【正确答案】Q1: We've been talking about something that you made and I'd like to discuss one or two more questions that are rebated to this. Firstly, let's consider hand-made versus machine-made items. Can you comment on the popularity of hand-made versus machine-made products in your country? A1: Unfortunately, these days hand-made items tend to be more expensive than machine-made and as a result machine-made items are more popular in my country... because they're cheaper. I think this is due to labour costs. If a machine can produce large quantities of products automatically, this will always be cheaper when compared to human labour. A person needs to be paid a wage, but a machine... well, it can work day and night, I guess. Q2: Are there any things in your country which are only made by hand? A2: Only hand-made... well, I know that some types of furniture are only hand-made. Of course this furniture is quite a lot more expensive and generally (of) better construction than the... umm... machine made. Another thing that comes to mind is jewellery. Most women desire a unique piece of jewellery... I know my wife... when I got a ring made for my wife it was completely hand-made... in fact, we gave the design we wanted to the jeweller and he made it by hand. I guess there are other things but I can't think of any others at the moment. Q3: Do you think in the future that hand-made products will no longer be made? A3: That's an interesting question. Of course we understand that machine-made products are cheaper to make. The bottom line for companies is that they need to make profits. If a company can make more and more products and pay less and less to make them, then I believe that mechanisation will win over hand-made products. Q4: OK. I'd like us to lastly consider creativity in general. Do you think people learn creativity or is it something that comes naturally? A4: Learn creativity... do people learn creativity... mmm. Well, I know some creative people, especially artists, and I say to them: how can you draw like that? You know I can only draw "stick figures" but they can draw in such detail. They usually say to me: I've always been able to draw and it comes naturally to me. I think that if you're good at something and if you like it, you spend time at it. So what usually happens is the naturally good artists tend to draw more so they get better and better. Q5: Do you think that there are more or less creative people living in your country today? A5: Well... more or less creative... in my country we are often coming up with new inventions—especially in the area of "environmentally friendly products". I saw in the newspaper recently that a new device for removing—or at least reducing—carbon monoxide in vehicle emissions was made available to the public. I don't remember how it worked but I remember thinking that there are still creative people around in my country so I guess I would have to say that there are still some around, but whether there are more or less than in the past, I couldn't say with any certainty. Q6: What might be the effects of reduced creativity in society? A6: Well, if people are less creative, then I believe society as a whole suffers. We need creative people, problem solvers who are able to find problems and devise solutions. I guess if a society becomes lazy, you know, sitting all day and night in front of the television, if they have no goals or ambitions in life, nothing to drive them toward achievement, then creativity suffers and society, I believe would suffer. People would loose the spark or interest in life. It would be a terrible thing for any society to lose its creative people!