2019年6月大学英语四级阅读理解训练：天才

①The old idea that talented children “burn themselves out” in the early years, and, therefore, are subjected to failure and at worst, mental illness is unfounded. ②As a matter of fact, the outstanding thing that happens to bright kids is that they are very likely to grow into bright adults.

To find this out, l, 500 gifted persons were followed up to their thirty-fifth year with these results:

①On adult intelligence tests, they scored as high as they had as children. ②They were, as a group, in good health, physically and mentally. ③84 per cent of their group were married and seemed content with their lives.

①About 70 per cent had graduated from college, though only 30 per cent had graduated with honors. ②A few had even dropped out, but nearly half of these had returned to graduate. ③Of the men, 80 per cent were in one of the professions or in business management or semiprofessional jobs. ④The women who had remained single had office, 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.

①In a material way they did not do badly either. ②Average income was considerably higher among the gifted people, especially the men, than for the country as a whole, despite their comparative youth.

In fact, far from being strange, most of the gifted were turning their early promise into practical reality.

　　一、词汇

1.subjected to容易遭受 2.unfounded a. 无理由的

3.follow up跟踪,监督 4.drop out退学

5.patent n. 专利权,专利品 6.comparative a. 比较的,相当的

7.promise n. 获得成功的迹象

　　二、长难句

1. The old idea that talented children “burn themselves out” in the early years, and, therefore, are subjected to failure and at worst, mental illness is unfounded.

该句的主干为The old idea that …is unfounded，其中that引导的从句做主语名词The old idea的同位语。该从句的主干为talented children “burn themselves out” … and are subjected to failure and … mental illness。

翻译：聪明的孩子年少时就“江郎才尽”从而变得一事无成甚至患有精神疾病，这种旧有的说法是没有根据的。

2. As a matter of fact, the outstanding thing that happens to bright kids is that they are very likely to grow into bright adults.

该句的主干为the outstanding thing that … is that …。第一个that引导定语从句，修饰主语名词the outstanding thing，第二个that引导表语从句。

翻译：事实上，聪明的孩子的杰出之处在于他们很可能在成年后还是很聪明的。

3. Average income was considerably higher among the gifted people, especially the men, than for the country as a whole, despite their comparative youth.

该句主干为Average income was considerably higher … than (that) for the country as a whole，短语among the gifted people, especially the men和 for the country as a whole是相比较的范围。介词短语despite …做让步状语。

翻译：这群天资禀赋之人，尤其是其中的男人，虽然比较年轻，但与全国其他人相比，他们的平均收入却高得多。

　　三、文章结构分析

本文是一篇先驳后立的文章，批驳了天才儿童在年少时就“江郎才尽”的说法，指出聪明的孩子在成年后仍然是很有才华的。

第一段：开篇驳斥有关天才儿童早期才尽的旧有说法，并提出新的观点，即聪明的孩子成年后仍然很聪明。

第二至六段：用实验结果证明了表明了绝大多数的天儿童成年后仍取得了很大的成就，从而证明了作者观点的正确性。

第七段：总结全文，重申文章主旨：大多数天才儿童都能将其年少时的梦想变为现实。

四、试题具体分析

18. The old idea that talented children “burn themselves out” in the early years is ________.18. 聪明的孩子年少时就“江郎才尽“这种旧有的说法______。

[A] true in all senses[A] 在任何意义上来说都是正确的

[B] refuted by the author[B] 被作者驳斥了

[C] medically proven[C] 是有医学根据的

[D] a belief of the author[D] 是作者的一种信仰

[分析]本题考查的知识点是：文章主旨。

作者开篇表明自己的观点：聪明的孩子年少时就“江郎才尽”从而变得一事无成甚至变得精神失常，这种旧有的说法是没有根据的。并在下文通过对1500名天才的检测调查证明了该观点的正确性。unfounded即表明作者是否定这种说法的，故[B]选项正确。

[A]选项反向干扰。[C]选项反向干扰，文章开篇即指出聪明的孩子年少时就“江郎才尽”的说法是没有根据的。[D]选项反向干扰，根据上面的分析可知作者是批驳这种说法的，因此其不可能是作者的信仰，故排除。

