ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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

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

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guess who won at kickboxing?

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

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[ mumbles ]

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

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All right, Professor Huxley's speech

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can be best described as... what?

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All right, and here are the potential answers.

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[ mumbles ]

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All right, well, Professor Huxley asks us

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

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

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

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

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pretty high on our to-do lists.

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However, Professor Huxley definitely doesn't sound

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pessimistic as option B says.

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

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

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

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as awesome as the aliens' laser guns.

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[ indistinct ]

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

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

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but "punctilious" actually means that somebody's way

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too concerned with what's proper.

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And prim. You know? British royalty.

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

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

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

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

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He also seems totally sincere to us.

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Professor Huxley is all about the science and he wants

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everybody to know. Some might think that

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choice D is a little bit right.

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

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

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

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

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

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Science is one of the most important things there is.

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

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Choice E could be half right.

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

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expressive and artistically beautiful.

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The chess comparison is a pretty sweet metaphor.

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

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

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

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

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Not a chance. Choice A is the one that gets

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where the professor's coming from.

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Huxley is passionate about science.

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

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

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Yeah, remind us to brush up on chess.

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[ scream ]

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