The youngest college graduate

2020-06-06潘安

疯狂英语·新读写 2020年3期

难词探意

1. absorption /əb'sɔːrpʃn/ n. 吸收；全神贯注

2. mentor /'mentɔː(r)/ n. 指导者

3. confidential /,kɒnfɪ'denʃl/ adj. 秘密的；机密的

Soon, Laurent Simons, 9, of Belgium will become one of the youngest people in the world to graduate from a university. For this, his teachers and others called him a genius.

Laurent, who was born in Ostende, Belgium, studies electrical engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. He entered when he was 8 and set to complete a three-year program in 10 months. If all goes well and he completes his final project—about a brain-connected electrical chip—he will graduate in December. Then, he wants to study medicine, gain a PhD, and make artificial organs.Laurent grew up in Belgium with his grandparents while his parents worked in the Netherlands. He started primary school when he was 4 and went to high school at 6, according to his father. He now lives with his parents in Amsterdam.

“Laurent'sabsorptioncapacity is very high, which means that everything goes much faster, and we can cover a lot more material in a short span of time,” said Peter Baltus, a professor of integrated electronics at the university who is the boy'smentor. “It's been quite special and enjoyable.” Outside of school, Laurent is like any child of his age: playing video games on his smartphone and sometimes taking a swim. Apart from that, he watches TV series like The Blacklist, and his IQ is 145.

For his next chapter, he said, he would like to study in the United States. When asked which university he would like to attend, his father interrupted and said it was “confidential”. “We'd like to study half time in Europe and half time in the United States,” Simons said. “So Laurent is not too far from us.” During the interview, Laurent was a typical 9-year-old, giving short answers. But what he wants to create is big—artificial hearts in the future.The reason is that the grandparents he grew up with have heart conditions.“I'd like to help people like them,” he said.

Reading

Check

1. What's Laurent's final project about before his university graduation?

A. A TV series.

B. An artificial heart.

C. A special video game.

D. An electrical chip linked to brain.

2. Which of the following is one of Laurent's plan after graduation?

A. Having a good rest.

B. Searching for a job.

C. Studying medicine.

D. Traveling with his parents.