WHAT IS CRITICAL THINKING?
When Arthur was in the first grade, the teacher directed the class to "think." "Now, class," she said, "I know this problem is little harder than the ones we've been doing, but I'm going to give you a few extra minutes to think about it. Now start thinking."
It was not the first time Arthur had heard the word used. He'd heard it many times at home but never quite this way. The teacher seemed to be asking for some special activity, something he should know how to start and stop. Like his father's car. "Vroom-m-m," he muttered half aloud. Because of his confusion, he was unaware he was making the noise. "Arthur, please stop making noises and start thinking."
Embarrassed and not knowing quite what to do, he looked down at his desk. Then out of the corner of his eye he noticed that the girl next to him was staring at the ceiling."Maybe that's the way you start thinking," he guessed. He decided the others had probably learned how to do it last year, that time he was home with the measles. So he stared at the ceiling.
As he progressed through grade school and high school, he heard that same direction hundreds of times. "No, that's not the answer, you're not thinking - now think!" And occasionally, form a particularly self-pitying teacher given to talking himself aloud: "What did I do to deserve? Don't they teach them anything in grades anymore? Don't you people care about ideas? Think, dammit, THINK"
So Arthur learned to feel somewhat guilty about the whole matter. Obviously this thinking was an important activity that he'd failed to learn. Maybe he lacked the brain power. But he was resourceful enough. He watched the other students and did what they did. Whenever a teacher started in about thinking, the screwed up his face, forrowed his brow, stretched his head, stroked his chin, stared off into space or up at the ceiling, and repeated silently to himself, "Let's see now, I've got to think about that, think, think(I hope he doesn't call on me), think." Though Arthur didn't know it, that's just what the other students were saying to themselves.
Because Arthur's situation is not all that uncommon, your experience may have been similar. That is, probably many people have gold you to think, but no one ever explained what thinking is, how many kinds of thinking there are, and what qualities a good thinker has that a poor thinker lacks.
Thinking is general term covering numerous activities from day-dreaming to reflection and analysis. Here are just some of the verbs Roget's Thesaurus includes for the word think:
appreciate
believe
cerebrate 思考；思索
cogitate 思考；考虑；仔细考虑
conceive 设想；考虑
consider 考虑；认为
consult
contemplate 沉思；注视；迷思苦想
deliberate 仔细考虑
digest
discuss
dream
fancy
imagine
meditate
muse 沉思
ponder 考虑；沉思
realize
reason
reflect
ruminate 沉思；反复思考
speculate 思索
suppose
weigh 考虑
However, all of those are just he names that thinking goes under. They really don't explain it. The fact is after thousands of years of human's experiencing thought and talking and write about it, it remains in many respects one of the great mysteries of human existance. But though much is yet to be learned, a great deal is already known.
生词短语：
mutter 喃喃自语
mutter half aloud低声说（声音有点大）
self-pitying 自哀的；自怜的
brain power 脑力；智能
screw up 拧紧
furrowed brow 皱眉头
stroke chin 抚摸下巴
stare off 凝视
Thesaurus 辞典；知识宝库；分类词汇汇编；百科全书；同义词词典
go under 破产；沉没；屈服；失败
much is yet to be learned 还有很多东西需要学习
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