Dr．J．Langdon Down first described this condition in 1887．He called these people idiot savants．An idiot savant is a person who has significant mental impairment （） , such as in autism or retardation．At the same time, the person also exhibits some extraordinary skills, which are unusual for most people．The skills of the savant may vary from being exceptionally gifted in music or in mathematics, or having a photographic memory．

　　One of the first descriptions of a human who could calculate quickly was written in 1789 by Dr．Benjamin Rush, an American doctor．His patient, Thomas Fuller, was brought to Virginia as a slave in1724．It took Thomas only 90 seconds to work out that a man who has lived 70 years, 17 days, and 12 hours has lived 2,210,500,800 seconds．Despite this ability, he died in 1790 without ever learning to read or write．

　　Another idiot savant slave became famous as a pianist in the 1860s．Blind Tom had a vocabulary of only 100 words, but he played 5 ,000 musical pieces beautifully．

　　In the excellent movie Rain Man, made in 1988 and available on video cassette, Dustin Hoffman plays an idiot savant who amazes his brother played by Tom Cruise, with his ability to perform complex calculations very rapidly．

　　Today we more clearly recognize that the idiot savant is special because of brain impairment．Yet not all brain impairment leads to savant skills．Some studies have shown that people who have purposeful interruption of the left side of the brain can develop idiot savant skills．However few people wish to participate in such experiments．There are many excellent reasons for not undergoing unnecessary experimentation on one's brain．The term idiot savant is outdated and inappropriate．Virtually all savants have a high degree of intelligence and are thus not idiots．

【山西省2017高考英语二轮复习专题训练：阅读理解（61）】相关文章：

★ 山西省永济市涑北中学高三英语总复习：美文欣赏（2）（A Lunch with God）

★ 【优化方案】2017届高考英语二轮复习全国卷Ⅱ题型重组训练：第20组（含解析）

★ 辽宁省辽阳市2014高考英语单项选择一轮（暑假）训练（7）附答案

★ 五大2015-2016高考英语第一轮复习的技巧

★ 重庆市2014高考英语阅读理解一轮（精品）训练题（21）附答案

★ 重庆市2014高考英语阅读理解一轮（精品）训练题（18）附答案

★ 湖南省长沙县实验中学2016届高三英语二轮复习书面表达复习重点话题指导专题22 自然灾害话题指导（学生版）

★ 2014届高考英语一轮复习必修4参考答案（外研版）

★ 贵州省贵阳市2014高考英语（新人教版）一轮阅读训练（19）附答案

★ 【课堂新坐标】2017届高考英语（通用版）二轮复习短文改错专题训练：训练3 短文改错（Ⅲ）（含解析）