“Stephen!” shouted Billy from the back of the class. “What’s 160 divided by 7?”

“22.85714,” replied Stephen without looking up.

“Good job!” said Billy, copying the number down in his notebook.

“Stephen! When is Thomas’s birthday?” asked Mary.

“It’s February 16,” said Stephen, “and he was born on a Tuesday.”

“Wow!” said Thomas. “How did you know that?”

“You told me,” said Stephen, “on November 5 last year, at 3:05 pm. It was nine months, three days, four hours and sixteen minutes ago...”

Carol cut in, “You did the calculation (计算) all in your head?”

“Yes, of course,” said Stephen. “How else would I have done it?”

Carol couldn’t believe her ears and almost fell off her chair.

“Wow!” said Thomas. “We have a real genius (天才) here. Right here, in our class!” He looked at Stephen and gave him a big smile.

Stephen turned bright red, like a tomato. “I am not a genius,” he said quietly. “I’m just Stephen.”

“But you’re so good at math and remembering things, surely you must be a genius,” said Thomas kindly.

“I can prove (证明) I’m not,” said Stephen.

He got up and started to collect things from his classmates: a painting, a geography notebook, a history notebook and an English notebook. Then he went to the front of the class.

“Tell me what you see,” Stephen said, holding up Carol’s painting.

“A really good picture!” shouted out Thomas.

Next Stephen picked out Thomas’s geography notebook. “Listen up,” he said. “Test 1, A⁺. Test 2, A⁺. Test 3, A⁺.”

“Good job!” Mary shouted.

“Now you, Mary,” said Stephen. “History project last term-teacher’s words: an excellent piece of work. History project last year-teacher’s words: excellent, good job, Mary.”

Stephen continued, “Now I’m going to read you a poem.” It was from Billy’s English notebook

“What a beautiful poem!” said Carol.

“And what a nice way to prove you’re not a genius,” said Thomas. “You just showed us that  ▲ , didn’t you?”

“I hope so,” said Stephen, and he went back to his desk without another word.

1.1．How was Stephen’s special ability shown at the beginning of the story?

A He found his classmates’ mistakes.

B He accepted his classmates’ advice.

C He compared his classmates’ ideas.

D He answered his classmates’ questions.

解析：选D。D.细节理解题。故事开头，比利问史蒂芬数学题、玛丽问托马斯生日，史蒂芬都快速回应，通过回答同学问题展现了特殊能力，故选 D。A “指出错误”、B “接受建议”、C “对比观点” 均未在开头体现。

2.2．How might Carol be feeling when she almost fell off the chair?

A Surprised.

B Relaxed.

C Worried.

D Bored.

解析：选A。A.观点态度题。卡罗尔听到史蒂芬能在脑中快速计算时间间隔，“不敢相信自己的耳朵”，结合 “差点摔下椅子” 的动作，可判断她的情绪是惊讶，故选 A。B “放松的”、C “担心的”、D “无聊的” 均与语境不符。

3.3．Which subject was Mary good at?

A Art.

B English.

C History.

D Geography.

解析：选C。C.细节理解题。文中明确提到史蒂芬展示玛丽的历史课题时，老师评语均为 “出色”“优秀”，说明玛丽擅长历史，故选 C。A “美术” 对应卡罗尔，B “英语” 对应比利，D “地理” 对应托马斯。

4.4．Which of the following can be put in ▲ ?

A it’s very important to learn math well

B it’s no use being a genius at all

C we’re all geniuses in our special ways

D we are much smarter than you

解析：选C。C.推理判断题。史蒂芬通过展示卡罗尔的绘画、托马斯的地理、玛丽的历史、比利的英语优势，证明每个人都有专属特长，并非只有自己特殊。A “学好数学很重要”、B “成为天才没用”、D “我们比你聪明” 均不符合语境，故选 C。

5.5．What can we learn about Stephen?

A He was smart but not proud.

B He was good at telling stories.

C He was hard to get along with.

D He was used to copying others.

解析：选A。A.推理判断题。史蒂芬能快速心算、记住细节，体现了聪明；被称为天才时脸红否认，还主动展现同学优点，说明他不骄傲，故选 A。B “擅长讲故事”、C “难以相处”、D “习惯抄袭别人” 均与原文内容不符。