It seems that the great desire among the young is to be popular. And once they achieve popularity, they want to keep it, improve on it, and expand it.
Those are the years when you should be finding out who you are and what you stand for. But the desire to be popular can force you into looking and acting like everyone else. You can lose yourself in a sea of identical hairstyles and thinking styles.
I was forced to think about popularity not too long ago in a talk I had with my daughter. Margy had to change schools when my busy work schedule made it necessary for me to move houses. I suppose that, for a girl in her teens, entering a new school is about as easy as spending a season alone in the tropical jungles. At least that’s how Margy found it at first. However, as the school year drew to a close, one student after another came to her. They said they would have liked to be friends sooner.
I told Margy that I would have been more concerned if she had been an instant social success in her new school. That, to me, would have been proof that she had betrayed her true self in order to become popular. Nobody can please everyone. If you try to do so, you will find values as lasting as soap bubbles blown into the air. The people with whom you ought to be friends will find you in good time. And you will find them. Sometimes young people try to force friendships into bloom by opening their innermost thoughts to people they have just met. Such friendships are the least likely to last. What’s the hurry? If you have five really close friends in your lifetime, you will be doing very well.
Some teenagers claim they want to dress as they please. But they all wear the same clothes. They set off in new directions in music. But somehow they all end up listening to the same record. Their reason for thinking or acting in a certain way is that the crowd is doing it. They have come out of their cocoon into a larger cocoon.
I know that it has become harder and harder for a young person to stand up against the popularity wave and to go his or her own way. Our way of life makes a young nonconformist stand out like a Martian. These days every member of the younger generation can learn from the advertisements what he or she should have and be. And many of the parents have come to award high marks for the popularity of their children. All this adds up to a great barrier for the young person who wants to find his or her own path.
But the barrier is worth climbing over. The path is worth following. You may want to listen to classical music instead of going to a party. You may want to collect rocks when everyone else is collecting records. Well, go to it. Find yourself. Be yourself. Popularity will come with the people who respect you for who you are. That’s the only kind of popularity that really counts.
41．Why did the author’s daughter change schools?
A.She desired to live a different life.
B.The author wanted her to receive a better education.
C.The author needed to move closer to his workplace.
D.She didn’t adapt to the teaching style of her previous school.
42．Which describes the author’s concern about his daughter’s instant social success in her new school?
A.His daughter might have betrayed her true friends in the previous school.
B.His daughter would find it hard to be on terms with too many friends.
C.His daughter would lay less stress on her academic performance.
D.His daughter would act like people around her to please others.
43．According to the passage, the author thinks most teenagers .
A.are very afraid of getting lost in life
B.have much difficulty understanding each other
C.find it uneasy to gain popularity as they expected
D.lack the confidence to be truly different from others
44．What is the probable meaning of the underlined word "nonconformist" in Paragraph 6?
A.Someone who cares about others’ opinion.
B.Someone who desires popularity greatly.
C.Someone who behaves in his own way.
D.Someone who wants to please others.
45．What is the author’s purpose of writing this passage?
A.To persuade readers to pursue the valuable popularity.
B.To tell parents how to educate and guide their children.
C.To show people how to understand and respect each other.
D.To inform people of how to get along with their close friends.