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Description:

We're not going to give you a speech about how answering this Shmoopy AP English Lit question will help you succeed in life, but if we did, we wonder if you'd be able to discern the tone of it. Why not warm up with this question?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:00

[ musical flourish ]

00:03

And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by chess.

00:06

Well, our computer beat us at chess, but, uh,

00:08

guess who won at kickboxing?

00:12

All right, we're reading. We're skimming.

00:14

[ mumbles ]

00:23

Okay, we're done reading. Yep, we're done.

00:26

All right, Professor Huxley's speech

00:28

can be best described as... what?

00:31

All right, and here are the potential answers.

00:33

[ mumbles ]

00:36

All right, well, Professor Huxley asks us

00:38

to imagine a world where our lives depend on how well we play chess.

00:43

Huxley then compares that to the need to learn about science.

00:47

Well, to the professor, scientific inquiry is essential to our survival as a species.

00:52

Yeah, so we'd say he thinks that we should all put it

00:54

pretty high on our to-do lists.

00:56

However, Professor Huxley definitely doesn't sound

00:59

pessimistic as option B says.

01:01

It's not like he's saying that humanity is definitely gonna

01:04

meet its doom if we don't take science seriously.

01:06

Though that probably will happen if our laser guns aren't

01:09

as awesome as the aliens' laser guns.

01:10

[ indistinct ]

01:13

All right. Option C accuses the professor of being punctilious.

01:17

Well, it might sound like C's calling him a punk,

01:19

but "punctilious" actually means that somebody's way

01:22

too concerned with what's proper.

01:24

And prim. You know? British royalty.

01:27

All right. Well, C also claims that Huxley's speech is "affected,"

01:30

meaning that it sounds like a fake imitation of something else.

01:33

Neither of these things is true, though. Professor Huxley might

01:36

be an eloquent speaker, but there isn't a hint that he's stuffy.

01:39

He also seems totally sincere to us.

01:41

Professor Huxley is all about the science and he wants

01:43

everybody to know. Some might think that

01:46

choice D is a little bit right.

01:47

Well, the professor might be a little verbose, meaning that

01:50

he uses a lot of words to get across the point,

01:52

but, come on, he's a professor. What do you expect?

01:55

D is totally wrong when it calls Huxley's speech ambiguous.

01:58

He's not mincing words or being vague. His point's crystal clear.

02:02

Science is one of the most important things there is.

02:05

If you disagree, well, you're just wrong.

02:07

Choice E could be half right.

02:09

Huxley's speech is kinda lyrical, meaning that it's

02:11

expressive and artistically beautiful.

02:14

The chess comparison is a pretty sweet metaphor.

02:17

There's no way that the Huxley speech is temperate, though.

02:20

If it were, Huxley would come off as a mild-mannered

02:22

dude who doesn't get too revved up about anything.

02:25

Now does that sound like the professor we know and love?

02:27

Not a chance. Choice A is the one that gets

02:30

where the professor's coming from.

02:32

Huxley is passionate about science.

02:35

He even compares the need to study it to a chess death match.

02:39

Life and death, how much more urgent could something be?

02:42

Yeah, remind us to brush up on chess.

02:49

[ scream ]

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