Ideas Are New Combinations
接下来作者开始介绍生成想法的5个步骤：
This technique of the mind follows five steps. I am sure that you will all recognize them individually. But the important thing is to recognize their relationship and to grasp the fact that the mind follows these five steps in definite order-that by no possibility can one of them be taken before the preceding one is completed, if an idea is to be produced. （这5个步骤具有严格的顺序，不可前后颠倒。）
Step 1: The first of these steps is for the mind to gather its raw material. （第一步，收集原始材料）
Gathering raw material in a real way is not as simple as it sounds. It is such a terrible chore that we are constantly trying to dodge it. The time that ought to be spent in material gathering is spent in wool gathering. Instead of working systematically at the job of gathering raw material we sit around hoping for inspiration to strike us. （收集原始材料其实一点也不容易，它是一种可怕的体力活，人们通常选择逃避这个过程。人们宁愿在林间聚会，或枯坐着等着灵感的突然降临。）（科研中，所谓收集材料就是要广泛阅读本领域以及相关领域的大量文献，仔细梳理，比对，搭建关于一个领域的认知地图，挖掘领域里的认知空白，提出问题，然后再想方设法去解决问题，填补认知空白。科研越是急功近利，越是无法静下心来系统全面的整理过往的文献，也就越难找到可供研究的合适的科学问题，以及突破科学难题的策略和方法。简言之，在开始科学攻关之前，要做好扎实的文献阅读和整理工作。虽然这属于常识，但往往极容易被人忽视。年轻的科研人员不可不慎重。）
This is the real meaning of that trite talk about getting an intimate knowledge of a product and its consumers. Most of us stop too soon in the process of getting it. If the surface differences are not striking we assume that there are no differences. But if we go deeply enough, or far enough, we nearly always find that between every product and some consumers there is an individuality of relationship which may lead to an idea. （很多人通常在刚开始没多久就停止了进一步了解。虽然经常说要熟悉产品和顾客属于老生常谈，但真正的熟悉绝不仅仅停留在表面上。如果挖掘得足够深入，我们几乎总能在每一个产品和顾客之间发现一些个性化的关系，而这些关系便能催生新的想法。）
Of equal importance with the gathering of these specific materials is the continuous process of gathering general materials. （所收集的材料可以分为两类，它们具有相同的重要性：1. 专门的材料（指针对具体问题的材料）；2. 一般的材料。）
Every really good creative person in advertising whom I have ever know has always had two noticeable characteristics. First, there was no subject under the sun in which he could not easily get interested-from. Second, he was an extensive browser in all sorts of fields of information. For it is with the advertising man as with the cow: no browsing, no milk. （我所遇到的所有具有创造性的广告人都具备两种明显的特性：1. 没有任何主题是他无法发掘出兴趣的；2. 他是所有领域的广泛的观察者。广告人就像母牛，没有草，就没有奶。）
In advertising an idea results from a new combination of specific knowledge about products and people with general knowledge about life and events. （在广告中，一个创意源自关于产品和客户的专门性知识和关于生活和事件的一般性知识的重新组合。）
The process is something like that which takes place in the kaleidoscope. The kaleidoscope, as you know, is an instrument which designers sometimes use in searching for new patterns. It has little pieces of colored glass in it, and when these are viewed through a prism they reveal all sorts of geometrical designs. Every turn of its crank shifts these bits of glass into a new relationship and reveals a new pattern. The mathematical possibilities of such new combinations in the kaleidoscope are enormous, and the greater the number of pieces of glass in it the greater become the possibilities for new and striking combinations. （这个组合的过程就像万花筒。万花筒是由细小的五颜六色的玻璃构成。当每次扭动曲柄时，透过棱镜可以看到通过不同的玻璃的组合形成的新的模式。从概率上可知，组成性的细小玻璃越多，就越能够创造出更多的新的和惊人的组合。）
This, then, is the first step in the technique of producing ideas: the gathering of materials. Part of it, you will see, is a current job and part of it is a life-long job. （产生想法的第一步是收集材料。你会发现，部分材料属于当前的工作所需，另一部分则属于终生的工作。）
The more of the elements of that world which are stored away in that pattern-making machine, the mind, the more the chances are increased for the production of new and striking combinations, or ideas. （收集的基本元素越多，创造出新的和惊人的组合的几率也就越大，即产生新想法的机会也就越多。）
作者给出了关于如何收集材料的两条建议：1. 做卡片索引；2. 做剪贴簿。
The advantage of this method is not merely in such things as bringing order into your work and disclosing gaps in your knowledge. It lies even more in the fact that it keeps you from shirking the material-gathering job and by forcing your mind to go through the expression of your material in writing really prepares it to perform its idea-producing processes. （做卡片索引不仅仅是为了让你的工作变得更加有序或者填补你的知识空缺。更重要的是它可以帮助你克服逃避收集材料的心理，而通过写作可以在通过润色表达的过程从而真正实现催生想法的目的。）
可能是因为阅读的过程中产生了强烈的共鸣感，所以不知不觉就摘录了这么多的原文，明天继续摘录后面4个步骤吧。