The future belongs to the flexible mind．This is the argument behind best-selling author Leonard Mlodinow's new book，Elastic（靈活的），which examines the ever-increasing changes we find ourselves living through，and the ways of thinking best suited to them．
Do we need to develop a flexible mind？
Times we live in demand a flexible style of thinking．In politics，we now have to cope with more scandals in a single year than we used to encounter in a lifetime．Meanwhile，the speed and processing power of computers makes it difficult for us to navigate a landscape in which，the number of websites has been doubling every two to three years，and the way we use and access them is subject to frequent "disastrous changes"．More importantly，social attitudes are changing just as fast．
Logical thought is an analysis that can be described by an algorithm （算術(shù)）of the kind that computers follow．Elastic thought cannot．Logical thought is solved to help us face the everyday challenges of life while elastic thought helps us succeed when circumstances change．Elastic thought is where our new ideas come from．Logical thought can determine how to drive from our home to the grocery store most efficiently，but it's elastic thought that gave us the automobile．
What makes it hard to think "flexibly"？
Flexible thinking comes naturally to all humans，but one way it may be blocked is through another power exercised by our brain，the ability to tune out "crazy" ideas．A single information processor depends on an algorithm to solve a problem．The human brain，instead，acts as a set of interacting and competing systems．They use our knowledge and expectations of the world to assess ideas．That approach is well suited to a stable environment．But it can be less productive when circumstances change．
How can we learn to be more flexible in our own thinking？
One of the abilities most important to flexible thinking is the power to relax our mind and let our guard down．If we are constantly alerted，our ideas may have a narrow range，and tend to be conventional．
One can also cultivate flexible thinking by adjusting one's external conditions．Studies show that sitting in a darkened room，or closing our eyes，can widen our perspective．Low ceilings，narrow corridors，and windowless offices have the opposite effect．Being able to think without any kind of time pressure is also important when striving for novel ideas．Just as important，interruptions are deadly．A short phone call，e-mail or even a text message can redirect your attention and thoughts．
As a more general exercise to nurture our mental flexibility we can try to pay special attention to one of our strongly held beliefs，take it seriously and recall times in the past that we were wrong about something，our intellectual interactions may also be helpful．
| Deep （1） Insight（s） Insight（s） into Flexible Thinking |
|
| Passage outline | Supporting details |
| （2） Necessity Necessity topossess a flexible mind |
?Political change along with technological and social changes in our times （3） calls calls for flexible thinking．?Flexible thinking and logical thinking are playing different roles in our daily lives．The latter helps make what we analyze accurate while the former enables us to be （4） innovative/creative innovative/creative ． |
| （5） Barriers/Obstacles Barriers/Obstacles tothinking flexibly |
? （6） Unlike Unlike information processors，our brain can either ignore new ideas or kill them （7）based/depending/relying based/depending/relying on our experience and expectations． |
| Ways to cultivate flexible thinking | ?It is better to let our mind off guard occasionally so as to avoid （8） limiting/restricting limiting/restricting our ideas to conventional ones．?Adjusting external surroundings （9） matters/counts matters/counts and thinking without time pressure and distractions is also important．?（10） Focusing/Concentrating Focusing/Concentrating on one of our strongly held beliefs and having some doubt about it may be of help． |
【考點(diǎn)】人與自我．
【答案】Insight（s）；Necessity；calls；innovative/creative；Barriers/Obstacles；Unlike；based/depending/relying；limiting/restricting；matters/counts；Focusing/Concentrating
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發(fā)布：2024/4/20 14:35:0組卷：9引用：1難度：0.7
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