Intelligence: a Changed View

1.Intelligence was believed to be a fixed entity, some faculty of the mind that we all possess and which determines in some way the extent of our achievements. Its value therefore, was as a predictor of children's future learning. If they differed markedly in their ability to learn complex tasks, then it was clearly necessary to educate them differently and the need for different types of school and even different ability groups within school was obvious. Intelligence tests could be used for streaming children according to ability at an early age; and at 11 these tests were superior to measures of attainment for selecting children for different types of secondary education.

2. Today, we are beginning to think differently. In the last few years, research has thrown doubt on the view that innate intelligence can ever be measured and on the very nature of intelligence itself1. There is considerable evidence now which shows the great influence of environment both on achievement and intelligence. Children with poor home backgrounds not only do less well in their school work and intelligence tests but their performance tends to deteriorate gradually compared with that of their more fortunate classmates.

3. There are evidences that support the view that we have to distinguish between genetic intelligence and observed intelligence.2 Any deficiency in the appropriate genes will restrict development no matter how stimulating the environment. We cannot observe and measure innate intelligence, whereas we can observe and measure the effects of the interaction of whatever is inherited with whatever stimulation has been received from the environment.3 Researches have been investigating what happens in this interaction.

4. Two major findings have emerged from these researches. Firstly, the greater part of the development of observed intelligence occurs in the earliest years of life. It is estimated that 50 per cent of measurable intelligence at age 17 is already predictable by the age of four. Secondly, the most important factors in the environment are language and psychological aspects of the parent-child relationship. Much of the difference in measured intelligence between "privileged" and "disadvantaged" children4 may be due to the latter's lack of appropriate verbal stimulation and the poverty of their perceptual experiences.5

5. These research findings have led to a revision in our understanding of the nature of intelligence. Instead of it being some largely inherited fixed power of the mind, we now see it as a set of developed skills with which a person copes with any environment. These skills have to be learned and, indeed, one of them is learning how to learn.

6. The modern ideas concerning the nature of intelligence are bound to have some effect on our school system. In one respect a change is already occurring. With the move toward comprehensive education and the development of unstrained classes6, fewer children will be given the label "low IQ'' which must inevitably condemn a child in his own, if not society's eyes. The idea that we can teach children to be intelligent in the same way that we can teach them reading or arithmetic is accepted by more and more people.

詞匯：

entity /'entiti/ n．存在，實體

innate /i'neit/ adj．內在的

stimulation / stimju'lei?(?)n/ n．激發，促進

stream /stri:m/v．（根據能力把學生）分組

interaction /,int?r'?k?(?)n/ n．相互作用

注釋：

1. …research has thrown doubt on the view that innate inteffigence can ever be measured and on the very nature of intelligence itself. ……科學研究對內在智力可以衡量這一觀點以及智力的實質本身都表示懷疑。

2. ... distinguish between genetic intelligence and observed intelligence．區別基因智力和習得智力。

3. …the interaction of whatever is inherited with whatever stimulation has been received from the environment. ……遺傳所得和從環境所得到的激發兩者之間的相互作用。這里的兩個whatever都相當于what，都引導了名詞性從句，分別作介詞of和with的賓語。

4."privileged" and "disadvantaged" children:“有優勢的”和“沒有優勢的”孩子。privileged原來的解釋是“有特權的”,disadvantaged是“不利的”，實際上它們分別用于指家境富裕的和家境貧困的，尤其是黑人家庭的孩子。

5. …lack of appropriate verbal stimulation and the'poverty of their perceptual experiences. ……缺乏必要的語言刺激以及感性經歷貧乏。

6.comprehensive education and the development of unstreamed classes：綜合教育以及混合編班的做法。comprehensive education指具有不同能力的學生同在一校的綜合的教育制度，和后面的development of unstreamed classes是一脈相承的。

7.IQ：智商。IQ是Intelligence Quotient的首字母縮寫。

8. ... condemn a child in his own, if not society's eyes．哪怕社會不把孩子看扁，他自己也把自己看扁了。condemn這個動詞是“譴責，判定?一不合適、不足”的意思；in one's eyes是“在……的眼里”。

練習：

1.Paragraph 2_________

2.Paragraph 4_________

3.Paragraph 5_________

4.Paragraph 6_________

A Main Results of Recent Researches

B Popular Doubt about the New View

C Effect of Environment on Intelligence

D Intelligence and Achievement

E Impact on School Education

F A Changed View of Intelligence

5.It was once believed_________, and thus we can tell how successful he/she will be in the future according to his/her intelligence.

6.More recent researches has shown that intelligence is only partly inherited_________.

7.It can be inferred from the passage that a child will_________if he has more opportunities to communicate with others by means of language.

8.Children were not just_________, but they can be taught to be more intelligent at school.

A born to be more intelligent or less intelligent

B have a better chance to develop his intelligence

C taught to be more intelligent

D that intelligence was something a baby was born with

E and because of the lack of communication with his classmates

F and partly has to do with a child's living environment

答案與題解：

1.C 第二段提出了一個新的對智力的認識，和第一段中所講的傳統的理解不同，主要的不同之處在于傳統的觀點把智力看做是一種不變的能力，而新的觀點則認為智力和人的成長環境有關。

2.A 本段第一句話就把該段的內容點得很清楚，要介紹的是“Two major findings have emerged from these researches."main results只是major findings的另一種說法而已。

3.F 本段的第一句就說清楚了：研究結果導致我們對智力本質看法的改變。

4.E 最后一段第一句話就說與智力本質有關的現代見解必定會對學校體系產生影響，下面講了一些正在發生的變化。

5.D 這句話的意思可在第一段里找到。It was believed后面應跟一個主語從句，這個從句由that引導。

6.F 原句中partly這個詞是個很好的提示，大多會出現第二個partly。

7.B will后面應該接一個動詞，句子的意思是以第四段的最后一句話為基礎的。

8.A 這句話可以說是全文的中心思想，即人聰明還是不聰明并不完全由先天而定，而是可以通過學校的教育變得聰明起來。

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