单选题 The most exciting kind of education is also the most personal. Nothing can exceed the joy of discovering for yourself something that is important to you! It may be an idea or a bit of information you come across accidentally -- or a sudden insight, fitting together pieces of information or working through a problem. Such personal encounters are the "payoff" in education. A teacher may direct you to learning and even encourage you in it -- but no teacher can make the excitement or the joy happen. That's up to you.
A research paper, assigned in a course and perhaps checked at various stages by an instructor, leads you beyond classrooms, beyond the texts for classes and into a process where the joy of discovery and learning can come to you many times. Preparing the research paper is an active and individual process, and ideal learning process. It provides a structure within which you can make exciting discoveries of knowledge and of self, which are basic to education. But the research paper also gives you a chance to individualize a school assignment, to suit a piece of work to your own interests and abilities, to show others what you can do. Writing a research paper is more than just a classroom exercise. It is an experience in searching out, understanding and composing, which forms the basis of many skills applicable to both academic and nonacademic tasks. It is, in the fullest sense, a discovering, an education. So, to produce a good research paper is both a useful and a thoroughly satisfying experience!
To some, the thought of having to write an assigned number of pages, often more than ever produced before, is disconcerting. To others, the very idea of having to work independently is threatening. But these is no need to approach the research paper assignment with anxiety, and nobody should view the research paper as an obstacle to overcome. Instead, consider it a goal to accomplish, a goal within reach if you use the help this book can give you.

单选题 According to the writer, personal discoveries ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】推断题。参见第一段第一、二句：The most exciting kind of education．．．that is important to you!(最令人激动的教育也是最个性化的，没有比自己去发现重要的东西更快乐的事了!)第一段第四句：Such personal encounters are the “payoff” in education．(这些个人知识际遇就是教育中的回报。)由exciting、joy、payoff等词可推知作者认为个人的知识发现是教育中最有价值的部分。
单选题 It can be inferred from the passage that writing a research paper gives one chances ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】推断题。参见第二段第四句：But the research paper also gives you a chance to．．．show others what you can do．(但是写论文还给你提供机会去将学校作业个性化，使一份作业适合你的兴趣与能力，向别人显示你能做些什么。)
单选题 From the context, the underlined word "disconcerting" in paragraph 3 most likely means ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】生词猜测题。根据下文中出现的anxiety、threatening可推知，disconcerting指令人不安、焦虑。
单选题 The writer argues in the passage that ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】全文主旨题。参见第二段最后一句：So，to produce a good research paper is both a useful and a thoroughly satisfying experience!(因此，写一篇优秀研究论文是一种既有益又完全令人满足的经历!)第三段第三句：But these is no need to approach the research paper assignment．．．an obstacle to overcome．(但是没必要以焦虑情绪对待论文作业，也不应该将论文看做一种有待克服的障碍。)
单选题 What will probably follow this passage?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】推理题。参见最后一段最后一句：．．．consider it a goal to accomplish，a goal within reach if you use the help this book can give you．(将论文看做一种可完成的目标，只要使用这本书提供的帮助指导，写论文的目标便可实现。)由此可推知下文作者将具体指导如何写论文。