新視野大學(xué)英語(yǔ)讀寫教程第一冊(cè)u(píng)nit8-a Birth of Bright Ideas

Unit 8

Section A

Pre-reading Activities

First Listening
Having ideas about a story before you read it is an important reading skill. Please listen to a very short piece of recording.

Second Listening
Now listen to the recording for the second time and try to the best of your ability to answer the following questions.
1. Where do good ideas come from?
2. How many examples or ways of getting good ideas are discussed?
3. How did Wagner get the idea for the beginning of his music?

Birth of Bright Ideas

No satisfactory way exists to explain how to form a good idea. You think about a problem until you're tired, forget it, maybe sleep on it, and then flash! When you aren't thinking about it, suddenly the answer arrives as a gift from the gods.
Of course, all ideas don't occur like that but so many do, particularly the most important ones. They burst into the mind, glowing with the heat of creation. How they do it is a mystery but they must come from somewhere. Let's assume they come from the "unconscious." This is reasonable, for psychologists use this term to describe mental processes which are unknown to the individual. Creative thought depends on what was unknown becoming known.
All of us have experienced this sudden arrival of a new idea, but it is easiest to examine it in the great creative personalities, many of whom experienced it in an intensified form and have written it down in their life stories and letters. One can draw examples from genius in any field, from religion, philosophy, and literature to art and music, even in mathematics, science, and technical invention, although these are often thought to depend only on logic and experiment. All truly creative activities depend in some degree on these signals from the unconscious, and the more highly insightful the person, the sharper and more dramatic the signals become.
Take the example of Richard Wagner composing the opening to "Rhinegold". Wagner had been occupied with the idea of the "Ring" for several years, and for many months had been struggling to begin composing. On September 4, 1853, he reached Spezia sick, went to a hotel, could not sleep for noise without and fever within, took a long walk the next day, and in the afternoon flung himself on a couch intending to sleep. Then at last the miracle happened for which his unconscious mind had been seeking for so long. Falling into a sleeplike condition, he suddenly felt as though he were sinking in a mighty flood of water, and the rush and roar soon took musical shape within his brain. He recognized that the orchestral opening to the "Rhinegold", which he must have carried about within him yet had never been able to put it into form, had at last taken its shape within him. In this example, the conscious mind at the moment of creation knew nothing of the actual processes by which the solution was found.
As a contrast, we may consider a famous story: the discovery by Henri Poincare, the great French mathematician, of a new mathematical method called the Fuchsian functions. Here we see the conscious mind, in a person of highest ability, actually watching the unconscious at work. For weeks, he sat at his table every day and spent an hour or two trying a great number of combinations but he arrived at no result. One night he drank some black coffee, contrary to his usual habit, and was unable to sleep. Many ideas kept surging in his head; he could almost feel them pushing against one another, until two of them combined to form a stable combination. When morning came, he had established the existence of one class of Fuchsian functions. He had only to prove the results, which took only a few hours. Here, we see the conscious mind observing the new combinations being formed in the unconscious, while the Wagner story shows the sudden explosion of a new concept into consciousness.
A third type of creative experience is exemplified by the dreams which came to Descartes at the age of twenty-three and determined his life path. Descartes had unsuccessfully searched for certainty, first in the world of books, and then in the world of men. Then in a dream on November 10, 1619, he made the significant discovery that he could only find certainty in his own thoughts, cogito ergo sum ("I think; therefore, I exist"). This dream filled him with intense religious enthusiasm.
Wagner's, Poincare's, and Descartes' experiences are representative of countless others in every field of culture. The unconscious is certainly the source of instinctive activity. But in creative thought the unconscious is responsible for the production of new organized forms from relatively disorganized elements.

Words: 707
NEW WORDS

satisfactory
a. good enough to be pleasing, or for a purpose, rule, standard, etc. 令人滿意的

flash
vi. 1. (of an idea) come suddenly 突然產(chǎn)生（想法、靈感）
2. move very fast 飛馳，掠過(guò)

particularly
ad. especially 特別是

glow
vi. 1. produce light and heat without fire 發(fā)光，發(fā)熱
2. show strong or warm color 呈現(xiàn)鮮艷的顏色

▲creation
n. creating 創(chuàng)造

mystery
n. something that is not fully understood 謎

reasonable
a. showing common sense; fair 合理的，適當(dāng)?shù)?br />
psychologist
n. a person trained and educated to perform psychological research, testing and treatment 心理學(xué)家

process
n. a connected set of actions or events that produce continuation or slow change 過(guò)程，進(jìn)程

individual
n. a human being regarded as unique 個(gè)體，個(gè)人

personality
n. 1. a person who is well-known to the public 名人
2. the quality or condition of being a person 人的品質(zhì)或條件

