact that our memories are so inseparably tied to our possessions that we can’t get rid of stuff. We are not exactly suffering withdrawal symptoms (症状) as we try to break our addiction to objects. We are just acquiring new stuff, which means we can bin or recycle our old stuff.
I’m happy to have found another website which seems to solve a whole lot of problems at once – a thriving online advice service offering storage solutions. The interior (室内的) designer responsible for this does not suggest getting rid of stuff, but rather recommends buying more stuff such as elegant flexible baskets or colourful lidded containers to hide the first lot of stuff from view. I love this philosophy – convince yourself you’ve got your desire for possessions under control, without having to lose a thing. After all, we aren’t merciless enough to follow Diogenes and cast away all our possessions.
1. Why does the author mention a picture by the artist Poussin?| A．It illustrates a modern trend. |
| B．It describes a wise philosopher. |
| C．Its meaning is only now becoming clear. |
| D．Its message is not as simple as it appears. |
| A．resistance to media pressure |
| B．laziness in the face of change |
| C．lack of faith in digital hardware |
| D．strong bond with physical objects |
| A．satisfy their desire to make purchases |
| B．make attractive additions to their homes |
| C．provide a temporary solution to a problem |
| D．ease their conscience over having too many things. |
| A．Less is More |
| B．Low Carbon Is an Attitude |
| C．Treasure What You Have |
| D．Psychology of Overconsumption. |
【推荐1】Feeling overcome by your to-do list can make you unhappy, but a new study suggests that more free time might not be the magic elixir (灵丹妙药) most of us dream it could be.
The researchers analyzed data from 35,000 subjects about how Americans spend their free time. They found that people with more free time generally had higher levels of subjective happiness—but only up to a point. Compared to those with less time, people with up to two hours of free time a day generally felt better. However, people who had five or more hours of free time a day generally felt worse. So the free-time “sweet spot” might be two to three hours per day.
Part of finding this “sweet spot” is connected with how people spend their free time. In an online experiment, the subjects were asked to imagine having four to seven free hours per day and spending that time doing “productive” (富有成效的) or “unproductive” activities. Most of them believed their happiness would suffer if they had a lot of free time during the day—but only if they used it unproductively. Though that experiment was based on the previous assumptions (假设), which is one limitation, it agrees with other experiments showing that being in a state of flow can benefit people’s mental health.
Of course, for you, any activities that increase your happiness are “productive”. If watching soap opera in your free time makes you feel better, you should do that due to self-care. And some traditionally productive activities can be easy and fun. For example, walking and cooking can help burn stress and put people in a state of flow.
“In cases where people find themselves with large amounts of free time, such as retirement or unemployment,” Sharif said, “our results suggest they can benefit from spending their newfound time with purpose.”
1. How did the researchers carry out the study of the free-time “sweet spot”?| A．By studying the collected data. | B．By doing the experiment again and again. |
| C．By observing the respondents. | D．By doing an interview with the subjects. |
| A．The activity. | B．Free time. |
| C．The finding. | D．The experiment. |
| A．To present a fact. | B．To make a prediction. |
| C．To explain an opinion. | D．To introduce a topic. |
| A．Much free time with purposeful activities can affect people’s happiness. |
| B．The “sweet spot” has little connection with the amount of free time. |
| C．Much unfinished work is likely to make people feel worse. |
| D．People will always feel much happier with more free time. |
【推荐2】Sitting at the back of a café, two women are working on their laptops. While one asks some questions about motion graphics, font design and scheduling tools, the other is preparing for a presentation. But these women aren’t working; they’re skill swapping(交换).
For many young people kicking off their careers, the thought of paying for an expensive item fills them with fear. And yet, these same people are receiving one-on-one Photoshop sessions, having their makeup done by top-level artists, and accepting professional advice. How? Skill swapping --- the art of trading your services for someone else’s in a mutually(相互地)beneficial agreement.
Upskilling --- regularly updating and expanding your skill set --- becomes necessary in order to fill the gaps between you and your next career move. And yet, with that comes high training fees, unrealistic time expectations and a big overall commitment --- which is why people are choosing to skill swap instead.
Turning your time into a commodity (商品) means money doesn’t change hands during a skill swap; instead, both parties are gaining something other than cash from the partnership. Perhaps it’s a CV redesign in return for a lesson in photography; a blog post edit in return for Photoshop advice.
