118
ACADEMIC READING
TEST
FOUR
READING PASSAGE
3
You should spend about
20
minutes on Questions 29-40 which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.
i
Day-dreaming
an art or a waste of time?
ay-dreaming is generally
viewed as an impractical,
wasteful activity: one
should be doing something
useful, not just sitting or walking
around with 'one's head in the
But rather than being of
little worth, the capacity to
fantasize is a priceless skill, a
thoroughly useful tool, a tool for
all seasons.
Day-dreaming is an essential
ingredient in most, if not all,
creative processes. In the pursuit
of innovation and development,
many organizations have been
trying over recent years 'to
capture the day-dreaming
process' by formalizing and
institutionalizing the process in
creative seminars. Workshops
where employees sit around
'brainstorming' and 'being
creative' are now mushrooming.
But do they work? To a certain
extent they can, but not always.
There are instances of outside
consultants setting u p
sessions for
companies where the chairperson
or director gives his or her ideas
first.
doing so, they set the
parameters as no one wants to
contradict or overrule the boss.
True brainstorming, like
day-
dreaming, however, knows no
boundaries, no hierarchies and
no fears. The intention is not to
disparage such activities, but
they are too over-controlled and
do not even mimic the
environment needed to day-
dream and create. But they do
show how the creative force, so
frequently despised before, is
creeping into the mainstream,
even if in a contained manner.
Very contained, in fact.
So where to begin? Day-dreaming
or fantasizing is discouraged in
children, so that by the time they
are adults it has been completely
removed. While one would not
want to have all children sitting
around in a kind of
hypothyroidic haze of day-
dreaming bliss, those most
naturally inclined to it should be
given space to dream and their
ability nurtured. Creativity comes
out of the unusual and needs
space, in fact lots of space, to
develop. Yet, life is based on
mediocrity and so society
demands that creative flair be
knocked out of someone when
they are young so that they can
conform.
As adults, then, it is by and large
more difficult to day-dream in
general. The limitations have
been set by others early on and by
subtle reminders to keep people
in place. Individuals in danger of
deviating from the norm are kept
in their place by a permanent
flow of seemingly innocent
comments designed to induce
conformity ('I don't like that.'
'That won't work.') quite often
delivered subconsciously.
Fortunately, the die-hard
manage to
struggle through.
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