Reading aloudUnit oneHow do A students like these do it？Brains aren't the only answer. The most gifted students do not necessarily perform best in exams. Knowing how to make the most of one's abilities counts for much more.Hard work isn't the whole story either. Some of these high-achieving students actually put in fewer hours than their lower-scoring classmates.The students at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techniques that others can easily learn.Here,according to education experts and students themselves,are the secrets of A students.Unit twoThis explains why it can be so difficult to get a western-style discussion going with Japanese students of English. Whenever I serve a volleyball , everyone just stands back and watches it fall.No one hits it back. Everyone waits until I call on someone to take a turn.And when that person speaks,he doesn't hit my ball back.He serves a new ball.Again,everyone just watches it fall.So I call on someone else.This person does not refer to what the previous speaker has said.He also serves a new ball . Everyone begins from the same starting line , and all the balls run parallel. There is never any back and forth. Unit threeBlind and black and poor—what kind of life could this new infant have? In her wildest dreams , Mrs Morris could never have imagined that her new baby would become a famous musician called Stevie Wonder. At that time,all she could do was pray--and worry.Stevie himself didn't worry at all.Life was too full.He was brought up among church-going people whose faith helped them bear the poverty. He loved and would pound spoons and forks on any surface that faintly resembled a drum. Unit fourShe was a small woman , old and wrinkled. When she started washing for us, she was already past seventy. Most Jewish women of her age were sickly and weak. All the women in our street had bent backs and leaned on sticks when they walked. But this washwoman, small and thin as she was, possessed a strength that came from generations of peasant forebears. Mother would count out to her a bundle of laundry that had accumulated over several weeks. She would then lift the bundle, put it on her narrow shoulders, and carry it the long way home.She would bring the laundry back about two weeks later. My mother had never been so pleased with any washwoman. Yet she charged no more than others. She was a real fine. Mother always had her money ready, because it was too far for the old woman to come a second time.Unit fiveI remember when they took their first holiday together.Ted wanted to do something energetic,because he didn't usually get much exercise during the year.Mary's job meant that she was on her feet most of the time.All she wanted to do was lie in the sun.Ted hated the idea of of lying on a beach;Mary hated the idea of being too active.They compromised,and took their holiday in mid-summer,high in the Alps.Mary was able to lie in the sun by the hotel swimming pool,while Ted went off for long walks in the mountains with a group of hikers.In the evening they met at the hotel ,both content with their day,happy to eat a leisurely meal together and dance a little afterwards.Unit sixIf we are to succeed as a society in the 21st century , we had better do away with our anti-intellectualism and teach our children that a good life depends on exercising one's mind and pursuing knowledge to the full extent of one's abilities.Not until the words "nerd" and "geek" become terms of praise rather than insults do we stand a chance.Unit sevenWhy! What kind of question was that? But I ventured an answer. Day after day, she kept doing that to me, and my answer became stronger and more confident.She was the first teacher to give me the sense that thinking was part of education and that I could form opinions that had some value.Unit eightBut this next journey, to the so-called informantion highway, is the topic of endless newspaper and magazine articles, television and radio broadcasts, conferences, and widespread speculation. The has been an unbelieveable amount of interest in this subject during the last few year, both inside and outside the company industry. The interest is not confined only to developed conturies, and it goes well beyond even the very large numbers of personal-computer users.。