喜樂美語

核心畫面

You can picture intelligence as the mind's power to take things in, understand them, and work them out — the 'lights are on inside the head'. From that one idea, the word splits two ways: the power itself (a clever mind), and the fruit of that power when a country uses it to figure out a hidden enemy (gathered, understood secret knowledge — 'intelligence' as information).

可以想成「頭腦把事情吸收進來、看懂、想通」的那股能力——彷彿腦袋裡的燈是亮著的。整個字從這一個畫面分出兩條路：一條是…更多收起可以想成「頭腦把事情吸收進來、看懂、想通」的那股能力——彷彿腦袋裡的燈是亮著的。整個字從這一個畫面分出兩條路：一條是這股能力本身（聰明的頭腦），另一條是把這股能力用在「看穿敵人在打什麼算盤」上時，所蒐集並讀懂的祕密知識（也就是「情報」）。

From the word’s history

From Latin intelligere 'to understand, perceive', from inter- 'between' + legere 'to choose, read' — literally 'to read between, to pick out'. The mind that picks meaning out of what it sees; the military sense (secret information) is that same 'reading out what's hidden' applied to an enemy.

源自拉丁文 intelligere「理解、看出」，由 inter-「在…之間」加 legere「挑選、讀」組成，字面是「在其中讀出、挑揀出來」。頭腦從眼前的東西裡讀出意思；軍事上的「情報」就是把這個「讀出隱藏之物」用在敵人身上。

Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), 'intelligence' / 'intelligent'

Two branches

頭腦的能力（聰明）

這一條就是核心畫面本身：腦袋亮著燈、能學、能懂、能想通。

mental ability · noun · B2

The mind's power to learn, to make sense of things, and to work them out.

智力、智能

讀出隱藏之事（情報）

把「頭腦讀出隱藏意思」的能力用在敵人身上：你看穿對方藏起來的計畫，讀出來的那份祕密知識就叫 intelligence（情報）。能力與其產物在這裡接上了。

secret information · noun · B2

Secret information about the plans or actions of an enemy or another country.

情報

原始詞典資料7 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

intelligencenoun/ɪnˈtɛl.ɪ.d͡ʒəns/

  • 1

    The capacity of mind, especially to understand principles, truths, facts or meanings, acquire knowledge, and apply it to practice; the ability to comprehend and learn; the ability to process sentient experience to generate true beliefs with a justified degree of confidence.

    • Not so, however, with Tarzan, the man-child. His life amidst the dangers of the jungle had taught him to meet emergencies with self-confidence, and his higher intelligence resulted in a quickness of mental action far beyond the powers of the apes.
    • 1936 Feb., F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Crack-Up", Esquire: ...the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.
  • 2

    human-sciencespsychologysciencesThe capacity of mind, especially to understand principles, truths, facts or meanings, acquire knowledge, and apply it to practice; the ability to comprehend and learn; the ability to process sentient experience to generate true beliefs with a justified degree of confidence.

    • intelligence quotient
    • Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.
  • 3

    The capacity of mind, especially to understand principles, truths, facts or meanings, acquire knowledge, and apply it to practice; the ability to comprehend and learn; the ability to process sentient experience to generate true beliefs with a justified degree of confidence.

    • From a religious point of view, a bodhisattva with sharp faculties and great intelligence can cause a tremendous upheaval if he or she misuses that power under the influence of negative emotions, like attachment and hatred.
  • 4

    An entity that has such capacities.

    • The great Intelligences fair That range above our mortal state, In circle round the blessed gate, Received and gave him welcome there.
    • The living intelligence, the Martian within the hood, was slain and splashed to the four winds of heaven, and the thing was now but a mere intricate device of metal whirling to destruction.
  • 5

    Information, often secret, about an enemy or about hostile activities.

    • Their lack of good intelligence also meant that they vastly overestimated the size of their foes for far too long, hails of armor-piercing shells doing comparatively little damage compared to the high explosive that they should have been using.
  • 6

    Information, often secret, about an enemy or about hostile activities.

  • 7

    datedAcquaintance; intercourse; familiarity.

    • Yet Josephus tells us of Phiala, a ſpring[…] into which Philip the Tetrarch caſt chaffe to try the experiment, and it was rendred up again into the ſtreame of Iordan. Whence he concluded, that this river entertained an underground intelligence with that fountain.
    • He liv’d rather in a fair Intelligence than any Friendſhip with the Favourites;[…]

資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。