Discoveries in science and technology are thought by "untaught minds" to come in blinding flashes or as the result of dramatic accidents. Sir Alexander Fleming did not, as legend would have it, look at the mold (霉) on a piece of cheese and get the idea for penicillin there and then. He experimented with antibacterial substances for nine years before he made his discovery. Inventions and innovations almost always come out of laborious trial and error. Innovation is like soccer; even the best players miss the goal and have their shots blocked much more frequently than they score.

　　The point is that the players who score most are the ones who take most shots at the goal-and so it goes with innovation in any field of activity. The prime difference between innovation and others is one of approach. Everybody gets ideas, but innovators work consciously on theirs, and they follow them through until they prove practicable or otherwise. What ordinary people see as fanciful abstractions, professional innovators see as solid possibilities.

　　"Creative thinking may mean simply the realization that there's no particular virtue in doing things the way they have always been done," wrote Rudolph Flexh, a language authority, this accounts for our reaction to seemingly simple innovations like plastic garbage bags and suitcases on wheels that make life more convenient : "How come nobody thought of that before?" The creative approach begins with the proposition that nothing is as it appears. Innovators will not accept that there is only one way to do anything. Faced with getting from A to B, the average person will automatically set out on the best-known and apparently simplest route. The innovator will search for alternate courses, which may prove easier in the long run and are bound to be more interesting and challenging even if they lead to dead ends.

　　Highly creative individuals really do march to a different drummer.

67. What does the author probably mean by "untaught mind" in the first paragraph?
[A] A person ignorant of the hard work involved in experimentation.
[B] A citizen of a society that restricts personal creativity.
[C] A person who has had no education.
[D] An individual who often comes up with new ideas by accident.

[答案] A

[解題思路]

　　文章第一句話指出"Discoveries in science and technology are thought by "untaught minds" to come in blinding flashes or as the result of dramatic accidents"，接著下文以Sir Alexander Fleming的例子來反證第一句話的論點。可見作者認為科學技術中的新發現都是辛勤研究和做實驗的結果，而"untaught mind"對這些情況不了解，因此正確答案為A。C選項是最這個詞語的表面意思理解，頗具迷惑性。B和D選項則與原文不符。第一句話的意思為"科學技術上的發明創造被"不知內情者"看做靈感的眩目閃現或戲劇性事件的結果"。

[題目譯文]

第一段中作者所說的"untaught mind"是什么意思？
[A] 一個不懂得實驗過程中包含了辛勤工作的人
[B] 在一個限制個人創造力的社會中的人
[C] 一個沒有接受過教育的人
[D] 一個時不時偶然地發現新想法的人

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