单选题 Engineering students are supposed to be examples of practicality and rationality, but when it comes to my college education I am an idealist and a fool. In high school I wanted to be an electrical engineer and, of course, any sensible student with my aims would have chosen a college with a large engineering department, famous reputation and lots of good labs and research equipment. But that"s not what I did.
I chose to study engineering at a small liberal-arts university that doesn"t even offer a major in electrical engineering. Obviously, this was not a practical choice; I came here for more noble reasons. I wanted a broad education that would provide me with flexibility and a value system to guide me in my career. I wanted to open my eyes and expand my vision by interacting with people who weren"t studying science or engineering. My parents, teachers and other adults praised me for such a sensible choice. They told me I was wise and mature beyond my 18 years, and I believed them.
I headed off to college sure I was going to have an advantage over those students who went to big engineering "factories" where they didn"t care if you have values or were flexible. I was going to be a complete engineer: technical genius and sensitive humanist all in one.
Now I"m not so sure. Somewhere along the way my noble ideals crashed into reality, as all noble ideals eventually do. After three years of struggling to balance math, physics and engineering courses with liberal-arts courses, I have learned there are reasons why few engineering students try to reconcile engineering with liberal-arts courses in college.
The reality that has blocked my path to become the typical successful student is that engineering and the liberal arts simply don"t mix as easily as I assumed in high school. Individually they shape a person in very different ways; together they threaten to confuse. The struggle to reconcile the two fields of study is difficult.
单选题 The author chose to study engineering at a small liberal-arts university because he ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】
单选题 According to the author, by interacting with people who study liberal arts, engineering students can ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】
单选题 In the eyes of the author, a successful engineering student is expected ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】
单选题 The author"s experience shows that he was ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 推断题。
题干信号词“author"s experience shows”并无实际参考价值，故需要整体理解文章。
单选题 The word "they" in "...together they threaten to confuse." (Line 3, Para.5) refers to ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 词汇推断题。
根据出处提示(Line 3, Para.5)以及题干信号词“they”可回文定位到尾段第二句“Individually they shape a person in different ways; together they threaten to confuse.”(它们各自以不同的方式造就一个人，在一起时，它们就有制造混乱的危险)。词汇推断题需要在上下文中寻找线索，“they”指代尾段首句“The reality that has blocked my path to becoming the typical successful student is that engineering and the liberal arts simply don"t mix as easily as I assumed in high school.”(挡住我成为典型的成功学生之路的事实是：工科和文科简直不可能像我在高中想象的那样容易结合)中的“engineering and the liberal arts”(工科和文科)，故尾段首句是题眼。