As children face their final month of revision before the exam season starts, ma

As children face their final monthof revision before the exam season starts, many parents are looking for the wordsto motivate their offspring．But could they be mistakenly praising the value of ability overeffort, asks Matthew Syed．

    Takea glance at these expressions of encouragement:

    "Youlearned that so quickly, you're so smart!"

    "Lookat that drawing．Are you -the next Picasso or what?"

They appear as the kind ofconfidence-boosting statements that should be given to children or, indeed, anyoneelse．Suchphrases are used in homes and classrooms every day, particularly with examsapproaching．

Intelligence-based praise leadsthe receiver towards the fixed thought —it suggests to them that intelligence is ofprimary importance rather than the effort through which intelligence can betransformed．

Let's take a quick second lookinto the science of expertise, and ask a question．Where does excellence come from? For a longtime, it was thought the answer to this depended, to a large degree, on geneticinheritance．Or, to put it another way, it is all abouttalent．

It turns out that this ismistaken．Dozensof studies have found that top performers—whether inmaths, mi sic or whatever—learn no faster than thosewho reach lower levels of achievement—hour after hour,they improve at almost the same rates．

The difference is simply thathigh achievers practice for more hours．Further research has shown that when studentsseem to possess a particular gift, it is often because they have been givenextra tuition at home by their parents．

This is not to deny that somekids start out better than others—it is merely to suggest that the starting point we have in life isnot particularly relevant．

Why? Because, over time, with theright, kind of practice, we change so dramatically．It is not just the body thatchanges, but the brain．The question of talent versuseffort would not matter terribly much if it  as merely theoretical．But it is so much more than that．Itinfluences the way we think, feel, and the way we engage with our world．

1.What is the best title of thispassage?

    A．The Words That CouldEncourage Your Child

    B．Intelligence Says All

    C．High and Low Achievers

    D．Start Early, Learn More

2.Which statement isintelligence-based praise?

    A．"You're so brilliant- you passed that exam without really studying!"

    B．"With more efforts,you can achieve more!"

    C．" You combine studywith entertainment so well!"

    D．"You study so hardeven when you are so good at it!"

3.The writer thinks the answer tothe question of talent versus effort is _____．

    A．simple          B．complicated      C．obvious          D．mysterious

4.Why do some people have higherachievements?

    A．Because they are born withgreat talent.

    B．Because they start betterthan others.

    C．Because they spend more oftheir spare time practicing what they have learnt.

    D．Because they improvethemselves at almost the same rates.

试题答案

【答案】

AABC

【解析】略