GRE作文范文 Issue-26

"Originality does not mean thinking something that was never thought before: it means putting old ideas together in new ways."

嘉文博譯Sample Essay

There are at least two different ways of looking at the concept of originality, and neither of these ways is mutually exclusive as proposed by the above statement. Both approaches to what constitutes "originality" - thinking up something entirely new that no one else has ever thought of before, and combining previously discovered ideas in new ways - have the word "new" in common. One can look at the two schools of thought and see that they are complementary rather than at odds with each other. Both are absolutely necessary for maximizing innovation and discovery.

First, let's consider the first phrase of the statement - "Originality does not mean thinking something that was never thought before". Coming up with something that has never been thought of before is probably the absolute pinnacle of originality. What could be more original than something that has never before presented itself to the human mind? History is rife with examples of such inventiveness and imagination. People have become rich on even very simple ideas that make one exclaim: "Why didn't I think of that?"

Brand new ideas are often scoffed at or ridiculed in the beginning. The idea that the world was flat was taken as a given until a group of explorers with a novel idea proved that the world was indeed round by circumnavigating the globe. Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity had never been thought of before - can anyone honestly say that this was not an "original" idea? Thomas Alva Edison's entire (and quite amazing) career was based on thinking of things that no one had ever thought of before. Can anyone claim that his inventions lacked originality? On the contrary, thinking up ideas that have never been thought before would seem to the "purest" sense of originality as something that is wholly and entirely brand new to the human species.

Similarly, putting together previously thought of ideas in news ways is just another branch of the notion of originality. Looking back to the example of Einstein's Theory of Relativity, there have been tremendous strides made throughout the sciences using his theory as a basis for theoretical and physical research and development. Combining Einstein's theories with theories on different subjects and areas that had never been looked at before also represents "originality" as they are used to develop new ideas and concepts. Edison is credited with more than one thousand patented ideas. These ideas have been combined with other people's ideas in creative and imaginative ways that Edison never could have imagined. From Edison's invention of the phonograph, we now have compact disks and MP3 digitized music files. The combination of Edison's never-before-thought-of ideas and the technology behind the digital revolution has led to the development of innovative and original methods of listening to music.

Finally, one need to only think about the concept that "originality means combining previously thought of ideas in new ways" to see that it is fundamentally in error. The statement presupposes that all basic ideas that could be thought up have already been proposed, and that there are no new ideas that have never been thought of before. This brings to mind the infamous statement made by the director of the United States Patent Office to U.S. President McKinley in 1899: "Everything that can be invented has already been invented." Concepts that we cannot even imagine will continue to be thought of for as long as people have the capability of thought. The true definition of originality must include both brand new, previously unheard of ideas as well as the later combination of those ideas in new-fangled ways to create something innovative.

(602 words)

參考譯文

原創(chuàng)性并非意味著思考以前從未被思考之事物：原創(chuàng)性指的是用新的方法將各種舊思想綜合起來

至少有兩種看待原創(chuàng)性的方式，而且這兩種方式并非彼此互不相容，如上面引文所言。兩種探討"原創(chuàng)性"實質(zhì)--思考以前從未被思考過的新事物以及用新方法綜合以前已被發(fā)現(xiàn)的思想--的方法，都同樣以"新"為其特點。我們可以看一下這兩種思想方法，發(fā)現(xiàn)它們是互補的，而不是互斥的。對于最大限度地革新和發(fā)現(xiàn)，它們均是絕對地必需。

首先，我們考察一下上述引文的第一個命題："原創(chuàng)性并不是思考以前從未被思考之事物"。能構(gòu)想出以前從未被思考過的事物，這或許是原創(chuàng)性的峰巔。還有什么能比為人類揭示出人類未知的事物更具原創(chuàng)性的呢?人類的歷史就是一部此類發(fā)明和思想的歷史。人們甚至會因為非常簡單的想法--簡單得以致于有人會說："我怎么會沒有想到呢?" --而成為富人。

嶄新的思想在開始時常常受到取笑甚至嘲弄。地球是平的這一觀念被認為是鐵定的，直到一群擁有新看法的探險家環(huán)球旅行證明地球確實是圓的，這一觀念才被推翻。Albert Enstein的相對論以前從未有人想到。能有人誠實地說這不是"原創(chuàng)性的"嗎?Thomas Alva Edison的整個(且非常令人驚奇的)一生，都是在思考以前從未被人思考過的事物。能有人說他的發(fā)明沒有"原創(chuàng)性"嗎?相反，想到以前從未被人思索過的思想，似乎是原創(chuàng)性"最純粹"的含義。原創(chuàng)即是指對人類來說純粹和徹底的新事物。 同樣，以新的方法把舊的思想融合在一起是原創(chuàng)性的另一方面。回顧Einstein的相對論，在整個科學史上有許多人運用他的理論作為理論研究或物理研究的基礎，從而獲得巨大成就和進步。把Einstein的理論與以前從未提出或探討的學科或領域的理論結(jié)合起來，同樣體現(xiàn)出"原創(chuàng)性"，因為它們是用來發(fā)展新的思想和新的觀念。Edison有一千多項專利發(fā)明。這些發(fā)明已與其他人的思想創(chuàng)造性地、富有想象力地結(jié)合起來，而這些思想是Edison所想像不到的。從Edison所發(fā)明的留聲機，我們現(xiàn)在擁有了激光唱機和MP3型數(shù)字音樂唱機。Edison的"從未想到的"想法與數(shù)字革命以后的技術(shù)相結(jié)合，導致了富有革新意義和原創(chuàng)意義的聆聽音樂方法的產(chǎn)生。

最后，我們只需考慮一下"原創(chuàng)性指的是用新的方法將各種舊思想綜合起來"這一說法，就會發(fā)現(xiàn)這種說法完全是錯誤的。這一說法假定所有能想像到的想法都已被提出，而且已經(jīng)不存在以前還未被想到的新思想了。這使我們想起1899年美國專利署署長對美國總統(tǒng)Mckinley所說的不知天高地厚的話："所有能被發(fā)明的已全被發(fā)明"。只要人類還具有思想的能力，我們現(xiàn)在甚至還無法想像到的思想將永遠會不斷地被構(gòu)　想出來。原創(chuàng)性的真正定義，必須既包括全新的、前所未聞的思想，又囊括后來用新奇的方法把舊思想綜合起來而創(chuàng)造的事物。