1 . Many of us know what it feels like to be an outsider in high school. Some give in to the pressure to fit in, others remain “on the bottom of the social food chain”. However, Alexandra Robbins, the author of the book The Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth believes what makes people unpopular in high school, mainly an unwillingness to obey, tends to translate into success as an adult.
Robbins has spent the past decade analyzing the behavior of high school students. She found the things that make a student different make them a target. But in adulthood and outside of the school setting, the things “that make you different make you interesting, fun, and often successful”.
She researched the qualities that people found most valuable in adults. The top qualities are: creativity, free-thinking, vision, authenticity, self-awareness, honesty, curiosity, love of learning, and courage. “Those are qualities that are far more likely to be found in school outsiders than in the popular kids,” she said.
According to Robbins, when people are in with a popular crowd, they are more likely to hide aspects of their identity in order to fit into the group. As she put it to Yahoo.com, “You are more likely to have goals of social dominance (社会支配性) rather than forming actual true friendships. You are more likely to let other people pressure you into doing things. None of those things is admirable or useful as adults.”
Meanwhile, in the eyes of Robbins, the outsiders are much more self-aware and much braver than the popular students. They are brave because they are sticking to being themselves in a challenging environment.
There are many celebrity (名人) examples of progress from unpopularity to later fame. Hollywood director Steven Spielberg was laughed at for being Jewish in high school. JK Rowling, author of hugely popular Harry Potter, was teased in school as a glasses-wearing child who lived mostly in books and daydreams.
Robbins encourages students to participate in out-of-class activities. “They will automatically meet people with similar tastes,” she told Daily Mail.
1. The underlined expression in Para. 1 means ________.| A．in a given location on the earth |
| B．at the low point in the society |
| C．below the group that consumes others |
| D．in a situation that limits a person’s freedom |
| A．Difference to others. | B．Pressure to fit in. |
| C．Unwillingness to conform. | D．Behavior of high school students. |
| A．They may have goals of forming actual true friendships. |
| B．They may hide aspects of their identity to fit in. |
| C．They may force others into doing things. |
| D．They may stick to being themselves in the society. |
| A．Young people who are outside are successful as adults. |
| B．JK Rowling is one of celebrities of unpopularity. |
| C．Unpopular students develop skills while the popular don’t. |
| D．Robbins encourages young people to be themselves. |
2 . I can still remember it as if it happened yesterday. I was a college freshman and had stayed up most of the night before laughing and talking with friends. Now just before my first class of the day my eyelids were feeling heavier and heavier and my head was drifting down to my desk to make my textbook a pillow. A few minutes’nap time before class couldn’t hurt, I thought.
Boom! I lifted my head immediately and my eyes opened wider than saucers. I looked around with my heart beating quickly trying to find the cause of the noise. My young professor was looking back at me with a mischievous, boyish smile on his face. He had intentionally dropped the pile of textbooks he was carrying onto my desk. “Good morning !”he said, still smiling. “I’m glad to see everyone is awake. Now let’s get started.”
For the next hour I wasn’t sleepy at all. It wasn’t from the shock of my professor’s textbook alarm clock either. Instead, it was from the attractive discussion he led. With knowledge and good humor, he made the material come alive. His insights were full of both wisdom and loving kindness. And the enthusiasm and joy that he taught with were contagious（有感染力的）. I left the classroom not only wide awake, but a little smarter and a little better as well.
I learned something far more important than not sleeping in class that day too. I learned that if you are going to do something in this life, do it well, do it with joy, and make it an expression of your love. What a glorious place this world would be if all of us did our work joyously and well ! What a beautiful world we could create if every doctor, teacher, musician, cook, waitress, poet, miner, farmer, and laborer made their work an expression of their love ! Don’t sleepwalk your way through life then. Wake up! Let your love fill your work and your soul. Life is too short not to live it well.
1. What did the author want to do just before his first class of the day?| A．Talk with his friends. | B．Take a short sleep. |
| C．Get his eyes examined. | D．Stay away from the class. |
| A．naughty | B．tricky |
| C．sensitive | D．dishonest |
| A．Students should not sleep in class but respect their teachers. |
| B．Everyone should love his job and sleepwalk his way through life. |
| C．Life is too limited to make your work an expression of your love. |
| D．People from all walks of life should do their jobs with wisdom and love. |
| A．The professor often kept his students sharp by using a textbook alarm. |
| B．The author was attracted by the professor’s great wisdom and enthusiasm. |
| C．The author left the two-hour period not only wide awake, but a little smarter. |
| D．Though the author was frightened awake, he was not clear-headed in the class. |
