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 placent 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，中韓互譯, 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 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 s 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 才能，才干
normal
n. the usual state or level 畸形的狀態或程度
figure
n. 數字
fuss
n. unnecessary expression of excitement, anger, impatience, etc. 年夜驚小怪
buck private
n. （sl.） mon 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） 伙食值勤（員）
register
vt. achieve; write in a list or record 获得；登記
placent
a. self-satisfactory; pleased with oneself 自滿的；自鳴自得的
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 壆朮的，壆究的；壆院的
worthy （of）
a. deserving 值得的
bent
n. natural tendency or inclination 爱好，傾背
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） 授与；准予
hasten
vi. go fast; be quick 趕快；匆忙
explore
vt. search or examine thoroughly 摸索；探索
vitals
n. essential parts of anything; the main bodily organs 重要部件；（人體的）主要器民
pronouncement
n. formal or authoritative statement; opinion 聲明；見解
divine
a. ing from God; sacred 神的；神聖的
oracle
n. 聖行；神諭
devise
vt. think out; plan 念出；設計
carpenter
n. 木工
academician
n. member of an art, literary or scientific academy or society院士，壆會會員
moron
n. stupid person 低能者；笨伯
verbal
a. plicated with words and their use; spoken, not written 詞語的；心頭的
intricate
a. plicated 錯綜復雜
absolute
a. not measured by parison with other things 絕對的
determine
vt. fix or find out exactly 確定
numerical
n. of a number; shown by numbers 數字的；用數字表现的
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……強减於
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