Alfred Korzybski believes that all human beings lead a kind of double life. First, people live in an internal (内在的) world of ideas, feelings, etc. The happenings in this world are patterns of events in the human nervous system. Secondly , people live in a world outside their skins, the external(外在的)world of “reality”. The happenings in this world are patterns of events best known to science.
The first world, the patterns of events inside our skins, Korzybski called the INTEN- SIONAL area. The second, the patterns of events outside our skins, he called the EXTEN- SIONAL area. Think for a moment about the two worlds in which you live. Look, for example, at the following diagram:
INTENSIONAL PATTERNS EXTENSIONAL PATTERNS
“cat” An object we call “cat”.
The word "cat ". A pattern of physical and
The image of this cat. chemical events best
Ideas about cats. known to science.
Feelings about cats.
Physical tensions aroused
by the cat: the urge to
pick it up, to kick it, etc.
Thinking along these lines, Alfred Korzybski began to see what was wrong with the great number of people: they confused intentional events with extensional “reality”. He believed that too many people mistake the events in their own nervous systems for events in the outside world. When they get lost in a strange city, more often than not they are angry at the map they use. In fact, it’s the maps of words in their heads that are to blame.
1．According to Alfred Korzybski, we human beings live in__________.
A．the world of ideas
B．the world of reality
C．either the world of ideas or that of reality
D．both the world of ideas and that of reality
2．The INTENSIONAL area in the passage refers to the patterns of events__________.
A．outside our skins B．best known to science
C．in the human nervous system D．in the external world of reality
3．Which of the following belongs to EXTENSIONAL pattern?
A．A computer on the shelf. B．A computer is useful.
C．I like the computer. D．I want to buy the computer.
4．According to what Alfred Korzybski states in the last paragraph , you get lost because of _ .
A．the map you bring with you B．the maps of words in your head
C．the reality world before you D．the strange city you visit