Lesson28 You Can Be a Super-Achiever
Everyone knows about straight-A students. We see them frequently in TV sitcoms and in movies like Revenge of the Nerds. They get high grades, all right, but only by becoming dull grinds, their noses always stuck in a book. They're klutzes at sports and dweebs when it comes to the opposite
sex.
How, then, do we account for Domenica Roman or Paul Melendres?
Roman is on the tennis team at senior high school. She also sings in the choral ensemble, serves on the student council and is a member of the mathematics society. For two years she has maintained a 4.0 grade-point average, meaning A's in every subject.
Melendres, now a freshman at university, was student - body president when he was at high school. He played varsity soccer and junior-varsity basketball, exhibited at the science fair, was chosen for the national association of student councils and did student commentaries on a local television station.
Valedictorian of his class, he achieved a GPA of 4.4 - straight A's in his regular classes, plus bonus points for A's in two college-level honours 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 the experts of education who have conducted major studies of super-achieving students.
"Knowing how to make the most of your innate abilities counts for more. Infinitely more."

sitcom 情景喜剧
nerd 讨厌的人, 卑微的人
grind 用功的学生, 书呆子
klutz 笨手笨脚的人,不善交际的人
dweeb 势利小人
choral 合唱队的
ensemble 合唱团
varsity 大学代表队的
valedictorian 致告别词的学生代表

你也能成为顶级的学生
每个人都知道学习成绩全优的学生，他们经常出现在电视情景喜剧和如《鬼马校园》这样的电影里。是的，他们成绩很优秀，但同时也成了书呆子，整天脑袋都钻在书本里。他们不擅长体育运动，在与异性交往方面也是呆头呆脑的。
那么，如何解释多米尼加•洛曼和保罗•米伦德里斯呢？
洛曼是所在高中的校网球队队员，她还是合唱团的成员，在学生会任职，还是数学协会的会员。两年来，她每门课的平均成绩保持在四分，也就是每门课得到的都是A。
米伦德里斯现在是大学一年级的学生，在中学时是学生会主席。他是大学足球队和大学篮球二队的队员，参加过科学展览会，被选为全国学生联合会会员，在地方电视台做过学生评论员。他是他们班致告别词的学生代表，每门课的平均成绩为四点四分&&主课都是A，还有两门大学预修课程得A后的加分。
像洛曼和米伦德里斯这样的顶级学生是如何成功的呢？智力不是唯一的答案。“高分的学生并不都是最聪明的学生，”对顶级学生做过重要研究的教育专家这样说，“知道如何充分利用你的内在能力更为重要，并且这一点要重要的多。"