考研英语2009年 TEXT1 翻译

Habits are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine. “Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting herd,” William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word “habit” carries a negative connotation.

习惯是件有趣的事情。我们无意识间养成了一些习惯，我们的大脑是自动运转的，轻松进入熟知套路所带来的不自觉舒适状态。“这并非选择，而是习惯控制了那些没有思想的人”，这是威廉·华兹华斯（William Wordsworth）19世纪时说的话。在现在这个日新月异的21世纪，甚至习惯这个词本身也带有负面涵义。

So it seems paradoxical to talk about habits in the same context as creativity and innovation. But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.

因此，在创造和革新的背景下来谈论习惯，似乎显得有点矛盾。但大脑研究人员发现，当我们有意识地培养新的习惯的时候，我们创建了平行路径，甚至是全新的脑细胞，可以让我们的思路跳转到新的创新轨道上来。

Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try ——the more we step outside our comfort zone —— the more inherently creative we become, both in the workplace and in our personal lives.

我们不要把自己看成是不可改变的习惯动物，相反，我们可以通过有意识的培养新的习惯来引导自身的改变。事实上，我们对新事物尝试得越多——就会越远地走出自己的舒适地带——我们在工作场所及个人生活中就会变得越有创造性，

But don?t bother trying to kill off old habits; once those ruts of procedure are worn into the brain, they?re there to stay. Instead, the new habits we deliberately press into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads.

但是，不必费心试图摈弃各种旧习惯；一旦这些程序惯例融进大脑，它们就会留在那里。相反，我们刻意培养的新习惯会创建平行路径能避开原来那些老路。

“The first thing needed for innovation is a fascination with wonder,” says Dawna Markova, author of The Open Mind. “But we are taught instead to …decide,? just as our president calls himself …the Decider.? ” She adds, however, that “to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities.”

《开放思想》一书的作者Dawna Markova说：“革新所需要的第一样东西，就是一种对好奇的着迷。然而我们被教导去做…决定?，就像我们的总裁称呼自己为…决策者?那样。”她补充道，“但是，决定意味着否决一切可能性而只保留一种。一个优秀的具有革新精神的思想者总是在探寻许多其它的可能。”

All of us work through problems in ways of which we're unaware, she says. Researchers in the late 1960 discovered that humans are born with the capacity to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally, relationally (or collaboratively) and innovatively. At the end of adolescence, however, the brain shuts down half of that capacity, preserving only those modes of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life.

她说，我们都是通过一些自己没有意识到的方法解决问题的。研究人员在20世纪60年代末发现人类天生主要用四种方法应对挑战。这四种方法是分析法，程序法，关联（或合作）法和创新法。但是在青春期结束的时候，大脑关闭一半的能力，仅仅保留了那些大约在生命最开始的十几年时间里似乎是最有价值的思维方式。

The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that few of us inherently use our innovative and collaborative modes of thought. “This breaks the major rule in the American belief system ——that anyone can do anything,” explains M. J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book This Year I Will...and Ms. Markova's business partner. “That?s a lie that we have perpetuated, and it fosters commonness. Knowing what you?re good at and doing even more of it creates excellence.” This is where developing new habits comes in.

目前标准化测试主要强调分析和程序的能力，也就是说，我们中很少有人会本能地使用创新和合作的思维方式。M.J.Ryan是2006年出版的著作《今年我将......》一书的作者以及Markova女士的商业合作伙伴，她解释说：“这打破了美国信念体系里的主要规则——任何人都可以做任何事。这是一个我们已经使之永恒的谎言，这造就了平庸。了解你擅长什么并且多去实践就会成就卓越。”这样才能培养出新习惯。