Experts measure intelligence in many different ways. One of the best-known tests used is the Stanford-Binet Test, popularly known as the "I.Q." (Intelligence Quotient) Test.
Listen to a talk about this test and circle the answers.
| a. | b. | c. | |
| 1. The Stanford-Binet Test has been used since | |||
| 2. Normal or average intelligence corresponds to | |||
| 3. Superior intelligence ranges from | 110-120 | 120 –139 | 129 -159 |
& Reading
Read the text and tell your group-mates about the life of these famous people.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will be remembered as one of history's most famous child prodigies. By the age of eight, he had performed in half the great cities of Europe and was about to write his first three symphonies. He died shortly before his 36th birthday, but the world recognizes him as one of the finest composers who ever lived. For centuries, people have been amazed by children of unusual talent. Pianist and composer Felix Mendelsohn had composed a fair amount of music by the time he was 11. His fourth opera was produced in Berlin when he was only 18. John Stuart Mill, the nineteenth century British philosopher, read Greek at three and had worked his way through elementary geometry and algebra and a large body of literature and history by the time he was 12.
Success has not always brought happiness to prodigies. When he was 20, John Stuart Mill suffered a serious mental crisis. "I seemed to have nothing left to live for," he wrote years later. Other well-known prodigies have had similar experiences.
A number of history's most famous prodigies had something else in common: they did not live very long lives. Composer Franz Schubert died at 31. Scientist Blaise Pascal died before he was 40.
Even though there has been a fascination with child prodigies for centuries, there has been little serious study of them until recently. Some surprising common characteristics have been identified. The vast majority are boys. They are usually first-born children of middle-class families. Often, their parents are past the usual child bearing age. Many are born by Caesarean section rather than by natural childbirth. They often have parents who seem to be trying to realize their own ambitions through their amazing children.
Those who have studied today's prodigies closely have observed that they often live under the great weight of their loneliness. In school with children their own age they may become bored or frustrated, and simply turn off learning completely.
Many children, as they enter adolescence, begin to turn to other teenagers for affection, encouragement, and a sense of belonging. This can be a very difficult time in the lives of prodigies. They know they are different, and other teenagers know it, too.
And although many prodigies enjoy the satisfaction of extraordinary achievement, public praise, and material wealth, even the most successful sometimes question the value of their lives and accomplishments. "I have a longing which grows stronger as I get older," confess the acclaimed American concert pianist Eugene Istomin, "to be mediocre".