Everyone knows about straight-A students. We see them frequently in TV situation comedies and in movies like Revenge(报复)of the Nerds. They get high grades, all right, but only by becoming dull laborers, their noses always stuck in a book. They are not good at social communication and look clumsy while doing sports.
How, then, do we account for Domenica Roman or Paul Melendres?
Roman is on the tennis team at Fairmont Senior High School. She also sings in the choral group, serves on the student council and is a member of the mathematics society. For two years she has maintained A’s in every subject. Melendres, a freshman at the University of New Mexico, was student-body president at Valley High School in Albuquerque. He played soccer and basketball well, exhibited at the science fair, and meanwhile worked as a reporter on a local television station. Being a speech giver at the graduation ceremony, he achieved straight A’s in his regular classes, plus bonus points for A’s in two college-level courses.
How do super-achievers like Roman and Melendres do it? Brains aren’t the only answer. “Top grades don’t always go to the brightest students, ” declares Herbert Walberg, a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has conducted major studies on super-achieving students. “Knowing how to make the most of your innate(天生的)abilities counts for more. Much more.”
In fact, Walberg says, students with high IQ sometimes don’t do as well as classmates with lower IQ. For them, learning comes too easily and they never find out how to get down.
Hard work isn’t the whole story, either. “It’s not how long you sit there with the books open, ” said one of the many-A students we interviewed. “It’s what you do while you’re sitting.” Indeed, some of these students actually put in fewer hours of homework time than their lower-scoring classmates.
The kids at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techniques that others can readily learn.
【小题1】The underlined word “nerds” can probably be________ .

A person may have an idea about himself that will prevent him from doing good work.

   He may have the belief that he is not capable (有能力的) of it. A child may think he is __1__ because he doesn’t understand how to make the __2__ of his mental faculties (才能). Older people may be mistaken that they are incapable of learning things new because of their __ 3__.

   A person who believe that he is incapable will not make a real __4__ because he feels that it would be useless. He won’t go at a job with confidence necessary for __5__ , and he won’t  work his hardest way, even though he may think he is doing so. He is __6__ likely to fail, and the failure will __7__ his belief in his competence (才能) .

   Alfred Alder, a famous doctor, had __8__ like this. When he was a small boy, he had a poor __9__ in maths. His teacher told his parents he had no ability in maths in order that they would not __10__ too much of him. In this way, they two __11__ the idea. He accepted __12__ mistaken thinking of his ability, felt that it was useless to __13__ and was very poor at maths, __14__ as they expected.

   One day he worked at a problem which __15__ of the other students had been able to solve.

  Alder __16__ in solving the problem. This gave him confidence (信心). He now __17__ with interest, determination and purpose, and he soon became especially good at __18__. He not only proved that he could learn maths well, but luckily he learned __19__ in his life from his own experience that if a person goes at a job with determination and purpose, he may __20__ himself as well as others by his ability.

1. A. clever                   B. shy                   C. useless                     D. stupid

2. A. biggest                 B. most                 C. highest                     D. deepest

3. A. ability                  B. age                   C. brain                        D. knowledge

4. A. decision                B. success              C. effort                       D. trouble

5. A. work                    B. study                C. improvement            D. success

6. A. truly                        B. really                C. however                   D. therefore

7. A. lead to                 B. strengthen         C. increase                    D. add to

8. A. an experience        B. an example        C. a thought                  D. a story

9. A. state                         B. mind                 C. start                         D. ending

10. A. blame                 B. expect               C. get                           D. win

11. A. developed           B. organized          C. discovered                D. found

12. A. his                     B. her                    C. its                          D. their

13. A. manage               B. succeed             C. try                         D. act

14. A. only                   B. almost               C. just                        D. then

15. A. none                   B. no                    C. no one                    D. nobody

16. A. gave                   B. succeeded          C. failed                            D. believed

17. A. lived                  B. worked             C. played                    D. graduated

18. A. lessons                   B. medicine           C. subjects                  D. maths

19. A. early                  B. deeply               C. late                        D. simply

20. A. encourage           B. love                  C. astonish                  D. disappoint

Everyone knows about straight-A students．We see them frequently in TV situation comedies and in movies like Revenge（报复）of the Nerds．They get high grades, all right, but only by becoming dull laborers, their noses always stuck in a book．They are not good at social communication and look clumsy while doing sports．
How, then, do we account for Domenica Roman or Paul Melendres?
Roman is on the tennis team at Fairmont Senior High School．She also sings in the choral group, serves on the student council and is a member of the mathematics society．For two years she has maintained A’s in every subject．Melendres, a freshman at the University of New Mexico, was student-body president at Valley High School in Albuquerque．He played soccer and basketball well, exhibited at the science fair, and meanwhile worked as a reporter on a local television station．Being a speech giver at the graduation ceremony, he achieved straight A’s in his regular classes, plus bonus points for A’s in two college-level courses．
How do super-achievers like Roman and Melendres do it? Brains aren’t the only answer．“Top grades don’t always go to the brightest students, ” declares Herbert Walberg, a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has conducted major studies on super-achieving students．“Knowing how to make the most of your innate（天生的）abilities counts for more．Much more．”
In fact, Walberg says, students with high IQ sometimes don’t do as well as classmates with lower IQ．For them, learning comes too easily and they never find out how to get down．
Hard work isn’t the whole story, either．“It’s not how long you sit there with the books open, ” said one of the many-A students we interviewed．“It’s what you do while you’re sitting．” Indeed, some of these students actually put in fewer hours of homework time than their lower-scoring classmates．
The kids at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techniques that others can readily learn．
【小题1】The underlined word “nerds” can probably be          ．

A TAXI driver taught me a million dollar lesson in customer satisfaction and expectation. Inspiring speakers charge thousands of dollars to give his kind of training to corporate directors and staff.  It cost me only a ＄12 taxi ride.

