One place where children soak up A-characteristics is school, which is, by its very nature, ahighly competitive institution. Too many schools adopt the "win at all costs" moral standardand measure their successby sporting achievements. The current passion for making childrencompete against their classmates or against the clock produces a two-layer system, in whichcompetitive A-types seem in some way better than theirB-type fellows. Being too keen to wincan have dangerous consequences:remember that Pheidippides,the firstmarathonrunner,dropped dead seconds after saying:"Rejoice,we conquer!"

　　By far the worst form of competition in schools is the disproportionate emphasis onexaminations. It is a rare school that allows pupils to concentrate on those things they dowell. The merits of competition by examination are somewhat questionable, but competitionin the certain knowledge of failure is positively harmful.

　　Obviously, it is neither practical nor desirabl that all A youngsters change into B's. The worldneeds A types, and schools have an important duty to try to fit a child's personality to hispossible future employment. It is top management.

　　If the preoccupation of schools with academic work was lessened, more time might be spentteaching children surer values. Perhaps selection for the caring professions.especially medicine,could be made less by good grades in chemistry and more by such considerations assensitivity and sympathy. It is surely a mistaketo choose our doctors exclusively from A-typestock. B's are important and should be encouraged.

　　[l]性格在很大程度上是遺傳的——A型性格的父母通常養育出A型性格的子女。但是環境一定也有深遠的影響，因為如果父母很看重競爭，那么競爭很有可能成為孩子們生活中的一個重要因素。

　　學校是兒童吸收A型性格特點的一個地方，因為學校本質上就是一個競爭激烈的機構。許多學校都采納“不惜一切代價獲取成功”的道德標準，以炫耀成績作為衡量學生成功的標準。最近熱衷于讓孩子們與同學競爭或與時間賽跑造成了一個雙層體系，[2]在這個體系里面，善于競爭的A型性格的人好像在某個方面要比他們B型性格的同伴更勝一籌。求勝心切可能帶來危險的后果：還記得第一個跑馬拉松的費迪皮迪茲嗎?他在說了“歡呼吧，我們贏了!”數秒鐘后便倒地身亡。

　　學校里最糟糕的競爭形式就是過分強調考試。很少有學校允許學生集中精力做他們擅長的事。[3]考試這種競爭方式的價值有點令人懷疑，而明知會失敗仍然競爭，這就絕對是有害無益。

　　很明顯，要讓所有A型性格的孩子都轉變為B型性格，這既不現實，也不可取。這個世界需要A型性格的人。[4]學校的重要職責是努力讓孩子的性格適合他們將來可能從事的職業。這才是最佳的管理之道。

　　[5]如果學校不過于看重學習成績，也許就有更多的時間教孩子們更堅定的價值觀。也許對護理專業人員——特別是醫療護理人員——的選擇，就可以少注重化學成績，而多注重諸如敏感和同情心等方面。只從A型性格的人當中挑選醫生肯定是個錯誤。B型性格的人非常重要，應該受到鼓勵。

　　1.Apart from the effect of the environment, personality islargely____________________.

　　2.A-type individuals are usually competitive, but__________________can lead toserious consequences.

　　3.The author doubts about the virtue of__________________________at schoolsbecause some students are bound to fail.

　　4.For schools, the top management is to fit a child's personalityto______________________.

　　5.The selection of medical professionals is currently basedon________________________.

　　1.[inherent]

　　[定位]根據題干中的the effect of the environment，personality，largely查找到首段。

　　解析：題干是對原文首段的近義改寫，the effect of the environment對應原文中的第2句話，largely為原文第1句中a large extent的同義表達，所以空白處應填A inherent。

　　2.[being too keen to win]

　　[定位]根據題干中的A-type，competitive，cause，dangerous consequences查找到第2段最后兩句。

　　解析：空白處缺少主語，原文倒數第2句中的competitive A-types對應題干的前半句，題干lead toserious consequences是最后一句中can have dangerous consequences的同義替換，所以being tookeen to win為答案。

　　3.[competition by examination]

　　[定位]根據題干中的doubts about,the virtue和fail查找到第3段末句。

　　解析：本句說的是，作者質疑考試這種競爭方式，因為對一些孩子而言。明知是短處、肯定會失敗而做無謂的競爭，這種競爭是無益的。doubts about和the virtue對應原文中的questionable和the merits，而題目中because從句是對原文in the certain knowledge of failure的近義改寫，所以competition byexamination為答案。

　　4.[his possible future employment]

　　[定位]根據題干中的top management，a child's personality查找到第4段第2、3句。

　　解析：該段末句中It指代上句的內容，即努力讓孩子的性格適合他們將來可能從事的職業，原文personalityto后的內容為本題答案。

　　5.[good grades in chemistry/academic achievements]

　　[定位]根據題干中的selection，professionals查找到末段前兩句。

　　解析：原文說希望今后選拔醫務人員時應更關注候選人的情感，比如是否敏感，是否有同情心，而不是一味地看成績(good grades in chemistry)。由此可得知，現在的選拔制度注重的是成績。本題答案也可歸納為academic achievements。