"Sometimes imagination is a more valuable asset than experience. People who lack experience are free to imagine what is possible and thus can approach a task without constraints of established habits and attitudes."
嘉文博译Sample Essay
Inevitably, there are times when imagination can be a much more valuable asset than experience. Life is full of examples of such situations. There are, however, times when the reverse is also true. No one would probably prefer, as cases in point, a first-time astronaut piloting a dangerous space mission or a newly commissioned officer leading an army into battle. But for many occupations and tasks, imagination leads to creative thinking and solutions that may be beyond the ken of someone with years of experience in that particular field.
One example that immediately comes to mind is that of the superiority of new computer software programmers. The computer software producing companies want to hire the latest graduates that have only the basic programming skills and abilities - and the creative ideas that may not have been presented to the industry before. Although years of computer programming experience may be advantageous for certain tasks, such as the building of computer network systems for businesses, the computer software industry must have the very latest in state-of-the-art design. Imagination leads to creativity that can take computer games and other types of software in directions that were never before thought possible. Innovative computer games and software can earn hundreds of millions of dollars for the company that produces them. The latest and most creative ideas come almost exclusively from the imaginations of fresh talent lacking any formal experience with computer software companies.
Another example that occurs frequently with management and human resources in business is the idea of forming cross-functional task forces to solve problems that arise in the course of doing business. Management creates cross-functional task forces by choosing individuals across several different functional areas, such as the marketing, finance, human resources and accounting departments, to form a team that will address the particular dilemma facing the company. The idea is to invite the idea of "thinking outside of the box", or looking beyond the normal solutions that would probably be proposed by management or the particular department that is affected by the problem. As an example given, suppose that an accounting department is facing a crisis caused by the application of Western accounting principles to Chinese business documentation. By inviting all departments of the organization to focus on the problem, even though most have little or no accounting experience, the company hopes to gain an imaginative solution beyond that of the experience of the accounting department alone.
Politicians give maybe the prime example of the battle between the comparative merits of imagination versus that of experience. The classic battle lines are formed when a new challenger with no political experience faces an incumbent politician with perhaps decades of experience. The newcomer will focus his or her campaign on imagination as he or she attempts to generate new ideas to solve either the age-old problems of government or newly arisen crises. The wizened old politician will focus his campaign and the issues in such a way as to maximize his experience in politics as the prerequisite for an elected leader. Generally, a given voting population opposes change. Therefore in politics, in the absence of problems that obviously require imagination and fresh ideas, the candidate with the greater experience will probably have the edge, all other things being equal.
It goes without saying that in many cases imagination can be a much greater asset than experience. What would the state of technology in the world be today without the imagination and ingenuity of Thomas Alva Edison, as an individual example, or the imagination and experimentation of the thousands of medical doctors that have dramatically advanced the medical sciences over the ages? Experience does have its advantages at times and in certain situations, but it is imagination that can take people outside of their current state of knowledge to solve problems.
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参考译文
有的时候想象力是一种比经验更为可贵的财富。有的人虽然缺乏经验但是却能够自由地发挥想象力，这样他们就可以不受固有习惯和态度的约束而完成任务。
确实，有的时候想象力可以成为比经验更为可贵的财富。生活中我们可以看到许多这样的例子。然而，有时候，经验比想象力更为可贵也是一条不折不扣的真理。比如说，没有人会愿意看到一个初次飞行的宇航员执行一项危险的太空任务或者一个新任军官指挥部队进行战斗。但是，在许多职业或工作中，想象力可以给人们带来创造性的思维和解决之道，这是那些在这个特定领域有多年经验的人所望尘莫及的。
我们能够立刻想到的例子就是那些新的电脑软件编程人员所具有的优势。制作电脑软件的公司想要雇用的是刚刚毕业的学生，他们有的仅仅具有基础的编程技巧和能力，以及这个行业可能前所未有的创造性思想。虽然多年的电脑编程经验对于某些工作，比如建立商务电脑网络系统，可能会是一项优势，但电脑软件行业必须要有最新、最好的设计方案。想象力产生的创造力能将电脑游戏或其他软件向以往未曾想象到的新方向发展。革新性的电脑游戏和软件能给生产它们的公司带来数以亿计的大把美元。最新、最具创造性的思想几乎无一例外地都是来自那些从未在电脑软件公司有任何正式经验的人的奇思妙想。
另一个在商务管理及人力资源方面常常遇到的例子就是要组成跨部门的工作力量以解决商务运作中出现的问题这样一种理念。管理部门从几个不同的职能部门如市场、金融、人力资源和财务部门抽调人才创造出跨部门的工作力量，他们作为一个团队共同工作，去解决公司面临的困境。这个想法引进了"局外思维"的概念，寻求更好的、更有创新意识的解决办法，以别于管理部门或已被问题影响到的部门所通常提出的解决方案。举个例子，假设在将西方会计原理适用于中国商务文件的时候，财务部门遇到了紧急的难题。通过组织各部门共同对这个问题出谋划策，公司就有希望找到一个更富有想象力的解决方案，这一定比只依靠财务部门的经验要好得多。
政治家为"想象力和经验谁更占上风"这场争辩提供了最显著的例子。典型的斗争在毫无政治经验的新挑战者与或许拥有几十年经验的现任政治家之间进行。新的挑战者在选举中强调他或她的想象力会为解决老问题或新危机提出创造性的思路，而老朽的政治家则会最大程度地强调经验是被选举成为领导人的先决条件。通常，大部分投票选举的人都不反对变革，因此，在政治领域内，如果没有明显需要想象力和新鲜念头的问题出现，那么，其他方面处于平等位置而经验较为丰富的选手就会占有优势。
显然，在某些情况下想象力是比经验更为可贵的财富，如果没有托马斯·爱迪生的想象力和创造力(作为个人贡献的代表)，如果没有成千上万名医生几个年代以来通过发挥想象力和进行试验大大提高医学水平的话，如今我们这个世界的技术状况将会处在怎样的一个水平?具有经验在有些时候、有些情况下确实非常有利，但是，唯有想象力才可以使人们超出他们现有的知识状态去创造性地解决问题。
