questions about concept 4, lesson 5

The second paragragh:

When I was a teenager, I felt that I was just young and uncertain - that I was a new boy in a huge school, and I would have been very pleased to be regarded as something so interesting as a problem. For one thing, being a problem gives you a certain identity, and that is one of the things the young are busily engaged in seeking.

Q1: 为什么用 "-", to explain? because I was a new boy in a huge school, I felt that I was just young and uncertain.

Q2: I would have been very pleased to be regarded......, "I would have been" 是虚拟语气? 不像， 对过去时的虚拟语气也不是这么说的。

多谢赐教。