学位英语

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.

词汇：

entity 存在，实体 innate 内在的 stimulation 激发，促进

stream (根据能力把学生)分组 interaction 相互作用

注释：

1.…research has thrown doubt on the view that innate inteffigence can ever be measured and on the very nature of intelligence itself. ……科学研究对内在智力可以衡量这一观点以及智力的实质本身都表示怀疑。

2.... distinguish between genetic intelligence and observed intelligence.区别基因智力和习得智力。

3.…the interaction of whatever is inherited with whatever stimulation has been received from the environment. ……遗传所得和从环境所得到的激发两者之间的相互作用。这里的两个whatever都相当于what，都引导了名词性从句，分别作介词of和with的宾语。

4."privileged" and "disadvantaged" children:“有优势的”和“没有优势的”孩子。privileged原来的解释是“有特权的”,disadvantaged是“不利的”，实际上它们分别用于指家境富裕的和家境贫困的，尤其是黑人家庭的孩子。

5.…lack of appropriate verbal stimulation and the'poverty of their perceptual experiences. ……缺乏必要的语言刺激以及感性经历贫乏。

6.comprehensive education and the development of unstreamed classes：综合教育以及混合编班的做法。comprehensive education指具有不同能力的学生同在一校的综合的教育制度，和后面的development of unstreamed classes是一脉相承的。

7.IQ：智商。IQ是Intelligence Quotient的首字母缩写。

8. ... condemn a child in his own, if not society's eyes.哪怕社会不把孩子看扁，他自己也把自己看扁了。condemn这个动词是“谴责，判定?一不合适、不足”的意思;in one's eyes是“在……的眼里”。

练习：

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

答案与题解：

1.C 第二段提出了一个新的对智力的认识，和第一段中所讲的传统的理解不同，主要的不同之处在于传统的观点把智力看做是一种不变的能力，而新的观点则认为智力和人的成长环境有关。

2.A 本段第一句话就把该段的内容点得很清楚，要介绍的是“Two major findings have emerged from these researches."main results只是major findings的另一种说法而已。

3.F 本段的第一句就说清楚了：研究结果导致我们对智力本质看法的改变。

4.E 最后一段第一句话就说与智力本质有关的现代见解必定会对学校体系产生影响，下面讲了一些正在发生的变化。

5.D 这句话的意思可在第一段里找到。It was believed后面应跟一个主语从句，这个从句由that引导。

6.F 原句中partly这个词是个很好的提示，大多会出现第二个partly。

7.B will后面应该接一个动词，句子的意思是以第四段的最后一句话为基础的。

8.A 这句话可以说是全文的中心思想，即人聪明还是不聪明并不完全由先天而定，而是可以通过学校的教育变得聪明起来。

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