Questions 26-30
It is often remarked that, since the 1960s, the speed and processing power of computers has grown
exponentially. But exponential growth has long been a fact of life for many types of technological,
cultural and social change, and it has reached a point where even the calmest among us might 26 .
In politics, we now have to cope with more scandals in a single year than we used to encounter in a
lifetime. Our elections are being interfered with. Our news sources have come into question. As one
observer said, “the world has become an insane asylum.” Meanwhile, in the field of science,
researchers are overwhelmed by something more constructive, the more than three million new
journal articles each year. In personal technology, we must all learn 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 “disruptive change.” More importantly, social attitudes are changing just
as fast—compare the pace of the civil rights movement to the “me too” campaign that swept the world
overnight.
The 27 of businesses to adapt has led to the quick demise of countless companies, and major
power shifts in industries from taxis to hospitality. But we must adapt to thrive in our personal lives,
too. We have to be willing to rise above conventional mindsets, to reframe the questions we ask, and
28 . We have to rely as much on our imagination as on logic, and have the ability to generate and integrate a wide variety of ideas, to welcome experiment, and be tolerant of failure. This manner of
thought is called “elastic thinking,” 29 rational or logical thought.
Rational/logical thought is an analysis that can be described by an algorithm of the kind that
computers follow. Elastic thought cannot. We evolved the capacity for the former in order to help us
face the everyday challenges of life. We evolved the latter to help us succeed when circumstances
change—which is why it is increasingly important to 30 today. Elastic thought is where your new
ideas come from. Imaginative, original, and non-linear, it is “bottom-up” thinking. Logical thought
can determine how to drive from your home to the grocery store most efficiently, but it’s elastic
thought that gave us the automobile.
【題組】26.
(A) jump to conclusion
(B) stop worrying
(C) start to feel dizzy
(D) decide to move on
(E) call it to mind