英语写作 杜克大学 (23)

INTRODUCTIONS

PURPOSE/AIMS

HOOK ORIENT

READER KEY TERMS

OPENING SENTENCE

¡ Purpose

¡ “In December 2006 I began visiting tiny places that produce Everest-size amounts of talent” (Coyle 11).

¡ “What makes Tiger Woods great?” (Colvin).

¡ “Experts are sometimes defined as outliers from the general population: those more than two standard deviations above the mean, showing consistently superior performance on representative tasks from their domain (Ericsson & Charness, 1994)” (Charness and Tufiash).

EXAMPLE (COLVIN)

(Fortune Magazine) -- What makes Tiger Woods great? What made Berkshire Hathaway (Charts) Chairman Warren Buffett the world's premier investor? We think we know: Each was a natural who came into the world with a gift for doing exactly what he ended up doing. As Buffett told Fortune not long ago, he was "wired at

birth to allocate capital." It's a one-in-a-million thing. You've got it - or you don't.

Well, folks, it's not so simple. For one thing, you do not possess a natural gift for a certain job, because targeted natural gifts don't exist. (Sorry, Warren.) You are not a born CEO or investor or chess grandmaster. You will achieve greatness only through an enormous amount of hard work over many years. And not just any hard work, but work of a particular type that's demanding and painful.

Buffett, for instance, is famed for his discipline and the hours he spends studying financial statements of potential investment targets. The good news is that your lack of a natural gift is irrelevant - talent has little or nothing to do with greatness. You can make yourself into any number of things, and you can even make yourself great.

EXAMPLE

S c i e n t i f i c e x p e r t s a re p ro d u c i n g re m a r k a b l y c o n s i s t e n t f i n d i n g s a c ro s s a w i d e a r r a y o f f i e l d s.

U n d e r s t a n d t h a t t a l e n t d o e s n't m e a n i n t e l l i g e n c e,m o t i v a t i o n o r p e r s o n a l i t y t r a i t s.I t's a n

i n n a t e a b i l i t y t o d o s o m e s p e c i f i c a c t i v i t y e s p e c i a l l y w e l l.B r i t i s h-b a s e d re s e a rc h e r s M i c h a e l J.

H o w e,J a n e W.D a v i d s o n a n d J o h n A.S l u b o d a c o n c l u d e i n a n e x t e n s i v e s t u d y,"T h e e v i d e n c e w e

h a v e s u r v e y e d ...d o e s n o t s u p p o r t t h e[n o t i o n t h a t]e x c e l l i n g i s a c o n s e q u e n c e o f p o s s e s s i n g

i n n a t e g i f t s.”

To s e e h o w t h e re s e a rc h e r s c o u l d re a c h s u c h a c o n c l u s i o n,c o n s i d e r t h e p ro b l e m t h e y w e re

t r y i n g t o s o l v e.I n v i r t u a l l y e v e r y f i e l d o f e n d e a v o r,m o s t p e o p l e l e a r n q u i c k l y a t f i r s t,t h e n

m o re s l o w l y a n d t h e n s t o p d e v e l o p i n g c o m p l e t e l y. Ye t a f e w d o i m p ro v e f o r y e a r s a n d e v e n

d e c a d e s,a n d g o o n t o g re a t n e s s.

T h e i r re s i s t i b l e q u e s t i o n-t h e"f u n d a m e n t a l c h a l l e n g e"f o r re s e a rc h e r s i n t h i s f i e l d,s a y s t h e

m o s t p ro m i n e n t o f t h e m,p ro f e s s o r K. A n d e r s E r i c s s o n o f F l o r i d a S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y-i s,W h y?

H o w a re c e r t a i n p e o p l e a b l e t o g o o n i m p ro v i n g?T h e a n s w e r s b e g i n w i t h c o n s i s t e n t

o b s e r v a t i o n s a b o u t g re a t p e r f o r m e r s i n m a n y f i e l d s.

S c i e n t i s t s w o r l d w i d e h a v e c o n d u c t e d s c o re s o f s t u d i e s s i n c e t h e1993p u b l i c a t i o n o f a

l a n d m a r k p a p e r b y E r i c s s o n a n d t w o c o l l e a g u e s,m a n y f o c u s i n g o n s p o r t s,m u s i c a n d c h e s s,i n w h i c h p e r f o r m a n c e i s re l a t i v e l y e a s y t o m e a s u re a n d p l o t o v e r t i m e.B u t p l e n t y o f a d d i t i o n a l

s t u d i e s h a v e a l s o e x a m i n e d o t h e r f i e l d s,i n c l u d i n g b u s i n e s s.