The old idea that child prodigies (神童) “burn themselves” or “overtax their brains” in the early years, and therefore are prey to failure and (at worst) mental illness is just a myth. As a matter of fact, the outstanding thing that happens to bright children is that they are very likely to grow into bright adults.
To find this out, 1, 500 gifted persons were followed up to thirty or fifty year with these results:
On adult intelligence tests, they scored as high as they did as children. They were, as a group, in good health, physically and mentally. Eighty-four percent of their group were married and seemed content with their life.
　　About 70 percent had graduated from colleges, though only 30 percent had graduated with honors. A few had even flunked out(退学), but nearly half of these had returned to graduate.
　　Of the men, 80 percent were in one of the professions or in business, managers or semi-professional jobs. The women who had remained single had offices, business, or professional occupations.
　　The group had published 90 books and 1, 500 articles in scientific, scholarly, and literary magazines and had collected more than 100 patents.
In a material way they didn’t do badly, either. Average income was considerably higher among the gifted people, especially the men, than for the country as a whole, despite their comparative youth when last surveyed.
In fact, far from being strange, maladjusted (难以适应) people locked in an ivory tower, most of the gifted were turning their early promises into practical reality.
55. The main idea of the passage is _____.
　　A. that gifted children were most likely to become bright grown-ups
　　B. that when the bright children grew up, they would become ordinary
　　C. that bright children were unlikely to be physically and mentally healthy
　　D. how many gifted children turned successful when they grew up
56. From the passage, we can conclude that _____.
　　A. half of the gifted followed up graduated from colleges
　　B. bright men got higher income than bright women
　　C. most of the gifted children became white collars when they grew up
D. each of the talented published at least one article
57. Which of the following is mentioned in the passage ?
A. Most of the gifted appeared satisfied with their life .
B. Most of the bright and successful women kept single
C. The gifted could not be fit for their social positions
D. The gifted men got full marks in intelligence tests
58. The explanation of the underlined phrase “turning their early promises into practical reality” is _____.
　　A. doing practical jobs and facing reality
　　B. realizing what they were expected
　　C. earning their living and keeping promises
D. doing what they have promised

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