What Is Intelligence, Anyway? Isaac Asimov

這是一篇有趣又有意義的文章，作者是鼎鼎大名的科幻小説家說寫的。現在翻譯成中文與訪客們分享：

What is intelligence, anyway? When I was in the army, I received the 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 big fuss over me. (It didn't mean anything. The next day I was still a buck private with KP - kitchen police - as my highest duty.)
到底何謂智慧？我在軍中服務時，參加一種所有軍人都要參與的能力測驗。正常的分數是100而我卻得了160。这般成績在這個軍事基地裏是前所未有的。以後的兩個小時裏，他們驚我為天人。（這根本改變不了什麽。第二天，我依舊是在廚房執行任務的廚警—這是我的最高軍職。）
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 people who make up the intelligence tests - people with intellectual bents similar to mine?
我一輩子都得出這種成績，使我感到自滿而認爲自己非常有智慧，也希望別人如此認同。事實上，這樣的成績只不過表示我回答這類學術性問題有一套，我的答案對了出題人的胃口，因爲他們的思維傾向與我相似。
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.
擧一個例子,我有過这麽一個修車工，以我的估計，他若參加這些智商測驗，不可能得到80分以上。我一直認爲我比他聰明太多了。然而，當我的車子有什麽毛病時，我馬上找他去，心急地看他東摸西摸的找出問題所在，又細心聆聽他那如聖旨般的宣告—他縂會把我的車修好。
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 but is a function of the society I live in and of the fact that a small subsection of that society has managed to foist itself on the rest as an arbiter of such matters.
這麽一來，如果這位修車匠，或一名木匠或農夫，或除了學者外的任何其他人，也各設計一套智能測驗。我會在每一個測驗中，一再證明自己是個笨蛋，那我也就成了一個笨蛋了。在一個要用手幹活，搞複雜的東西的領域裏，我一籌莫展，我所有的學術訓練以及文字天賦派不上用場。如此，我的聰明才智並不是絕對的，它只是我所處的社會中的一種功能而已。而事實卻是這個社會的一個小群體竟能成了這些事物的裁決者，強逼別人接受他不想要的事物。
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-mute 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?"
再回頭談這名修車匠，他每見到我都喜歡給我講笑話。有一次他從引擎蓋下擡頭對我說：“博士，一個又聾又啞的人到五金店裏要買釘子，他在櫃檯上把兩指合起來，另一只手作揮動鐵錘狀示意。店員拿了鐵錘給他，他一面搖頭一面指著鐵錘敲向的兩指，店員就把釘子給他，他選了所要的尺寸就離開了。下一個進來的客人是一位瞎子，他想買剪刀，你想他要怎樣示意？”
Indulgently, I lifted by right hand and made scissoring motions with my first two fingers. Whereupon my auto-repair man laughed raucously and said, "Why, you dumb jerk, 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 knew you couldn't be very smart."
毫不遲疑的，我舉起右手，用食中兩指作剪物狀。修車匠見狀尖聲大笑， 說：“哈！你這個呆子，他可以説話告訴他們啊”他有點幸災樂禍的繼續說：“我今天作弄了所有的客人”“有幾個上釣的？”我問。“有好幾個”，他說：“但我就知道你必定上鈎”“怎麽說？”我問。“因爲你書讀得太多了，博士，我就知道你不太滑頭”
And I have an uneasy feeling he had something there.
他話中有所指，令我有點不安。