I had flown into Dallas just for the purpose of calling on a client. Time was important and my plan included a quick turn – around trip from and back to the airport. A clean taxi pulled up.

The driver rushed to open the passenger door for me and made sure I was comfortably seated before he closed the door. As be got in the driver’s seat, he mentioned that the neatly folded Wall Street Journal next to me for my use. He then showed me several tapes and asked me what type of music I would enjoy.

Well! I looked around for a “Candid Camera!” Wouldn’t you? I could not believe the service I was receiving! I took the opportunity to say, “Obviously you take great pride in you work. You must have a story to tell.”

“You bet,” he replied, “I used to be in Corporate America. But I got tired of thinking my best would never be good enough. I decided to find my right position in life, somewhere I could feel proud of being the best I could be.

I knew I would never be a rocket scientist, but I love driving cars, being of service and feeling like I have done a full day’s work and done it well. I evaluated my personal property and, I became a taxi driver!

One thing I know for sure, to be good in my business I jus have to meet the expectations of my passengers. But, to be GREAT in my business, I have to EXEED the customer’s expectations! I like the sound of being ‘great’ better than just being ‘average’. ”

Did I tip him big time? You bet!

 The taxi driver taught me a great life lesson: Go an extra mile when providing any service to others. And there is no good or bad job you can make any job good.

1.What lesson did the author learn from the taxi driver?

    A．How to make the best use of time.

    B．How to do better in the service business.

    C．How to turn an interest into your career.

    D．How to become a motivational speaker.

2.Why did the author look around for a “Candid Camera”?

    A．Because he was afraid he would be photographed in the cab.

    B．Because he was worried what the driver could be up to.

    C．Because he was amazed by the way the driver was treating him.

    D．Because he wasn’t interested in the tapes offered by the driver

3.It can be inferred from the story that          .

    A．the taxi driver couldn’t accept just being average

    B．the author was anxious to get back to meet a client

    C．when the author waited for a taxi at the airport, he was not in a rush

    D．the taxi driver loved to play his favorite music during rides

4.According to the story, the taxi driver        .

    A．was dissatisfied wit his present job

    B．was once often rewarded for being a model worker

    C．enjoyed offering his customers more than they expected

    D．was forced to become a taxi driver to support his family

A person may have an idea about himself that will prevent him from doing good work. He may have the____36____ that he is not capable of it. A child may think he is stupid because he does not understand how to make the ____37____ of his mental faculties(官能). Older people may be mistaken that they are incapable of ____38_____ anything new because of their age.

A person who believes that he is incapable will not make a real ____39_____ , because he feels that it ____40_____ be useless, he won’t go at a job with the confidence necessary for success, and he won’t work his hardest, even though he may____41_____ he is doing so. He is ____42_____ likely to fail, and the failure will ____43____ belief in his incompetence(无能). Alfred Adler, a famous doctor, had a (an) ____44_____ like this. When he was a small boy, he had a poor ____45____ in maths. His teacher told his ____46_____ he had no ability in maths in order that they would not ____47____ too much of him.____48_____he too accepted ____49_____ mistaken thinking of his ability, and he felt that it was useless to ____50____, and was very poor at maths, ____51____ as they expected.

One day he worked out a problem which ____52_____ of the other students had been able to solve. Adler succeeded in solving the problem. This gave him confidence. He now ____53____ with interest, determination and purpose, and he soon became especially good at ____54____. He not only proved that he could learn maths well, but luckily he learned early in his life from his own experience that if a person goes at a job with determination and purpose, he may ____55_____ himself as well as others by his ability.

1.                A．belief          B．way            C．fact  D．condition

2.                A．biggest         B．most           C．highest   D．deepest

3.                A．teaching        B．learning        C．accepting D．using

4.                A．decision        B．success         C．effort    D．trouble

5.                A．would          B．should          C．must D．could

6.                A．forget          B．think           C．guess D．understand

7.                A．nevertheless    B．moreover       C．however  D．therefore

8.                A．lead to         B．add to          C．take to   D．contribute to

9.                A．experience      B．example        C．thought   D．story

10.               A．state           B．mind           C．start  D．ending

11.               A．classmates      B．friends         C．neighbors  D．parents

12.               A．blame          B．expect         C．get   D．win

13.               A．Virtually        B．Gradually       C．Fortunately D．Especially

14.               A．it             B．her            C．its    D．their

15.               A．manage        B．succeed        C．try   D．act

16.               A．only           B．almost         C．just   D．nearly

17.               A．none          B．all             C．many D．most

18.               A．lived           B．worked         C．played    D．graduated

19.               A．1essons        B．medicine       C．subjects   D．maths

20.               A．encourage      B．love           C．astonish   D．disappoint