LEGO® toys are not just for children anymore by Simon Stopps
Since 1958, children have loved LEGO® bricks, and they are not alone. Parents and teachers are also big fans of the colorful toys. In fact, the bricks are so popular that they have been named “Toy of the Century” – twice!
The popularity of LEGO toys should be no surprise. The LEGO Group has spent much of its history focusing on fun, high-quality toys. Playing with their bricks can improve creativity, teamwork and problem-solving skills. Even the name LEGO – taken from the Danish term leg godt – means “play well.”
But LEGO bricks are just toys, right? Wrong. Children, as it turns out, aren't the only people who can benefit from playing with the bricks. In 1995, the LEGO Group's owner wanted to improve the way his company made decisions. With the help of university researchers, LEGO Serious Play (LSP) was born. At its heart, LEGO Serious play is a process for improving business performance. But it is also about playing with bricks-seriously.
Most companies face their problems by holding meetings. Unfortunately, meetings are not always the best way to resolve problems. Meetings can make it difficult for everyone to participate and can lead people to oversimplify problems. As a result, ideas are lost, misunderstandings occur, and some opinions are ignored. LEGO Serious Play uses play to overcome these difficulties. Participants use bricks to build models that show how they and their organization work. This is done over several rounds of building and then talking about what has been made.
There are many advantages to dealing with problems through play. While playing everyone gets to participate. More importantly, the process helps people examine problems from different points of view. Does it work? "Oh, it really works," says David Gauntlett, a university professor and Serious Play researcher. "It gets people thinking and responding to each other in a different way."
You never know. The answer to your next problem may not be in discussion or a meeting. It may be in the toy box.
Grammar
Meetings can make it difficult for everyone to participate...
to make it difficult for someone to... (make hard for someone to do something) 很实用的句子文法
Meetings can become a situation where it's hard for everyone to participate.
Janice's small income makes it hard for her to pay all her monthly bills.
The loud music from the party next door made it hard for Clarence to fall asleep.
serious-usually serious and play don't go together, here you play serious to help performance.
fan (n)-爱好者fan of something, you are admire, enjoy, passionate of something.
I've been a Boston Red Sox fan since I was a kid.
*Many baseball fans stayed up all night to watch Chien-Ming Wang play last night.
*Marco is a big fan of sci-fi movies. He has the whole collection of "Star Trek" movies
popular (adj)-流行的She is America's most popular singer. popularity (n)受欢迎的。人气，通俗性，流行
*The band "Wham" used to be very popular in the 80's.
*The scandal really hurt the singer's popularity
Students will be starting their university exams next week.
university (n), and (adj)
resolve (v)-bring it to the end that come out no problem.解决争端，问题或危险。 下定决心
*We need to resolve our conflicts so we can really work as a team.
*Hank resolved that he would walk 2 miles every day, but he never did.
process (n)-take a long time to get there step by step.过程。
Before you can get a job for the government. you have go through a complicated hiring process.
*The process of learning is actually more important than the result.
*Learning how to drive is a painful process for me.
*The doctor used some medicine to speed up the healing process.
unfortunately (adv)-Unfortunately, I'm afraid I don't know when Mrs. Stevens will be back in the office.Sara wants to resolve the argument between her brothers as quickly as possible..
advantage-好处，优势
Chandra's biggest advantage is her speed. She is an amazing runner. *One of the advantages of traveling in an RV is the freedom it gives you.
*Years of experience gave Victor an advantage over his competitors.
respond (v)-communication with, have relationship with...
Erich will respond to your email later today.
oversimplify-过度的简化。over-过度，simplify-使简单化。
People often try to oversimplify problems, but in the end, that is not helpful.
oversimplification (n)
Chat Room
at its heart=the heart of the matter=-get into the most important part of something.
at its heart 事情的核心，问题的根源。heart-心脏，重心，中心。
take heart -encourage someone, take heart!鼓励别人，加油，再接再厉，振作起来。某人考试考不好，你可以说，take heart, 没关系，下次再来。
take to heart-keep it in the heart.铭记在心的。把别人给你的建议放在心上。
with all my heart-全心全意的。
with half a heart=halfhearted (adj)-半心半意，不甚么用心的， 不怎么上心的。
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Think outside the box-have creative think that are out of the box. box here is not 盒子，是指框架，传统，规范，限制。-指在框架外的思考，跳出了框框的思考，天马行空的想。
Critical thinking- research the topic careful and quick before make decision. 批判性的思考critical 批判的
批判性思考是一种严谨，高层次的思考。这种思想是独立的，且是培养出来的，每个人都该努力去拥有
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