Although we all experience failure in our lives, we don’t all react to it in the same way. An interesting research has emphasized the notion that there are some people who embrace challenges and disappointments as opportunities to re-focus their thinking. These are people with a growth mindset. Then, there are other people who see failure as a complete failure. They believe that they never had the talent anyway, and they probably never will. These are people with a fixed mindset.

Psychologist Dweck has studied these mindsets and provided evidence that most people intentionally place themselves in one of those two groups. The group to which you assign yourself frequently determines how you react to challenges. If you experience failure and give up, you have conveniently assigned yourself to the fixed group. If you experience failure and regard it as a stepping stone, then you have placed yourself into the growth group.

According to the research, people in the growth group tend to generate more creative ideas than those in the fixed group. To illustrate, consider Thomas Edison. In the 19th century, Edison attempted to improve the light bulb and experimented with numerous materials. Over a thousand trials, he managed to discover an element sustaining light. A reporter once asked him,“It seems as though you’ve tried many times and continue to fail each time. Why is that?”Edison answered,“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10, 000 ways that won’t work.”

In studies of creative people, psychologists discovered that a distinguishing feature separating them from the non-creative is that they make lots of mistakes and continue to work through them. Most people consider success and failure as polar opposites. In reality, they are both parts of the same process.

【小题1】What might people with a growth mindset agree with?

A．Challenges are welcomed.

B．Mistakes can be avoided.

C．Success is due to good luck.

D．Only talent leads to success.

【小题2】What does the underlined phrase “a stepping stone” in paragraph 2 refer to?

A．A road to nowhere.

B．A challenge in the way.

C．An outcome to expect.

D．A chance to advance.

【小题3】Why does the author mention Thomas Edison in paragraph 3?

A．To make a prediction.

B．To present a fact.

C．To support a viewpoint.

D．To clarify a principle.

【小题4】What is the main idea of the text?

A．How people interpret failure often determines their creative output.

B．Learning from success plays an important part in improving creativity.

C．Growth mindset people see challenges differently from fixed mindset ones.

D．Which group people put themselves in decides how they react to challenges.