Creativity and Boredom: The Connection Revealed

PPT Reader s Bank Level 6 Unit 05

13 / p.48 When people have nothing to do, they get bored easily. However, psychologists say boredom often leads to creative thinking. When people are free from outside stimulation, they usually start to explore what s deep inside their brains. They want to play with their own thoughts and experiment. This is how artists and inventors come up with creative ideas. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, takes himself to a secret resort for seven days twice a year. By separating himself from the world, he experiences complete boredom and comes up with creative business ideas. Today, we rarely get bored because we are always exposed to our smartphones and computers. Why don t you take a break for a while and enjoy boredom ? Sooner or later, you will realize __________________! Reader s Bank Level 06

14 !_1 / p.50 Reader s Bank Level 6 In the football game, a player from the other team walks up to you and says, My grandmother s faster than you! You try to ignore him, but he won t stop. You can t concentrate on the game, so you keep making mistakes. This type of talking is called trash talk. When you trash-talk someone, you treat that person like garbage. Trash talkers often simply insult opposing players skills. Serious trash talk involves insults to players families, races or religions. Athletes use this talk to gain a mental advantage. It upsets opposing players so that they play worse. Trash talk is common among players who want to become friends.

14 !_2 / p.50 Reader s Bank Level 6 The basketball player Michael Jordan and the mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor are the well-known trash talkers. They often dominated their opponents with their trash talks. Because trash-talking is against sportsmanship, many sports associations ban it. Even so, the problem isn t going away easily.

15 , !_1 / p.52 Reader s Bank Level 6 Whoever travels to Bangkok probably has seen people selling insects as snacks on the streets. Nowadays insects have become popular food, not only in tropical areas, but also in many countries around the world. In fact, insects are considered to be a smart food choice. Why? (A) Raising insects is also better for the environment because they produce much less waste. More importantly, most insects are tasty and rich in nutrients. So what s holding you back? Go ahead and try some insects! (B) As the world s population continues to increase, the demand for meat is rising sharply, but the supply isn t catching up. This is why people are considering insects as an alternative for meat.

15 , !_2 / p.52 Reader s Bank Level 6 (C) Insects have many advantages over meat. Since there are ten million insect species on Earth, their supply is limitless. Besides, raising insects for food costs much less than raising farm animals. For example, cows eat eight grams of feed to gain one gram in weight while insects need less than two grams of feed to gain the same amount of weight.