Question

Being bored can encourage people's creativity-partly to escape the horrible, frustrated. And meaningless feeling of boredom-recent studies find. It could even be true at work.

Psychologists at the University of Central Lancashire had participants copy numbers out of the telephone book for 15 minutes,while others went straight into a standard creativity task.

Both groups were asked to come up with as many different uses as they could for a plastic cup. The group that felt more bored came up with more uses.

Dr. Sandi Mann, one of the study's authors said. " Boredom at work has always been seen as

something to he removed. hut perhaps we should be welcoming it in order to encourage our creativity. What we want LO do next is to see what the practical implications of this finding are. Do people who are bored at work become more creative in other areas of their work-or do they go homeand write novels?"

In a later study, Dr. Sandi Mann found that creativity was reduced when people were still bored but didn't have the chance to daydream.

While we tend to think of boredom as something; that certainly leads to trouble-drinking, gambling. and antisocial behavior, this research suggests differer possibilities.

More than anything, the feeling of boredom is a 8trong signal that we are stuck in some kind of rut and we need to seek out new goals. In the study above, this research led participants to new ideas.

Usually people will do anything to avoid being bored. as it's such an aversive experience. But creative people, like writers, sometimes talk ahout seeking out boredom.

Here is the comedy writer Graham Linehan talking about boredom Lo The Cuardian. "I have to use all these programs that cut off the Internet,force me to be bored, because being bored is an essential part of writing, and the Internet has made it very hard to be bored. The creative process requires a period of boredom ,of being stuck. That's actually a very uncomfortable period that a lot of people mistake for writer's block, but it's actually just part of a long process. "

So, when you start to feel bored , instead of g7ancing at your smartphone.,try being bored for a bit. Who knows what creative thought might come of it?

1.From the study of Dr. Sandi Mann, we can learn that__ .

A. boring tasks make people creative

B. daydreaming may increase creativity

C. plastic cups can be used very creatively

D. copying numbers might be very interesting

2.The underlined word "aversive" in Paragraph 8 probably means _

A. common. B. unpleasant

C. unusual D. personal

3.According to Craham Linehan. .

A. glancing at a smartphone is a solulion.

B. he is forced to feel bored by the Internet

C. the boredom period is a block for writers

D. being stuck for a period benefits him a lot

4.What is the author's attitude towards boredom?

A. Critical. B. Cautious.

C. Positive D. Unclear.

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.B

3.D

4.C

【解析】

試題分析:無聊情緒經(jīng)常是被看做不可取的，從而人們都在一定程度上逃離可怕的，令人沮喪的，無意義的無聊感。 但是最近的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，無聊可以激發(fā)人們的創(chuàng)造力，甚至在工作中也是如此。所以，當你開始感到無聊時，停止瀏覽你的智能手機，嘗試著讓這種無聊保持一段時間。

1.推理判斷題。從文章第五段Dr. Sandi Mann的研究Dr. Sandi Mann found that creativity was reduced when people were still bored but didn't have the chance to daydream.可知當人們一直感到無聊而沒有機會做白日夢的時候，他們的創(chuàng)造力會下降。由此推斷做白日夢有利于創(chuàng)造力的培養(yǎng)，選B。

2. 詞義推斷題。根據(jù)情理可知無聊是令人沮喪的感覺，而且從文章首段the horrible, frustrated, and meaningless feeling of boredom和文章倒數(shù)第二段中That's actually a very uncomfortable period也可知該詞意思是“令人不快的”，選B。

3. 細節(jié)理解題。從文章倒數(shù)第二段內(nèi)容可知他自己強迫自己變得無聊，根據(jù)because being bored is an essential part of writing和The creative process requires a period of boredom, of being stuck可知他從中受益良多，選D。

4.推理判斷題。根據(jù)文章末段作者的建議when you start to feel bored , instead of g7ancing at your smartphone.,try being bored for a bit. Who knows what creative thought might come of it?可知作者對于無聊持積極態(tài)度，選C。

考點：考查社會科學類短文閱讀