Hawking's Five Easy Steps for Making Yourself a Genius
As we all know，Stephen Hawking writes the book A Brief History of Time that explains the
origin of the universe. The book spent 147 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List and has
sold 10 million copies. He is，most agree，very smart.
In his recently published autobiography My Brief History，Hawking offers five life lessons on
how to bee a genius.
1)Don’t miss opportunities by being too cool
“We showed an air of plete boredom and the feeling that nothing was worth making an
effort for. One result of my illness has been to change all that. When you are faced with the
possibility of an early death, it makes you realize that life is worth living and that there are lots of
things you want to do. ”Seize the moment，as Oxford types would say.
2)Keep it simple
When writing A Brief History of Time，he tried to make science understandable for the rest of
us. “I was sure that nearly everyone is interested in how the universe operates，but most people
cannot follow mathematical equations(数学公式). ”He has trouble with them，too. “This is
partly because it is difficult for me to write them down，but mainly because I don't have an inborn
feeling for equations. My aim in the book was to describe these mental images in words. It is
such an easy book that everybody can understand it.” The moral：You don't have to be a genius to know everything.
3）Have fun
Hawking has a long history of being a joker，and he has placed lots of bets with other
scientists on the nature of black holes. One was with Cal-Tech scientist John Preskill. After
paying off his bet by giving Preskill a baseball encyclopedia，Hawking wrote，“but maybe I should
have just given him the ashes. ”So lighten up! Geniuses like bad jokes too.
4) Always look for a silver lining (even if you are seriously ill)
Hawking's disease has slowly robbed him of the ability to walk，move his arms，even speak.
But，Hawking says，“in some ways I guess my disability has been an assist：I haven't had to
lecture or teach students, and I haven't had to sit in meetings. So I have been able to devote
myself pletely to research.”In other words，Hawking was given lemons，and he made
Champagne.
5)Don’t work too hard at school
……
【小题1】The passage tells us the facts about A Brief History of Time EXCEPT that .A．it included Hawking's five life lessons on how to bee a geniusB．it has sold 10 million copies up to nowC．it spent 147 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller ListD．it explained the origin of the universe【小题2】According to the passage，which of the following statements is guiding you to be a genius?A．Place lots of bets with your friends. B．Find something good even in bad situations.C．Seize the moment to learn everything. D．Get to know everything including math equations.【小题3】Hawking shows his viewpoint by . A．making parisonsB．quoting a famous sayingC．talking about his own experienceD．listing the numbers and equationsA
网友回答
(答案→)A
解析：
这篇文章是《时间简史》的作者霍金写的另外一本书《我自己的简史》中的内容，书中霍金告诉读者成为天才的5个道理。
【小题1】细节题：从第一段的句子：As we all know，Stephen Hawking writes the book A Brief History of Time that explains the origin of the universe. The book spent 147 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List and has
sold 10 million copies. 可知ABC都是对的，而从第二段的句子：In his recently published autobiography My Brief History，Hawking offers five life lessons on how to bee a genius.可知他给出5个人生的经验是在My Brief History，里面的，所以选A。
【小题2】推理题：从第四个经验：Always look for a silver lining (even if you are seriously ill)可知霍金建议人们要在逆境中找到好的事情，选B。
【小题3】推理题：从每个经验下面的描述可以看出霍金是用自己的人生的故事来说明这些道理的，选C。