GRE作文范文 Issue-33

“It is easy to welcome innovation and accept new ideas. What most people find difficult, however, is accepting the way these new ideas are put in to practice.”

嘉文博譯Sample Essay

To a greater or lesser degree, all people are resistant to change, and change often begins with innovation and new ideas. Indeed, the human body has a built-in response mechanism for dealing with the anxiety that occurs in unfamiliar situations. Particularly in the world of business, the dynamics of affecting change in a company are becoming increasingly important but also increasingly difficult to do without creating dissension among the employees. Barring any difficulties in their current situation, people prefer the status quo to almost any changes. The resistance to change begins with the difficulty in the initial acceptance of innovation and new ideas, which then leads to difficulties in putting those ideas into practice.

People are most comfortable with that with which they are familiar. Depending upon the situation and the degree to which innovation or a new idea means changing one’s life, every person will feel a certain amount of discomfort when facing the unfamiliar. Whether it is a new job, new location or even meeting a new friend, psychologists and sociologists know that there is an automatic adrenaline response within the human body that occurs in response to the unfamiliar. It is a totally natural and ingrained response similar to the “fight or flight” idea that is left over from the days when humans were often faced with situations that determined whether they would survive to live another day.

Even in today’s more modern society, business management and human resources literature is filled with techniques and ideas for dealing with the dynamics of change within an organization. If human beings were well equipped to deal with innovation and new ideas, there would be no reason for managers to have to worry about getting employees to “go along” with a different business direction or method. Acceptance would be automatic and there would be no problem with putting the ideas into practice. The reluctance to change begins with accepting the idea rather than actually putting the new idea into practice.

Furthermore, history is littered with examples of human resistance to innovation and new ideas, even those that are routinely accepted and taken for granted in today’s world. As early as the 6th century BC, Pythagoras insisted that the world was round, but no one believed him. The idea was not widely accepted until actually proven by maritime explorers over one thousand years later. American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) invented the first cell phone in 1947 - yet it would not be commercially accepted until thirty-six years later. It would be several more than another decade before the general public decided that the cell phone had a practical use. In the late 1930’s, an inventor tried to sell his idea of “xerography” to two of the world’s largest companies, IBM and Kodak, among others. They flatly rejected his idea and sent him away. A little known company named Haloid-Xerox, now known as Xerox, bought the idea and debuted the first photocopier in 1960, which became an unprecedented success in the world of business. Human beings natural resistance to innovation and new ideas has been displayed throughout history; it continues to be a natural human trait even in today’s modern, high-tech society.

In summary, it is human beings’ natural resistance to change that presents the greatest challenge to accepting new ideas and innovation. Business managers struggle to overcome it, and history shows many examples of this human trait. Although putting these changes into action is also problematic, it is definitely not easy in the first place for people to welcome new ideas with open arms.

(593 words)

參考譯文

迎納革新和接受新思想，并非難事。然而，大多數(shù)人所感到困難的，是實施這些新思想的方式

在一定程度上，所有的人都不愿意變化，而變化常常始于革新和新思想。的確，人體具有一種內(nèi)在的反應(yīng)機制來處理不熟悉的環(huán)境中產(chǎn)生的焦慮。尤其在商業(yè)界，影響公司內(nèi)部變化的動態(tài)因素日趨重要，而且日益難以處理，因為它常常在雇員當(dāng)中造成不和。除非他們目前的情形中出現(xiàn)困難，否則人們還是寧愿選擇維持現(xiàn)狀而不愿選擇任何變化。對變化的抵制始于最初難以接受革新和新思想，這又導(dǎo)致人們難以實踐這些新思想。

人們能處在他們熟悉的環(huán)境中是最舒適不過的。因為環(huán)境的改變以及革新或新思想意味著改變他們的生活方式，所以人們在面對陌生事物時都會感到一定程度的不適。心理學(xué)家和社會學(xué)家研究得知，無論是找工作，遷移到新地方還是會見一位新朋友，人體內(nèi)有一種不自覺的腎上腺素反應(yīng)隨著陌生事物的出現(xiàn)而發(fā)生。這完全是一種自然的而且是與生俱有的反應(yīng)，它與古代所留下來的“打不贏就跑”的思想相似，在那個時代，人類常常會面臨某些危險的境地，這些境地可以決定他們是否能生存下來，去享受另一天的生命。

即使在今天更具現(xiàn)代色彩的社會中，企業(yè)管理和人力資源文獻中到處可見組織機構(gòu)內(nèi)部發(fā)生變動時的應(yīng)變對策和理論。如果人們有很好的準(zhǔn)備來應(yīng)對革新和新思想，那么經(jīng)理們也就沒有理由去擔(dān)心如何使雇員適應(yīng)不同的工作指令或工作方式。接受將是自然而然的，實踐新思想也就不會有問題。只接受新思想，而不真正將新思想付諸實踐，這只能意味著拒絕變化。

再者，歷史上不乏人類拒絕革新和新思想的實例，甚至是那些在今天看來是被很自然地接受且毫不置疑的思想。早在公元前6世紀(jì)，Pythagoras提出地球是圓的學(xué)說，但是沒有人相信他的話。他的思想直到一千多年以后被航海探險家實際證實才被普遍接受。美國電話電報公司(AT&T)1947年發(fā)明了第一部電池電話，但是它直到36年后才被商界接受。普通大眾認(rèn)為電池電話可以實際應(yīng)用，那還是又過了十多年之后的事。在20世紀(jì)30年代，一位發(fā)明家試圖把他的靜電印刷術(shù)賣給世界上兩家最大的公司IBM和Kodak。這兩家公司斷然拒絕他的想法并把他打發(fā)走。一家名不見經(jīng)傳的叫做Haloid—Xerox的公司——現(xiàn)在稱為Xerox公司——買下了他的思想，于1960年首次使用了攝影復(fù)制機，并在商界取得了前所未有的成功。人類對革新和新思想的本能排斥，在整個歷史上俯拾皆是，而且這一本能在今天現(xiàn)代的高科技社會仍然是人性的一個特征。

總之，正是人類對變化的本能抵制構(gòu)成了接受新思想和革新的最大挑戰(zhàn)。企業(yè)經(jīng)理努力克服它，而且歷史也展示了許多實例足以證明這一人性特點。盡管把這些變化付諸行動同樣是一個問題，但是，讓人們一開始便信奉新思想決非易事。