Everyone knows about straight-A students. We see them frequently in TV situation comedies and in
movies like Revenge(复仇) 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 when it comes to 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(学生会) and is a member of the mathematics society. For two years she
has maintained A's in every subject. Melendres, now 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, professor of education at
the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has conducted major studies of super-achieving students.
"Knowing how to make the most of your innate(天赋的) abilities counts for more. Much more."
In fact, Walberg says, students with high I.Q.s sometimes don't do as well as classmates with lower I.Q.s. 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.
1. The "nerds" can probably be __________.
A. dull bookworms lacking sports and social skills
B. successful top students popular with their peers
C. students with certain learning difficulties
D. born leaders crazy about social activities
2. What can we conclude from the first paragraph?
A. Most TV programs and films are about straight-A students.
B. People have unfavorable impression of straight-A students.
C. Everyone knows about straight-A students from TV or films.
D. Straight-A students are well admired by people in the society.
3. Some students become super-achievers mainly because ________.
A. they are born cleverer than others
B. they worker longer hours on study
C. they make full use of their abilities
D. they know the short cut to success
4. What will be talked about after the last paragraph?
A. The interviews with more students.
B. The role I.Q. plays in learning well.
C. The techniques to be better learners.
D. The achievements top students make.
5. What can we infer from the passage?
A. Students needn't work hard on study any more.
B. The brightest students can never get top grades.
C. Top students certainly achieve all-around developments.
D. Students with average I.Q.s can become super-achievers.
