考研英语阅读命题思路透析和真题揭秘(60)

For the past several years, the Sunday newspaper supplement Parade has featured a column called "Ask Marilyn." People are invited to query Marilyn vos Savant, who at age 10 had tested at a mental level of someone about 23 years old; that gave her an IQ of 228 -- the highest score ever recorded. IQ tests ask you to complete verbal and visual analogies, to envision paper after it has been folded and cut, and to deduce numerical sequences, among other similar tasks. So it is a bit confusing when vos Savant fields such queries from the average Joe (whose IQ is 100) as, What's the difference between love and fondness? Or what is the nature of luck and coincidence? It's not obvious how the capacity to visualize objects and to figure out numerical patterns suits one to answer questions that have eluded some of the best poets and philosophers.

Clearly, intelligence encompasses more than a score on a test. Just what does it mean to be smart? How much of intelligence can be specified, and how much can we learn about it from neurology, genetics, computer science and other fields?

The defining term of intelligence in humans still seems to be the IQ score, even though IQ tests are not given as often as they used to be. The test comes primarily in two forms: the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and the Wechsler intelligence Scales (both come in adult and children's version). Generally costing several hundred dollars, they are usually given only by psychologists, although variations of them populate bookstores and the World Wide Web. Superhigh scores like vos Savant's are no longer possible, because scoring is now based on a statistical population distribution among age peers, rather than simply dividing the mental age by the chronological age and multiplying by 100. Other standardized tests, such as the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) and the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), capture the main aspects of IQ tests.

Such standardized tests may not assess all the important elements necessary to succeed in school and in life, argues Robert J. Sternberg. In his article "How Intelligent Is Intelligence Testing?", Sternberg notes that traditional tests best assess analytical and verbal skills but fail to measure creativity and practical knowledge, components also critical to problem solving and life success. Moreover, IQ tests do not necessarily predict so well once populations or situations change. Research has found that IQ predicted leadership skills when the tests were given under low-stress conditions, but under high-stress conditions, IQ was negatively correlated with leadership -- that is, it predicted the opposite. Anyone who has toiled through SAT will testify that test-taking skill also matters, whether it's knowing when to guess or what questions to skip.

近几年来，《星期日报》的增刊《漫步》开设了一个名为"询问玛丽琳"的专栏，邀请人们向玛丽琳•沃斯•萨文特提问。玛丽琳•沃斯•萨文特在10岁时测定的智力水平达到普通人23岁时的水平，这使得她的智商高达228--是有记录的智商测试最高水平。智商测试要求你完成一些文字和图像的分析，要求你在纸张被折叠和剪切后想象它的形状，要求你推论数字的顺序，还有其他类似的项目。所以，当沃斯•萨文特被普通人乔（智商为100）问及像"爱与喜欢之间的区别是什么？"或者"运气与巧合的本质特征是什么？"这样的问题时，人们感到有点困惑。一个人具备物体空间想象力和计算数字模式的能力，不见得就能够回答连一些最优秀的诗人和哲学家都无法理解的问题。

毫无疑问，智力包含的不仅仅是一次测试所得的分数。而聪明究竟意味着什么？智力中有多少能够说明白？我们能够从神经学、遗传学、计算机科学以及其他领域对智力的了解又有多少？

人类有关智力的定义性术语似乎仍然是智商分数，即使人们并不像以前那样经常进行智商测试。智商测试主要有为两种形式：斯坦福-比奈特智力衡量表和韦氏智力衡量表（两种都包含成人和儿童两个版本）。尽管这些测试的变种在书店和互联网上都可以找到，但是一般情况下智力测验通常由心理学家来操作，费用为几百美元。像沃斯•萨文特那么高的分数也再也不可能出现了，因为现在的分数依据的是相同年龄者的统计学群体分布状况，而不是简单地通过实际年龄乘以100来划分智能年龄。其他一些标准化测试，比如学术能力检测（SAT）以及研究生入学考试（GRE），也包含了智商测试的主要特征。

罗伯特•杰•斯顿伯格认为，这样的标准测试不可能评估在学校和生活中取得成功所需的所有重要因素。在其名为《智力测试如何明智？》的文章中，斯顿伯格指出，传统测试非常准确地评估了分析能力和语言表达能力，但没有测量创造性和实践知识，这些也是解决问题和取得人生成功的关键因素。而且，一旦种群或环境发生变化，智商测试就未必能够准确预测。研究发现，如果在压力较小的状况下进行智商测试，那么这种测试就可以预测出领导才能，但是，在压力很高的状况下，智商测试所得的结果与领导才能是负相关的，也就是说，预测的结果与实际是相反的。任何经历过学术能力检测的人都会认为，应试能力也很重要，无论是知道何时应该进行猜题，还是知道应该忽略什么问题等，都是很起作用的。