The Doubt That Haunts
When most people are asked to produce something creative, they freeze. They panic. They choke. They seize up with self-doubt. “Creativity?” they say. “Not me!” If you disbelieve this statement, consider how often you try new things in your life. How readily do you try something creative, such as writing, drawing or singing? Most of us believe we can't create and have believed it for so long that the belief has become reality. People possess a large capacity for self-doubt about their creative ability in terms of writing, drawing, and music.
Writing offers a classic example. About 90 percent of adults believe they cannot write, although nearly all young children believe they can write. Self-doubt seems to creep in as we grow older. I witnessed this last year in a college writing class when the instructor asked the students if they ever wrote outside of school. One student raised his hand. When the instructor asked how many students thought of themselves as writers, no students—zero out of twenty—raised a hand. By contrast, a first grade teacher had asked her students the same questions and received quite different responses. Did any first graders write outside of school? Twenty out of twenty-two hands shot up. Did any first graders think of themselves as writers? Twenty-two out of twenty-two hands went up. Plainly, adults are more self-conscious about their creativity than children are.
Drawing is another creative ability that many adults doubt they have. For instance, at a recent family party I suggested we play “Pictionary”, which involves drawing clues for secret words. “Absolutely not!” my family said” We can’t draw." The interesting part, however, is that we played “Pictionary” and had a wonderful time with some very creative drawings. This experience showed me that people often doubt they can be creative because they haven’t tried.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Self-doubt about creativity in areas such as writing, drawing, or music seems nearly universal among adults. It seems probable, however, that almost all adults have the capacity for creativity in those areas. People all have the potential to be creative and would be able to express their creative side as long as they try. What keeps people from being creative? In my opinion, people are afraid of looking inept, so they hesitate to try creative things. If people would learn to do things to please themselves rather than to please others, maybe their doubts would disappear.【正确答案】：
     SELF-DOUBT ABOUT MUSICAL ABILITY IS ALSO COMMON. FOR EXAMPLE, AT SPORTING EVENTS WHERE THE NATIONAL ANTHEM IS SUNG, MANY PEOPLE JUST MOUTH OR WHISPER THE WORDS, EVEN THOUGH IN SUCH A CROWD THEIR INDIVIDUAL VOICES WOULD NOT BE HEARD. RECENTLY, HOWEVER, I WAS AT A FOOTBALL GAME WHEN THE ELECTRICITY FAILED AND THE TAPE-RECORDED NATIONAL ANTHEM COULD NOT BE PLAYED. THE CROWD SANG WITHOUT ACCOMPANIMENT AND SOUNDED PRETTY GOOD, THOUGH NEARLY ALL OF THEM WERE CONVINCED THAT THEY COULDN’T “CARRY A TUNE IN A BUCKET.” OBVIOUSLY MANY PEOPLE DOUBT THEY CAN BE CREATIVE BECAUSE THEY FEAR THE RESULTS WILL NOT BE PERFECT.
【题目解析】：根据全文第一段最后一句，可列出文章提纲： I Introduction (para. 1) A. People’s fear of doing something creative B. Thesis: People tend to produce more doubt on their creative ability in terms of writing, drawing and music. II The three creative ability that many adults doubt they have A. Writing 1. The increase of self-doubt with the increase of our age 2. Example: the college writing class B. Drawing 1. example: family game of “Pictionary” 2. the reason of adult’s doubt C. The missing paragraph III Conclusion （para.5） A. People’s potential to be creative. B. the reason for people’s self-doubt 本文是一篇介绍自我怀疑在艺术方面的体现的文章。文章脉络清晰，根据提纲可知：缺失的第四段主题应该是关于 self-doubt about music. 范文： Self-doubt about musical ability is also common. For example, at sporting events where the national anthem is sung, many people just mouth or whisper the words, even though in such a crowd their individual voices would not be heard. Recently, however, I was at a football game when the electricity failed and the tape-recorded national anthem could not be played. The crowd sang without accompaniment and sounded pretty good, though nearly all of them were convinced that they couldn’t “carry a tune in a bucket.” Obviously many people doubt they can be creative because they fear the results will not be perfect.