Most people believe they don’t have much imagination. They are __50__. Everyone has imagination, but most of us, once we become adults, forget how to __51__ it. Creativity isn’t always __52__ with great works of art or ideas. People at work and in their free time __53__ think of creative ways to solve problems. Maybe you have a goal to achieve, a tricky question to answer or you just want to expand your mind! Here are three techniques to help you.
Making connections This technique involves taking __54__ ideas and trying to find links between them. First, think about the problem you have to solve or the job you need to do. Then find an image, word, idea or object, for example, a candle. Write down all the ideas/words __55__ with candles: light, fire, matches, wax, night, silence, etc. Think of as many as you can. The next stage is to relate the __56__ to the job you have to do. So imagine you want to buy a friend an original __57__; you could buy him tickets to a match or take him out for the night.
No limits! Imagine that normal limitations don’t __58__. You have as much time/space/money, etc. as you want. Think about your goal and the new __59__. If your goal is to learn to ski, __60__, you can now practice skiing every day of your life (because you have the time and the money). Now __61__ this to reality. Maybe you can practice skiing every day in December, or every Monday in January.
Be someone else! Look at the situation from a __62__ point of view. Good businessmen use this technique in trade, and so do writers. Fiction writers often imagine they are the __63__ in their books. They ask questions: What does this character want? Why can’t she get it? What changes must she make to get what she wants? If your goal involves other people, put yourself in their __64__. The best fishermen think like fish!
50. | A. wrong | B. unbelievable | C. reasonable | D. realistic |
51. | A. put up with | B. catch up with | C. make use of | D. keep track of |
52. | A. equipped | B. compared | C. covered | D. connected |
53. | A. skillfully | B. routinely | C. vividly | D. deeply |
54. | A. familiar | B. unrelated | C. creative | D. imaginary |
55. | A. presented | B. marked | C. lit | D. associated |
56. | A. ideas | B. ambitious | C. achievement | D. technique |
57. | A. experience | B. service | C. present | D. object |
58. | A. work | B. last | C. exist | D. change |
59. | A. possibilities | B. limitations | C. tendency | D. practice |
60. | A. in fact | B. in particular | C. as a whole | D. for example |
61 | A. devote | B. adapt | C. lead | D. keep |
62. | A. private | B. global | C. different | D. practical |
63. | A. features | B. themes | C. creatures | D. characters |
64 | A. positions | B. dreams | C. images | D. directions |