UNIT 19

　　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 能力，才能
　　normal
　　n.　the usual state or level 正常的狀態(tài)或水平
　　figure
　　n.　數(shù)字
　　fuss
　　n.　unnecessary expression of excitement, anger, impatience, etc. 大驚小怪
　　buck private
　　n.　(sl.) common soldier of the lowest rank 列兵
　　KP (abbr)
　　kitchen police (a military duty of helping the cooks prepare and serve the food, wash the dishes, and clean up the kitchen) 炊事值勤（員）
　　register
　　vt. achieve; write in a list or record 取得；登記
　　complacent
　　a.　self-satisfactory; pleased with oneself　自滿的；自鳴得意的
　　highly
　　ad. to a great degree; very
　　simply
　　ad. just; only 僅僅；只不過
　　academic
　　a.　scholarly, theoretical, not practical; of a college or university 學術的，學究的；學院的
　　worthy (of)
　　a.　deserving 值得的
　　bent
　　n.　natural tendency or inclination 嗜好，傾向
　　similar
　　a.　alike; of the same sort 類似的
　　auto
　　n.　(short for) automobile 汽車
　　estimate
　　n.　judgment or opinion about how much, how many, how good, etc. 估計
　　grant
　　vt. give or allow (what is asked for) 授予；準予
　　hasten
　　vi. go fast; be quick 趕快；急忙
　　explore
　　vt. search or examine thoroughly 探索；探究
　　vitals
　　n.　essential parts of anything; the main bodily organs 主要部件；（人體的）重要器官

　　pronouncement
　　n.　formal or authoritative statement; opinion 聲明；見解
　　divine
　　a.　coming from God; sacred 神的；神圣的
　　oracle
　　n.　圣言；神諭
　　devise
　　vt. think out; plan 想出；設計
　　carpenter
　　n.　木匠
　　academician
　　n.　member of an art, literary or scientific academy or society院士，學會會員
　　morron
　　n.　stupid person 低能者；蠢人
　　verbal
　　a.　complicated with words and their use; spoken, not written 詞語的；口頭的
　　intricate
　　a.　complicated 錯綜復雜
　　absolute
　　a.　not measured by comparison with other things 絕對的
　　determine
　　vt. fix or find out exactly 確定
　　numerical
　　n.　of a number; shown by numbers 數(shù)字的；用數(shù)字表示的
　　evaluation
　　vt. 估價，評價
　　evaluate
　　vt.
　　subsection
　　n.　part of a section 小組，分部
　　foist
　　vt. force (sth.) on another person by fraud or trickery 把...強加于
　　arbiter
　　n.　judge 仲裁人,公斷人
　　joke
　　n.　sth. said or done to cause laughter or amusement
　　automobile
　　n.　汽車
　　hood
　　n.　(汽車)引擎罩
　　doc
　　(short for) doctor
　　deaf
　　a.　unable to hear 聾的

　　dumb
　　a.　unable to speak; stupid 啞的;愚笨的
　　deaf-and-dumb
　　a.　unable to hear and speak
　　hardware
　　n.　metal goods such as utensils, tools, nails, etc. 金屬器具
　　hammer
　　n.　錘子;榔頭
　　v.　strike repeatedly (with a hammer)
　　clerk
　　n.　salesclerk; person who works in a shop selling things 店員
　　scissors
　　n.　剪刀
　　scissor
　　v.　cut with scissors
　　whereupon
　　ad. upon, at, or after which 于是，因此；然后
　　heartily
　　ad. 盡情地
　　smugly
　　ad. complacently 沾沾自喜地
　　goddamned
　　ad. (sl.) very, extremely
　　uneasy
　　a.　awkward; not easy in mind or body 局促的；不安的；不安適的

　　PHRAESE & EXPRESSIONS

　　make a fuss of / over
　　為...大驚小怪　　
　　worthy of
　　deserving 值得
　　make up
　　prepare ready for use 編制;配制
　　by one's estimate
　　據(jù)某人估計
　　take sth. for granted
　　regard it as true or as certain to happen 認為某事當然
　　go wrong
　　stop working as true or as certain to happen 出毛病
　　pick out
　　select 挑選
　　try...on
　　在...身上試驗
　　for sure
　　for certain; certainly 確切地;肯定

　　PROPER NAMES

　　Isaac Asimov
　　艾薩克.阿西莫夫

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