阅读理解

Passage Two: Questions are based on the following passage.

When I applied under Early Decision to the University of Pennsylvania four years ago, I was motivated by two powerful emotions: ambition and fear. The ambition was to fulfill my lifelong expectation of attending an Ivy League school; the fear was that without the advantage offered by Early Decision, I wouldn't make the cut. A Penn admissions officer told me that the previous year they had accepted 45 percent of Early Decision applicants and just 29 percent of total applicants. The implication was clear: applying under Early Decision dramatically improves your chances of acceptance. At Brown University, my other favorite, applying early did not confer any advantage. While Brown was my No. 1 choice, Penn was a close second, and I desperately wanted to make sure I got into one of the two.

I applied just before the Nov.1 deadline, and six weeks later I got my acceptance package. I was thrilled and relieved. While my friends spent winter vacation finishing as many as 18 applications each, I relaxed. On a school trip to France over spring break, I drank wine while everyone else struggled with international calling cards to phone home and find out where they’d been accepted. People cried about getting rejected, or began the difficult and agonizing process of choosing between two or more schools. Strangely, none of this made me feel better about having applied early. It made me feel worse. When a lot of people from my class got into Brown, I wondered if I, too, could have.

Penn sent a discombobulating array of material to incoming freshmen over the summer. As the pile of mail mounted, so did my concerns that I had made the wrong choice. I had been to Penn only one day, in October of my senior year. I realize now I did not know nearly enough about myself or the school. Picking classes was far more arcane(错综复杂的) than I had expected (or than it would have been at a smaller school). And when I got to the campus, I found that fraternities(男生联谊会) and sororities(女生联谊会) were a more noticeable and obnoxious presence than the 30 percent student membership had suggested to me.

It wasn't long before I knew Penn was not right for me and I looked into transferring. For me, it was about more than just changing schools. I wanted to have the traditional application experience I'd missed out on during my first go-round. The only school on my list that allowed transfers during the second semester of freshman year was Wesleyan, so I waited out the whole year, and then applied to Yale, Brown and Wesleyan. I got into Wesleyan. The irony that I could have gotten in sooner, without getting rejected by the other schools, was not lost on me. But I know I made the right decision. I realized early decision is not for everyone. Better think before you apply.

To high-school seniors who want to avoid making the same mistake I did, my advice is simple: don't apply under Early Decision unless you are absolutely sure that the school is your first choice. And, just as important, don't let your parents or college-guidance counselors persuade you to apply under Early Decision. They may have their own agenda, or at least their own perception of who you are and what you want. As I discovered, no one can really know what you want better than yourself, and even you may need time to figure out what that is.

单选题

The main reasons for the author to apply under Early Decision are ________.

【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】

由第一段第一句“When I applied under Early Decision to the University of Pennsylvania four years ago, I was motivated by two powerful emotions: ambition and fear.”可知本题选B项。

单选题

It can be inferred from the text that the main advantage of Early Decision is that ________.

【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】

第一段倒数第三句“The implication was clear: applying under Early Decision dramatically improves your chances of acceptance.”表明提前录取项目会增加被录取的几率。 因此D项正确。

单选题

The description of the author’s feelings in Paragraph 2 shows that ________.

【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】

从第二段第二句“I was thrilled and relieved.”可得知, 作者刚收到录取通知书时是很开心的。 而从最后三句“Strangely, none of this made me feel better about having applied early. It made me feel worse. When a lot of people from my class got into Brown, I wondered if I, too, could have.”可以看出, 作者对自己的决定产生了怀疑。 因此本题选D项。

单选题

We can draw a conclusion from the text that ________.

【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】

倒数第二段最后一句“Better think before you apply.”提到在申请学校之前要好好考虑。 最后一段第一句“...don’t apply under Early Decision unless you are absolutely sure that the school is your first choice.”和最后一句“As I discovered, no one can really know what you want better than yourself, and even you may need time to figure out what that is.”再次表明要充分考虑清楚自己的决定。 因此可以从这篇文章中得出结论: 申请学校前要充分考虑。 故本题选A项。

单选题

From the text we can see that the writer seems ________.

【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】

文中多处线索, 如第二段最后一句“I wondered if I, too, could have.”, 第三段第二句“...so did my concerns that I had made the wrong choice.”, 和倒数第二段倒数第四句“The irony that I could have gotten in sooner, without getting rejected by the other schools, was not lost on me.”都可以看出, 作者对自己的曾经做出的决定是有些许后悔和遗憾的。 因此本题选A项。