1 . Group-Centered Societies Have Just as Much Creativity

What does culture have to do with creativity? The answer could be “a lot”. For decades, psychologists trying to understand the roots of creative imaginations have looked at the ways in which two different types of cultures can come to have an effect over its artistic and _________ output. Individualistic cultures encourage people to be unique and to _________ their own interests even if doing so comes at a cost to the group overall. Collectivistic cultures are based on relationships and duties to other people. These types of cultures often _________ the individual’s wants for the needs of those who are close to them or for those in their community.

Individualism has long been thought to have a creative _________. Individualists _________ social convention, the logic goes, and that pushback supports innovation. For instance, around the world, individualistic cultures have more patents than collectivistic cultures do. _________, a new study suggests that these ideas about culture and creativity could be off base. People in collectivistic cultures actually do better with a particular type of creative thinking than those in individualistic cultures. And the findings overall reveal the shortcomings of thinking about innovation too _________.

The new work comes from comparing communities in different parts of China. Though it scores high, as a nation, on measures of cultural _________, China’s 1.4 billion people are more than just a single culture. People from areas north of the Yangtze River tend to be more _________, open to strangers and self-confident, whereas people along the river and farther south are often more inter-dependent, partial to friends over strangers and likely to try harder to __________.

In the new creativity study, researchers investigated innovation with these two groups in mind. The team used a drawing test that had been created by psychologists. They gave kids a sheet of paper with just a few basic elements printed on it: some dots here, squiggles (弯曲的线条) there, and a rectangle that suggested a drawing frame. The children got 15 minutes to use the elements already on the page to draw whatever they wanted. They could get “adaptive creativity” points for doodling in ways that connected the squiggles and lines into an original and __________ image. In addition, a judge checked whether the children chose to incorporate a small shape that could be found just outside the rectangular. This element was easy to __________, so those who included this outside-the-box detail could get points for “boundary-breaking creativity.”

The researchers gave the test to 683 middle school students from north and south of the Yangtze River. When the scientists got the scores back, they discovered that there were no differences in the children’s overall creativity. When they broke down the results into components, they found that students from collectivistic regions scored __________ in adaptive creativity while those from individualistic areas did better in boundary-breaking creativity.

The findings are also a warning against cultural chauvinism (极端民族主义). Western countries have tended to lead the way in innovation — at least as defined by the metrics (指标) we Westerners have created. Perhaps we have been __________ China’s adaptive creativity. For example, while the country may not have invented the assembly line, it is largely thanks to the __________ its people have made to this system that the country has such a thriving manufacturing sector today.

1.

A．theoretical

B．inventive

C．productive

D．regular

2.

A．prioritize

B．deprive

C．tolerate

D．abandon

3.

A．satisfy

B．stimulate

C．cherish

D．sacrifice

4.

A．shelter

B．edge

C．border

D．alternative

5.

A．embrace

B．propose

C．resist

D．create

6.

A．However

B．Therefore

C．Meanwhile

D．Moreover

7.

A．broadly

B．objectively

C．seriously

D．narrowly

8.

A．individualism

B．identity

C．collectivism

D．flexibility

9.

A．selfish

B．collective

C．individualistic

D．realistic

10.

A．fall apart

B．fit in

C．give in

D．show off

11.

A．separate

B．ugly

C．unified

D．tiny

12.

A．catch

B．miss

C．target

D．misuse

13.

A．higher

B．averagely

C．lower

D．vaguely

14.

A．capturing

B．approaching

C．imitating

D．overlooking

15.

A．improvements

B．drawbacks

C．insights

D．attempts

2 . I’ve long believed that positive living isn’t about being optimistic every minute of every day. That kind of permanently happy state can’t be the goal, because it’s impossible to achieve.

It turns out that psychological research finds true happiness comes from authentic positivity, and authentic positivity comes from emotional flexibility.

Being flexible emotionally means being open to the full range of emotional experiences, including the challenging ones like anger, disappointment and sadness. Emotional flexibility means being able to shift behaviors and mindsets to meet different situational needs, and adapting when circumstances change.

However, emotionally flexible people are not chameleons (变色龙) whose outlook changes based on which way the wind is blowing. Instead, emotional flexibility is a skill that helps people judge the complexities of daily life, and stick to their deeply held values.

I’ve learned a new word that I’d like to share with you: Eudaimonia (幸福感). Eudaimonia is the opposite of hedonism (享乐主义), the idea that happiness comes from the constant pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain. Eudaimonia, by contrast, encourages us to pursue meaning and authenticity, growth and honest joy. Both are philosophical approaches to happiness, and recent psychological thought is leaning toward eudaimonia as a more sustainable, satisfying model.

Eudaimonia was first mentioned by Aristotle, who got the term from the Greek word “daimon,” which means “true nature.” Tome, walking a positive path means accepting that we each have positive true nature and permanent goodness. What we learn from the concept of eudaimonia is that we are best equipped to realize this nature when we are emotionally honest and flexible.

1. What is the author’s belief?

A．People should live alone.

B．People can’t always be happy.

C．People can’t always achieve their goals.

D．People should pursue true achievements.

2. What do emotionally flexible people commit themselves to?

A．Their strongly believed values.	B．Their different needs.
C．Permanent happiness.	D．The pursuit of hedonism.

3. How can people gain eudaimonia according to the author?

A．By being honest to others.	B．By changing true nature.
C．By keeping realstically optimistic.	D．By pursuing pleasure constantly.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．What is the meaning of eudaimonia?

B．What should we do to keep positive?

C．How can we keep happy forever?

D．Why can’t people be happy all the time?