In fact, you can skill swap just about anything. Stephanie Conway traded in her PR job to set up a marketing virtual assistant business. In exchange for free accommodation, she runs the social media channels of an Airbnb. By trading her social media skills for a roof over her head, Stephanie is gaining not only free rent, but examples to put on her CV. “Skill swapping gave me the opportunity to get my business off the ground by showing what I could do,” she adds.
Skill swapping often comes in the shape of informal agreements, but you still have to treat it like a business deal. Be specific about the skills you’re willing to trade and what you’re hoping to get in return.
1. What do we know about skill swapping?| A．It is for career starters. | B．It benefits both parties. |
| C．It is done between professionals. | D．It concerns low-priced online trade. |
| A．Decline in positions offered. | B．Frequency of career changes. |
| C．Lack of first-class lecturers in training. | D．Time and energy put in training. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Doubtful. | C．Positive. | D．Critical. |
| A．A rising trend in trading time. | B．A new way to upskill yourself. |
| C．The stress from career moves. | D．The suggestions for skill swapping. |
【推荐3】A butterfly’s wings can have many jobs besides keeping the insect high up in the air. They may be used to attract mates, or to warn potential attackers to stay away. All of these roles, though, depend on their unchanging colouration. This plays into the idea that butterfly wings are dead tissue, like a bird’s feathers. In fact, that’s not true. For example, in some species males’ wings have special cells releasing some chemicals which attract females.
Nanfang Yu, a physicist at Columbia University, in New York, has been looking into the matter. Together with Naomi Pierce, a butterfly specialist at Harvard University, he has now shown, in a paper published in Nature Communications in February, 2020, that butterfly wings are, indeed, very much alive.
In their experiments, the two researchers used a laser(激光) to heat up spots on the wings of dozens of butterfly species. When the temperature of the area under the laser reached 40°C or so, the insects responded within seconds by doing things that stopped their wings heating up further. These actions included a butterfly turning around to minimize its profile to the laser, moving its wings up and down or simply walking away.
Butterflies engaged in all of these heat-minimising activities even when the researchers blindfolded them. That suggested the relevant sensors were on the wings themselves. Dr Yu and Dr Pierce therefore searched those wings for likely looking sensory cells. They found some, in the form of neurons(神经元) that were similar to heat detectors known from other insects. They also uncovered disc-shaped cells that appeared to be similar to pressure-sensitive neurons. They guess that these are there to detect deformation of the wing—information an insect could use to control its flight pattern.
The third discovery they made to contradict the “dead wing” idea was that some butterfly wings have a heartbeat. A butterfly’s wings have veins(静脉). These carry a bloodlike liquid which, researchers have now found in males, shows a pulse(脉搏) of several dozen beats per minute. The source of this pulse appears to be the scent(气味) pad, a dark spot on the wings that produces the female-attracting chemicals. Apparently, this “wing heart” acts as a pump that helps bloodlike liquid through the scent pad.
In all their experiments simulating different environmental conditions, Dr Yu and Dr Pierce consistently found that, different parts of the wing are covered by different sorts of scales(鳞屑). In particular, tubes pass through scales over the scent pads. This improves their ability to spread heat away and helps keep the living parts of a butterfly’s wings alive.
1. A bird’s feathers are mentioned in Paragraph 1 to _____.| A．introduce the latest research findings on a bird |
| B．highlight the special feature of a bird’s feathers |
| C．show common knowledge about butterfly wings |
| D．stress the difference between a butterfly and a bird |
| A．Butterfly wings are complicated living organs. |
| B．Butterfly wings have little reaction to external heat. |
| C．The scent pads on some male butterfly wings are their hearts. |
| D．Heat-minimising activities help detect deformation of the wings. |
| A．Attracting mates. | B．Increasing blood flow. |
| C．Covering powerful tubes. | D．Producing the cooling effect. |
| A．Seeing Is Believing | B．More Than Meets The Eye |
| C．Nothing Seek, Nothing Find | D．Fine Feathers Make Fine Birds |
One day, a boy was in Mr Lazares’s office. The boy was not behaving well in class. Mr Lazares telephoned the boy’s parents. “If you come to school with your son, I won’t stop him having classes.” He said. The boy’s father came to school and went with his son to every class. Other students looked at the boy and his father. The boy was embarrassed (难为情). After that he behaved better. And, of course, other students behaved better, too.
Now headmasters all over the USA are trying Mr Lazares’s idea. They, too, think that students behave better when parents come to school.
