ãصļ www.27txt.com ӭȥŶ                 UNIT 9
  
TEXT

Asimov explains why there is much more in intelligence than just being able to score high on intelligence tests.

       What Is Intelligence, Anyway?
                            
                             Isaac Asimor
 
    What is intelligence, anyway? When I was in the army I received a kind of aptitude test that all soldiers took and, against a normal of 100, scored 160. No one at the base had ever seen a figure like that and for two hours they made a nig fuss over me. (It didn't mean anything. The next day I was still a buck private with KP as my highest duty.)
    All my life I've been registering scores like that, so that I have the complacent feeling that I'm highly intelligent, and I expect other people to think so, too. Actually, though, don't such scores simply mean that I am very good at answering the type of academic questions that are considered worthy of answers by the people who make up the intelligence tests - people with intellectual bents similar to mine?
    For instance, I had an auto-repair man once, who, on these intelligence tests, could not possibly have scored more than 80, by my estimate. I always took it for granted that I was far more intelligent than he was. Yet, when anything went wrong with my car I hastened to him with it, watched him anxiously as he explored its vitals, and listened to his pronouncements as though they were divine oracles - and he always  fixed my car.
    Well, then, suppose my auto-repair man devised questions for an intelligence test. Or suppose a carpenter did, or a farmer, or, indeed, almost anyone but an academician. By every one of those tests, I'd prove myself a moron. And I'd be a moron, too. In a world where I could not use my academic training and my verbal talents but had to do something intricate or hard, working with my hands, I would do poorly. My intelligence, then, is not absolute. Its worth is determined by the society I live in. Its numerical evaluation is determined by a small subsection of that society which has managed to foist itself on the rest of us as an arbiter of such matters.
    Consider my auto-repair man, again. He had a habit of telling me jokes whenever he saw me. One time he raised his head from under the automobile hood to say: "Doc, a deaf-and-dumb guy went into a hardware store to ask for some nails. He put two fingers together on the counter and made hammering motions with the other hand. The clerk brought him a hammer. He shook his head and pointed to the two fingers he was hammering. The clerk brought him nails. He picked out the sizes he wanted, and left. Well, doc, the next guy who came in was a blind man. He wanted scissors. How do you suppose he asked for them?"
    I lifted my right hand and made scissoring motions with my first two fingers. Whereupon my auto-repair man laughed heartily and said, "Why, you dumb fool, he used his voice and asked for them." Then he said, smugly, "I've been trying that on all my customers today." "Did you catch many?" I asked. "Quite a few," he said, "but I knew for sure I'd catch you." "Why is that?" I asked. "Because you're so goddamned educated, doc, I know you couldn't be very smart."
    And I have an uneasy feeling he had something there.
 
NEW WORDS

    aptitude
n.  natural ability or skill 
    normal
n.  the usual state or level ״̬ˮƽ
    figure
n.  
    fuss
n.  unnecessary expression of excitement, anger, impatience, etc. С
    buck private 
n.  (sl.) common soldier of the lowest rank б
    KP (abbr)
    kitchen police (a military duty of helping the cooks prepare and serve the food, wash the dishes, and clean up the kitchen) ֵڣԱ
    register
vt. achieve; write in a list or record ȡãǼ
    complacent
a.  self-satisfactory; pleased with oneself  ģ
    highly 
ad. to a great degree; very
    simply
ad. just; only ֻ
    academic
a.  scholarly, theoretical, not practical; of a college or university ѧģѧģѧԺ
    worthy (of) 
a.  deserving ֵõ
    bent
n.  natural tendency or inclination Ⱥã
    similar
a.  alike; of the same sort Ƶ
    auto
n.  (short for) automobile 
    estimate
n.  judgment or opinion about how much, how many, how good, etc. 
    grant
vt. give or allow (what is asked for) 裻׼
    hasten
vi. go fast; be quick Ͽ죻æ
    explore
vt. search or examine thoroughly ̽̽
    vitals
n.  essential parts of anything; the main bodily organs ҪģҪ
    pronouncement
n.  formal or authoritative statement; opinion 
    divine
a.  coming from God; sacred ģʥ
    oracle
n.  ʥԣ
    devise
vt. think out; plan 
    carpenter
n.  ľ
    academician
n.  member of an art, literary or scientific academy or societyԺʿѧԱ
    morron
n.  stupid person ߣ
    verbal
a.  complicated with words and their use; spoken, not written ģͷ
    intricate
a.  complicated ۸
    absolute
a.  not measured by comparison with other things Ե
    determine
vt. fix or find out exactly ȷ
    numerical
n.  of a number; shown by numbers ֵģֱʾ
    evaluation
vt. ۣ
    evaluate
vt. 
    subsection
n.  part of a section С飬ֲ
    foist
vt. force (sth.) on another person by fraud or trickery ...ǿ
    arbiter
n.  judge ٲ,
    joke
n.  sth. said or done to cause laughter or amusement
    automobile
n.  
    hood 
n.  ()
    doc
    (short for) doctor
    deaf
a.  unable to hear 
    dumb
a.  unable to speak; stupid Ƶ;ޱ
    deaf-and-dumb
a.  unable to hear and speak 
    hardware
n.  metal goods such as utensils, tools, nails, etc. 
    hammer
n.  ;ͷ
v.  strike repeatedly (with a hammer) 
    clerk
n.  salesclerk; person who works in a shop selling things Ա
    scissors
n.  
    scissor
v.  cut with scissors 
    whereupon
ad. upon, at, or after which ǣˣȻ
    heartily
ad. 
    smugly
ad. complacently մմϲ
    goddamned
ad. (sl.) very, extremely 
    uneasy
a.  awkward; not easy in mind or body ִٵģģʵ

PHRAESE & EXPRESSIONS
 
    make a fuss of / over
    Ϊ...С    
    worthy of 
    deserving ֵ
    make up 
    prepare ready for use ;
    by one's estimate
    ĳ˹
    take sth. for granted
    regard it as true or as certain to happen ΪĳµȻ
    go wrong
    stop working as true or as certain to happen ë
    pick out
    select ѡ
    try...on
    ...
    for sure
    for certain; certainly ȷе;϶

PROPER NAMES

    Isaac Asimov
    .Ī