▲intensify
v. make or become stronger 增強(qiáng)，加強(qiáng)

genius
n. 1. [C] a person of exceptional natural ability 天才
2. [U] strong natural ability 天賦

religion
n. belief in the existence of a god or gods or a creative force of greater power outside of one's self 宗教

philosophy
n. the search for knowledge and understanding of the nature and meaning of all the natural world including human life 哲學(xué)

invention
n. 1. the action of creating something new 發(fā)明
2. something created 發(fā)明物

logic
n. the science of thinking about or explaining the reasons for sth. 邏輯；邏輯學(xué)

truly
ad. 1. really; completely 真正地
2. honestly; exactly as described 真誠(chéng)地，真心地

highly
ad. very; to an unusually great degree 非常

dramatic
a. 1. sudden, exciting, not expected 引人注目的
2. about drama or acting 戲劇的；演戲的

compose
v. create or produce (a written or musical piece) 創(chuàng)作（文學(xué)或音樂(lè)）

occupy
vt. 1. engage, employ, or busy (oneself) 把注意力集中于……
2. fill up (time or space) 占用（時(shí)間或空間）

▲fling
vt. 1. throw with force 猛扔，拋
2. move oneself or part of one's body suddenly or forcefully 猛烈地移動(dòng)，急動(dòng)

▲couch
n. a long comfortable seat; a sofa 沙發(fā)

miracle
n. an act or event that cannot be explained by known laws of nature 奇跡

▲mighty
a. having or showing great power, skill, strength, or force 強(qiáng)大的，巨大的

recognize
vt. 1. realize or be aware that sth. exists or is true 注意到，認(rèn)識(shí)到
2. identify as previously known; know sth. or sb. 認(rèn)出

orchestral
a. of or by a large group of musicians who play various musical instruments together 管弦樂(lè)的，管弦樂(lè)隊(duì)的

contrast
n. (with, between) unlikeness or difference shown by comparing objects or people 對(duì)照；（對(duì)照中的）差異

■mathematician
n. a person gifted or learned in mathematics 數(shù)學(xué)家

mathematicial
a. of or related to mathematics 數(shù)學(xué)的

combine
v. come together; act together; unite, join together 結(jié)合，合并

combination
n. something that results from two or more things (esp. chemicals) being combined 結(jié)合，合并；［化］化合物

▲surge
vi. move (as if) in waves 洶涌

stable
a. firm, without movement 穩(wěn)定的

existence
n. the fact or state of existing 存在

observe
vt. see and notice sth. or sb.; watch sth. or sb. carefully 觀察

explosion
n. 1. a sudden bursting out 爆發(fā)；驟發(fā)；爆炸
2. the act or a moment of sudden increase 激增，擴(kuò)大

concept
n. something formed in the mind; a thought or idea 概念

▲exemplify
vt. show by example 例示，作為……的例子

▲certainty
n. the fact, quality, or state of being certain 確定性，必然性；確實(shí)的事情

enthusiasm
n. 1. great positive feeling for or interest in a subject or cause 熱情，積極性
2. a thing causing this feeling 愛(ài)好的事物

representative
a. (of) being like or common to others of the same class 有代表性的

source
n. a place from which sth. comes or is acquired 源泉，來(lái)源

responsible
a. 1. being the cause of sth. 是……的原因
2. having the duty of looking after sb. or sth. so that one can be blamed if things go wrong 需負(fù)責(zé)任的，承擔(dān)責(zé)任的

organize
vt. put together into a well-planned, sequenced whole 組織起來(lái)

element
n. a necessary part of a whole 元素，成分
PHRASES AND EXPRESSIONS

sleep on sth.
leave sth. undecided or unattended until the next day 暫時(shí)不作決定，過(guò)一晚再作決定

a gift from the gods
an unearned, or unexpected, benefit that is greatly valued 不期而獲又大受歡迎的好處，利益

depend on
happen according to; count on 依靠，依賴

write down
record in writing 寫下來(lái)

be occupied with
be busy with 忙于做，專心于

seek for
try to find; look for 尋找

as though
as it would be if... 好象，儼然

take shape
take on a defined form 成型

put into
express in 表達(dá)

at work
having an effect; in operation 在起作用

arrive at
reach or make; come to 達(dá)成（協(xié)議）；得出（結(jié)論）

search for
look carefully about a place in order to find 搜索，尋找

fill sb. with sth.
cause sb. to experience sth. (like feelings) 使充滿（感情）
PROPER NAMES

Richard Wagner
理查德·瓦格納（1813-1883），德國(guó)作曲家、劇作家

Rhinegold
瓦格納創(chuàng)作的《萊茵河的黃金》

Spezia
斯佩齊亞，意大利西北部港市

Henri Poincare
亨利·龐加萊（1854-1912），法國(guó)數(shù)學(xué)家，物理學(xué)家和作家

Fuchsian functions
富克斯函數(shù)

Descartes
笛卡爾（1596-1650），法國(guó)哲學(xué)家、數(shù)學(xué)家；西方近代哲學(xué)的創(chuàng)始人之一，二元論者、唯理論者

cogito ergo sum
I think; therefore, I exist.［拉丁語(yǔ)］我思，故我在。