If you are like most people, your intelligence varies from season to season. You are probably a lot sharper in the spring than you are at any other time of the year. A well-known scientist, Ellsworth Huntington (1876-1937), concluded from other men's work and his own among people in different climates that climate and temperature have a definite effect on our mental abilities.
He found that cool weather is much more favorable for creative thinking than summer heat. This does not mean that all people are less intelligent in the summer than they are during the rest of the year. It does mean, however, that the mental abilities of large numbers of people tend to be lowest in the summer.
Spring appears to be the best period of the year for thinking. One reason may be that in the spring man's mental abilities are affected by the same factors that bring about great changes in all nature.
Fall is the next-best season, then winter. As for summer, it seems to be a good time to take a long vacation from thinking!
1. Huntington based his conclusions on ___________.
A: work with people in different climates
B: records of temperature changes
C: records of change in his own intelligence
D: all of the above
2. Ellsworth Huntington decided that climate and temperature have _________.
A: some effect on most people's intelligence
B: a great effect on everyone's intelligence
C: effect on only a few people's intelligence
D: no effect on people's intelligence
3. One possible reason why spring is the best season for thinking is that ___________.
A: there are some things making all nature different from before
B: it lasts longer than the other seasons
C: it is more natural for the development of mental abilities
D: it is neither too warm nor too cold
4. The two best seasons for thinking seem to be _____________.
A: fall and winter
B: summer and spring
C: spring and fall
D: winter and summer
5. According to the passage above, vacations from thinking should be taken ___________.
A: during spring and fall
B: as seldom as possible
C: during the summer
D: several times throughout the year