19. The survey of bright children was made to ________.19. 对聪明的孩子进行调查是为了________.

[A] find out what had happened to talented children when they became adults[A] 查明这些有天赋的孩子成年后的状况如何

[B] prove that talented children “burn themselves out” in the early years[B] 证明聪明的孩子年少时就会“江郎才尽”

[C] discover the percentage of those mentally ill among the gifted[C] 得到这些天才儿童中患精神疾病的人的比例

[D] prove that talented children never burn themselves out[D] 证明天才儿童永远都不会“江郎才尽”

[分析]本题考查的知识点是：写作目的。

文章第二至五段详述了对1500名天才儿童进行跟踪检测，得到他们成年后在生活、学习、工作、成就和薪酬等方面的具体情况，从而证明聪明的孩子很可能在成年后还是很聪明的。可知，调查的直接目的就是为了查明天才儿童成年之后的状况如何，故[A]选项正确。

[B]选项反向干扰。作者在第一段就驳斥了这种说法，引用实验的目的是为了证明这种说法的错误性。[C]选项是根据原文词汇gifted, mental illness , percentage编造的干扰项，且文章第三段②句(They were,… in good health, physically and mentally.)也否定了这一说法。[D]选项过于绝对且无法推知。实验并没有指出所有的天才儿童长大之后都会很有才华，另外对实验对象的跟踪测试一直进行到他们35岁为止，因此对于天资禀赋之人35岁后的情况无法推知。

20. Intelligence tests showed that ________.20. 智力测试表明_______。

[A] bright children were unlikely to be mentally healthy[A] 聪明的孩子是不可能精神正常的

[B] between childhood and adulthood there was a considerable loss of intelligence[B] 从孩提到成年智力丧失很严重的

[C] talented children were most likely to become gifted adults[C] 天才儿童成年后最可能成为有才华的人

[D] when talented children grew into adults, they made low scores[D] 当天才儿童成年后很难取得成就

[分析]本题考查的知识点是：具体细节。

根据关键词定位到文章第三段。该段①句指出，在成人智力测试上，孩提时智商很高的人在成年后同样会取得很高的分数。紧接着在下文指出这些孩子成年后在生活，学习，工作以及所取得的成就等方面也是十分突出的。由此可知，智力测试表明了天才儿童成年后也最可能成为有才华的人，[C]选项正确。

[A]选项反向干扰。智力测试无法对精神状态进行测试，且第三段②句指出了这些孩子成年后身心状况都是良好的。文章主要论述了天才儿童在成年之后仍然是很有才华的，因此他们从孩提到成年智力并没有丧失而且他们也是很有成就的，故可排除[B]、[D]选项。

　　五、全文翻译

聪明的孩子年少时就“江郎才尽”从而变得一事无成甚至患有精神疾病，这种旧有的说法是没有根据的。事实上，聪明的孩子的杰出之处在于他们很可能在成年后还是很聪明的。

为了验证这一结论，实验跟踪监测了1,500名有天赋的人，这个实验一直进行到他们35岁为止，结果发现：

在成人智力测试上，他们的得分同他们孩提时的得分一样高。作为一个群体，他们身心状况良好。在这个群体中，有84%的人已经结婚了而且似乎对自己的生活感到满意。

虽然只有30%的人是优秀毕业生，但大学毕业的人数约为70%。虽然有几个人曾中途退学，但是其中将近一半的人又重新返回了学校并毕业。其中男性中的80%的人在专业领域、企业管理或是半专业领域里从事工作。而其中仍为单身的女性也在办事处、企业或专业领域工作。

这群人已经编著了90本书并在科学、学术以及文学杂志上发表了1500篇文章以及拥有100多项专利权。

在现实生活中，他们也表现良好。这群天资禀赋之人，尤其是其中的男人，虽然比较年轻，但与全国其他人相比，他们的平均收入却高得多。

事实上，不足为奇，大多数的天才都会将其早年的迹象转化为现实。