ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
AP Videos 1345 videos
AP Biology: Biological System Interactions Drill 1, Problem 1. Complete the sentence about a saturated fatty acid.
AP Biology: Essential Life Process Information Drill 1, Problem 1. If one parent is heterozygous for the sickle cell trait while the other par...
AP Biology: Evolution Drives the Diversity and Unity of Life Drill 1, Problem 1. The first cells on planet Earth were likely what?
AP English Language and Composition 3.4 Passage Drill 237 Views
Share It!
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?
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.
Full Transcript
- 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 ]
Related Videos
AP English Language and Composition: Passage Drill Drill 1, Problem 2. What is the speaker's primary purpose in using onomatopoeia in line four?
AP English Literature and Composition 1.1 Passage Drill 7. The primary purpose of this passage is what?
Wishing upon a star may help you pass your AP English Language and Composition test, but answering this question would be a safer bet.
Take a look at this shmoopy question and see if you can figure out which device the speaker employs the most.
Feel like shifting gears and answering a question about shifting tones? We've got you covered. Take a look at this question and see if you can foll...