Unit 7
The Art of Smart Guessing
Consolidation Activities
I. Text Comprehension
1。 Decide which of the following best states the author's purpo.
A. To introduce an effective method of interviewing candidates.
B。 To decide on a new quiz to find out how resourceful a thinker might be.
C. To provide an access to gaining necessary information.
D. To recommend a creative model of thinking in decision—making。
Key： ［ D ］
2。 Judge， according to the text, whether the following statements are true or fal。
1）. The author asked the readers to pay clo attention to the method to be ud in solving the quiz question. ［ T ］
2）。 The best way to know the number of ”phone stores” in the United States is to go to the local library to do statistical rearch。 [ F ]
3）。 To illustrate the smart guessing approach, the author has cited all together ven examples。 [ F ]
4）。 The law of averages is partly responsible for the accuracy of our guesswork becau our assumptions at the two extremes usually balance out. ［ T ]
3。 Answer the following questions.
1)。 Refer to Paragraph 1. The author， on the one hand, intended to find out how intel
ligent the interviewee might be； on the other hand， he was tired of the cliché？ in questioning candidates during interviews.
2)。 Refer to Paragraphs 4 and 5。 The best solution is to risk an approximation since there isn’t enough information for you to come up with an exactly correct answer.
3)。 Refer to Paragraph 6。 It means a great deal for business or creativity as we frequently need to make decisions when full information does not exist.
4）。 Refer to Paragraph 9. They call them Fermi problems， named after Enrico Fermi， a Nobel Prize winner. He ud such problems to teach his students how to make an approximation when relevant information is inadequate。
5). Refer to Paragraphs 16 and 17. It looked like a mushroom cloud. He had followed a smart way， watching unpopped popcorn kernels in the microwave oven, to approximate the hot spots for cooking instead of using scientifically sophisticated testing equipment.
6）。 In decision—making, when the necessary relevant information is not available，
guessing becomes inevitable. Smart guessing， i.e. guessing bad on approximations is recommended in such circumstances, and it may often， if not always, prove to be effective and fruitful.
4. Explain in your own words the following ntences taken from the text.
1)。 Did you get so tied up in the complex math figures that you were unable to give the "exactly right" answer？
2）。 Did you focus all your attention on the two most important problems, and then make an estimation which may not be exactly right?
3）. Your mistakes will often average out, i.e。 the extremely high estimations and the extremely low estimations which you make will eventually become equal in amount， value， or effect.
4)。 The black cloth absorbed the heat of the sun most。 So, it sank so deep below that the sunrays could not reach it.
II. Writing Strategies
This text is a typical piece of exposition developed by exemplification. The title, The Art of Smart Guessing, points out the theme of the text. The introduction, which prents the background of the text， is very appealing to the readers. In the body of the text, a Fermi problem is defined and illustrated with specific examples。 The examples are provided to show what a Fermi problem is， to tell us how it can be solved， and to suggest the significance of the art of smart guessing. It is worth noting that the conclusion echoes the beginning， contributing to the formation of the organic unity of the essay。 The writer has incorporated descriptions, anecdotes, opinions， and facts into a highly individual expository essay。
The two questions below are worthy of our attention：
(1） In what way is the introduction connected with the conclusion？
In the beginning a one-question quiz is described， in which an interesting question is as
ked, and in the conclusion its answer is offered, with the smart guessing process prented. Thus， the beginning and the conclusion are naturally connected with each other.
(2) In the body of the essay the author gives some typical examples to illustrate a Fermi problem。 How many examples are prented？ What do you think of the examples？
Altogether， four examples are provided to explain a Fermi problem. They are very typical examples that best illustrate what a Fermi problem is。
III。 Language Work
1。 Explain the underlined part in each ntence in your own words.
1)。 Did you make a completely wild guess…
