双语有声阅读：思维的飞跃

You’ve had a problem, you’ve thought about it till you were tired,forgotten it and perhaps slept on it, and then flash!When you weren’t thinking about it suddenly the answer has come to you, as a gift from thegods.

 

Of course all ideas don’t come like that, but the interesting thing is that 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.Psychology¹ does not yet understand even the ordinary processes of conscious thought,but the emergence² ofnew ideas by a “leap in thought” is particularly intriguing,because they must have come from somewhere.For the moment let us assume that they come from the “unconscious”.This is reasonable, for the psychologists use this term to describe mental processes which are unknown to the subject,and creative thought consists precisely³ in what was unknown becoming known.

 

It seems that all truly creative activity depends in some degree on these signals from the unconscious,andthe more highly intuitive the person, the sharper and more dramatic the signals become.

 

But growth requires a seed,and the heart of the creative process lies in the production of the original fertile nucleus⁴ from which growth can proceed.This initial step in all creation consists in the establishment of a new unity⁵ from disparate elements, oforder out of disorder⁶, of shape from what was formless. The mind achieves this by the plastic reshaping, so as to form a new unit, of a selection of the separate elements derived⁷ from experience and stored in memory. Intuitions arise from richly unified⁸ experience.

 

This process of the establishment of new form must occur in pattern of nervous activity in the brain, lying below the threshold of consciousness, which interact and combine to form more comprehensive patterns. Experimental physiology⁹ has not yet identified this process, for its methods are as yet insufficiently¹⁰ refined,but it may be significant that a quarter of the total bodily consumption of energy during sleep goes tothe brain, even when the sense organs are at rest, to maintain the activity of ten million brain cells. These cells, acting¹¹ together as a single organ, achieve the miracle of the production of new patterns of thought.No calculating machine can do that, for such machines can “only do what we know how to design them to do”, and these formative brain processes obey laws which are still unknown.

 

Can any practical conclusions be drawn¹² from the experience of genius? Is there an art of thought for the ordinary person? Certainly there is no single road to success; in the world of the imagination each has to find his own way to use his own gift.

 

你遇到了一个难题,为其绞尽脑汁，直至精疲力竭，将它置之脑后,或许带養疑虑进入梦乡。然而，忽然之间灵光一闪，当你没在思考这一问题时，答案如同天赐神助一般，突然出现在你的脑子里。

 

当然，并非所有的妙想都是这样得来，可有趣的是，许多想 法，特别是那些至关重要的想法都是这样产生的。它们倏忽之 间闯入脑海，散发着独创的光热。它们的形成过程是一个谜。 心理学迄今甚至连普通的有意识思维过程都没有研究清楚，但 是依靠"思想的火花”产生创见的现象还是让人特别感兴趣，因 为这种创见必定有个出处。我们暂且假定它们来自于“潜意 识"。这也是有道理的，因为心理学家们利用这个术语来描述对 于未知研究对象的心理过程，而创造性思维正是在于认清未曾 认识到的东西。

 

在某种程度上,所有真正的创造性活动似乎都取决于这些 来自潜意识的信号，并且，一个人的直觉愈加强烈，这些信号就愈加鲜明，愈加富有戏剧性。

 

可是萌芽生长需要种子，而创造过程的核心也在于形成最 初的丰实的胚胎，使成长得以进行。所有创造的第一步，均在于 把没有联系的因素重新结合，将无序变成有序，将无形变成有 形。要做到这一点，大脑就要选择从经验中得到的或者存储于 记忆之中的互无关联的因素，并加以整理重塑，以形成新的统一 体。直觉来源于丰富的系统化的经验。

 

这种新形式的形成过程只能出现在大脑神经活动模式之中，处子意识范围的开端，相互作用又相互融合，而形成更加复 杂的模式。实验生理学还无法识别这一过程，原因是其实验方法仍不够完善。可或许值得注意的是，人在睡眠的时候，尽管感 觉器官处于休息状态，但是所有体能消耗的四分之一却用于大 脑，以维持其上百亿个脑细胞的活动。这些共同运作的脑细胞 创造了产生思维新模式的奇迹。计算机不能做到这一点，因为它们“只能按照我们的设计力所能及的方式运行”，而那些具有建构能力的大脑活动过程遵循的却是我们所未知的规律。

 

从天才们的经验中，我们能得到任何实际的结论吗？有没有适用于普通人的思维艺术？成功之路不止一条。在一个提倡 想像力的世界中，每个人都要找到发挥自己天分的道路。

1 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

2 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

3 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

4 nucleus   

n.核，核心，原子核

参考例句：

• These young people formed the nucleus of the club.这些年轻人成了俱乐部的核心。
• These councils would form the nucleus of a future regime.这些委员会将成为一个未来政权的核心。

5 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

6 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

7 derived   

vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• Many English words are derived from Latin and Greek. 英语很多词源出于拉丁文和希腊文。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derived his enthusiasm for literature from his father. 他对文学的爱好是受他父亲的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

9 physiology   

n.生理学，生理机能

参考例句：

• He bought a book about physiology.他买了一本生理学方面的书。
• He was awarded the Nobel Prize for achievements in physiology.他因生理学方面的建树而被授予诺贝尔奖。

10 insufficiently   

adv.不够地，不能胜任地

参考例句：

• Your insurance card is insufficiently stamped. 你的保险卡片未贴足印花。 来自辞典例句
• Many of Britain's people are poorly dressed, badly housed, insufficiently nourished. 许多英国人衣着寒伧，居住简陋，营养不良。 来自互联网

11 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

12 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。