The old idea that child prodigies(神童) "burn themselves" or "overtax their brains" in the early years, therefore, are prey to failure and (at worst)mental illness is just a myth. As a matter of fact, the outstanding thing that happens to bright children is that they are very likely to grow into bright adults.
To find this out, 1, 500 gifted persons were followed up to their thirty-fifth year with these results.
On adult intelligence tests, they scored as high as they did as children. They were, as a group, in good health, physically and mentally. Eighty-four percent of their group were married and seemed content with their life.
About 70 percent had graduated from colleges, though only 30 percent had graduated with honors. A few had even flunked out (退学), but nearly half of these had returned to graduate.
Of the men, 80 percent were in one of the professions or in business, managers or semi-professional jobs. The women who had remained single had offices, business, or professional occupations.
The group had published 90 books and 1, 500 articles in scientific, scholarly, and literary magazines and had collected more than 100 patents(专利权).
In a material way they didn't do badly either. Average income was considerably higher among the gifted people, especially the men, than for the country as a whole, despite their comparative youth when last surveyed.
In fact, far from being strange, maladjusted (难以适应) people locked in an ivory tower, most of the gifted were
turning their early promises into practical reality
.
单选题
The statement that child prodigies"burn themselves"or"overtax their brains"are prey to failure is______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】解析：细节推理题。文章第一句中的“…is a myth”及第二句中表转折的短语“As a matter of fact”是信息提示的关键词，表明了作者质疑并否定了这一说法，所以选B。
单选题
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】解析：细节推理题。(根据短文，下列哪项是正确的?)选项A(每位天才至少发表过 一篇文章)支持不充分，根据文章第五段“The group had published 90 books and 1，500 articles in sci entific，scholarly，and literary magazines…”但未说每位都发表过；选项B(受调查人当中只有一半取 得了大学毕业文凭)与原文第三段“About 70 percent had graduated from colleges”描述不符；选项D (聪明的男性比聪明的女性收入要高)在原文中并没提及；而选项C(大多数神童长大后成为了白 领阶层中的一员)可以根据第四段“Of the men，80 percent were in one of the professions or in busi ness，managers or semi-professional jobs．The women who had remained single had offices，business，or professional occupations．”推出，因为上述职业基本都属白领阶层，所以正确答案为C。
单选题
The adult intelligence tests showed that______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】解析：细节题。(成人智商测试表明了什么?)A项(聪明的孩子长大后不一定聪明)；B 项(从小孩到大人, 存在相当大的智商缺失)；D项(在智商测试中，成年才子的智商比以前低得多)都 与第二段第一句“On adult intelligence tests，they scored as high as they did as children．”相左，只有C 项(聪明的孩子通常成人后照样聪明)与其相符，所以正确答案为选项C。
单选题
The underlined part " turning their early promises into practical reality" most probably means ______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】解析：句子语义题。(划线部分“turning their early promises into practical reality”最可 能的意思是什么?)抓住关键短语“turn the promises into reality”(把期望变成现实)就可在选项B 中找到它的同义替代词“realize”，所以答案选B。选项A(挣得生活所需及恪守诺言)、C(做他们许 诺过的事情)及D(做实际工作并正视现实)都与题意相差甚远。
单选题
The main idea of the passage is______.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】解析：主旨题。(本文的中心意思是什么?)文章的中心思想一般在首尾段，特别是语 义转折处，往往是作者真实的写作目的。此文第一段中的“As a matter of fact”就是一个语义转折 标志，引出作者观点：“the outstanding thing that happens to bright children is that they are very likely to grow into bright adults．”由此可以推断选项A项为正确答案(神童们很有可能长大后依旧十分聪 明)；B项(聪明小孩不可能身心健康)与原文第二段第二句“They were，as a group，in good health， physically and mentally．”不相符合；选项C是有关于能长大成为成功人士的神童人数，这显然不是 文章所关注的，因此也不是文章主旨。选项D(当聪明小孩长大以后，他们会变得很普通)也与原 文不相符合。