复合题

Directions: There are 4 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A., B., C. and D. You should decide on the best choice and write the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet.

Passage Two

 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（文科） 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 had values or were flexible. I was going to be a complete engineer: technical genius and sensitive humanist（人文学者） 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（协调） engineering with liberal arts courses in college.

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. 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】根据第三段末句“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”可知， 作者选择这所学校的原因就是想成为一个了解人文艺术的工程师。 故选B。
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】根据第二段第四句“I wanted to open my eyes and expand my vision by interacting with people who weren’t studying science or engineering”可知， 作者认为与人文专业的学生交流有助于拓宽他的眼界， D更贴合题意。
单选题 In the eyes of the author, a successful engineering student is expected _____.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】同样根据第三段末句和第二段第四句可推知， 作者是想要成为一个有着广阔视野的工程天才。 A、 B、C选项均不合题意， 因此D为正确答案。
单选题 The author’s experience shows that he was _____.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】根据文章第四段内容“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”可推知， 作者在实施自己的想法时遇到了许多困难， 并最终意识到自己的想法是不切实际的， 因此选C。
单选题 The word “they” in “...together they threaten to confuse.” (Para. 4) refers to _____.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】定位到最后一段， 根据前文第一句话“...he 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”内容可知， 此处they既是指代人文艺术和工程技艺这方面， 因此本题答案为A。