1. What does a headmaster usually do to the student if he behaves very badly?
| A．Calls the student’s parents. |
| B．Writes to the student’s parents. |
| C．Let the student stay at school for an hour. |
| D．Stops the student having classes for several days. |
| A．happy | B．angry |
| C．worried | D．afraid |
| A．Tried to talk them. |
| B．Sent them home |
| C．Had them stay in his office. |
| D．Telephoned their parents to come to school and go to classes with them. |
| A．They were afraid of teachers. |
| B．They were afraid of Mr Lazares. |
| C．They didn’t want their parents to come to school. |
| D．They didn’t like to have classes with the boy’s father. |
| A．Students can behave well if headmasters and teachers discipline them. |
| B．The teacher can stop the students having the class if they behave very badly. |
| C．Mr Lazares didn’t let the students leave the school for one or two days. |
| D．Mr Lazares likes the parents to come to school. |
【推荐2】What makes one person more intelligent than another? What makes one person a genius, like the brilliant Albert Einstein, and another person a fool? Are people born intelligent or stupid, or is intelligence the result of where and how you live? These are very old questions and the answers to them are still not clear.
We know, however, that just being born with a good mind is not enough. In some ways, the mind is like a leg or an arm muscle. It needs exercise. Mental (done with the mind) exercise is particularly important for young children. Many child psychologists (心理学家) think that parents should play with their children more often and give them problems to think about. The children are then more likely to grow up bright and intelligent. If, on the other hand, children are left alone a great deal with nothing to do, they are more likely to become dull and unintelligent.
Parents should also be careful with what they say to young children. According to some psychologists, if parents are always telling a child that he or she is a fool or an idiot, then the child is more likely to keep doing silly and foolish things. So it is probably better for parents to say very positive (helpful) things to their children, such as “That was a very clever thing you did.” or “You are such a smart child.”
1. The words “intelligent” and “brilliant” in the first paragraph probably mean _______ while “dull” in the second paragraph means ________.| A．bright and splendid; slow in thinking and understanding |
| B．pretty and handsome; ordinary-looking |
| C．great and important; common |
| D．hopeful and helpful; careless |
| A．born with a good brain and putting it into active use |
| B．often thinking about difficult problems |
| C．often helped by his parents and teachers |
| D．whose parents are clever |
| A．to leave their children alone with nothing to do |
| B．to be hard on their children |
| C．to praise and encourage their children more often |
| D．to give their children as much help as possible |
【推荐3】One morning, my four-year-old daughter and I were getting ready to leave the house when she suddenly yelled “Idiot!” right at me. As I processed the word, I noticed she was upset. Tears streamed down her face as she half whispered and half yelled “you are an IDIOT Mama.” Total silence followed as we looked at each other. We were staring at each other for so long, and I nearly forgot to breathe out and in again. Idiot. How could my daughter call me an idiot?
There are many behaviors that really push parents’ buttons. Disrespectful, rude words tend to top the list. The wrong response to such rude remarks is often a serious warning. But I didn’t offer any serious remarks.
I realized that my daughter’s intention wasn’t to disrespect me. She was expressing the disconnection (疏离). And punishment doesn’t solve disconnection. It creates more of it. Her choice of word said it all. She was annoyed. She sensed the stress. I needed to hear her. I was being careless. I was the one being rude to her.
So, why punish our children when they need guidance? We must know that the words we use matter, and become our children’s words too. The words include those we use to handle emotional overload. Idiot is a word I regretfully must admit to using when I’m extremely annoyed. Not at my children, but yes, they have heard me say it. So, instead of punishing my daughter for misbehavior, I chose to focus on her real message: Idiot means that “Mom, you are stressing me out!”.
No blame. No criticizing her choice of words. Just focus on our relationship. I admitted my ignoring her, and we hugged and kissed each other. I walked into her play school with interest and was ready to see all her current projects.
Don’t be afraid to look beyond misbehavior, find the true message, trust the power of connection, and show kindness and forgiveness.
1. After hearing her daughter’s words, the author ________.| A．couldn’t believe it | B．gave her a warning |
| C．lost her temper | D．had a talk with her |
| A．You are an idiot. | B．You are ignoring me. |
| C．You always punish me. | D．You teach me the rude words. |
| A．bad-tempered | B．brave |
| C．sensitive | D．wise |
| A．To settle conflicts between parents and children. |
| B．To explain why children disrespect their parents. |
| C．To suggest a positive response to children’s misbehavior. |
| D．To encourage readers to express their true feelings. |
