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 creatures,” William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word “habit” carries a negative meaning.
So it seems contradictory to talk about habits in the same context as innovation (創(chuàng)新). But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously developnew habits, we create parallel paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.
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 creative we become.
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.
“The first thing needed for innovation is attraction to 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.”
“All of us work through problems in ways of which we’re unaware,” she says. Researchers in the late 1960s discovered that humans are born with the ability to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally, collaboratively (合作地) and innovatively. At the end of adolescence, however, the brain shuts down half of that ability, preserving only those ways of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life.
The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that few of us use our innovative and collaborative ways 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 preserved, and it fosters (促進(jìn)，培養(yǎng)) commonness. Knowing what you’re good at and doing even more of it creates excellence.” This is where developing new habits comes in.
Brain researchers have discovered that .
A．the forming of new habits can be guided
B．the development of habits can be predicted
C．the regulation of old habits can be transformed
D．the track of new habits can be created unconsciously
The underlined word “ruts” in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to .
A．zones B．connections C．situations D．tracks
Which of the following statements most probably agrees with Dawna Markova’s view?
A．Decision makes no sense in choices.
B．Curiosity makes creative minds active.
C．Creative ideas are born of a relaxing mind.
D．Formation of innovation comes from fantastic ideas.
The purpose of the author writing this article is to persuade us .
A．to give up our traditional habits deliberately
B．to create and develop new habits consciously
C．to resist the application of standardized testing
D．to believe that old habits conflict with new habits
