Engineeringstudentsaresupposedtobeexamplesofpracticalityandrationality，butwhenitcomestomycollegeeducationIamanidealistandafool.InhighschoolIwantedtobeanelectricalengineerand,ofcourse,anysensiblestudentwithmyaimswouldhavechosenacollegewithalargeengineeringdepartment，famousreputationandlotsofgoodlabsandresearchequipment.Butthat‘snotwhatIdid.
Ichosetostudyengineeringatasmallliberal-arts(文科)universitythatdoesn‘tevenofferamajorinelectricalengineering.Obviously,thiswasnotapracticalchoice;Icamehereformorenoblereasons.Iwantedabroadeducationthatwouldprovidemewithflexibilityandavaluesystemtoguidemeinmycareer.Iwantedtoopenmyeyesandexpandmyvisionbyinteractingwithpeoplewhoweren’tstudyingscienceorengineering.Myparents,teachersandotheradultspraisedmeforsuchasensiblechoice.TheytoldmeIwaswiseandmaturebeyondmy18years,andIbelievedthem.
IheadedofftocollegesureIwasgoingtohaveanadvantageoverthosestudentswhowenttobigengineering“factories”wheretheydidn‘tcareifyouhavevaluesorwereflexible.Iwasgoingtobeacompleteengineer:technicalgeniusandsensitivehumanist(人文学者)allinone.
NowI‘mnotsosure.Somewherealongthewaymynobleidealscrashedintoreality,asallnobleidealseventuallydo.Afterthreeyearsofstrugglingtobalancemath,physicsandengineeringcourseswithliberal-artscourses,Ihavelearnedtherearereasonswhyfewengineeringstudentstrytoreconcile(协调)engineeringwithliberal-artscoursesincollege.
Therealitythathasblockedmypathtobecomethetypicalsuccessfulstudentisthatengineeringandtheliberalartssimplydon’tmixaseasilyasIassumedinhighschool.Individuallytheyshapeapersoninverydifferentways;togethertheythreatentoconfuse.Thestruggletoreconcilethetwofieldsofstudyisdifficult.
练习题：
Choosecorrectanswerstothequestion:
1.Theauthorchosetostudyengineeringatasmallliberal-artsuniversitybecausehe________.
A.intendedtobeacombinationofengineerandhumanist
B.wantedtobeanexampleofpracticalityandrationality
C.intendedtobeasensiblestudentwithnobleideals
D.wantedtocoordinateengineeringwithliberal-artscoursesincollege
2.Accordingtotheauthor，byinteractingwithpeoplewhostudyliberalarts，engineeringstudentscan________.
C.receiveguidanceintheircareers
D.balanceengineeringandtheliberalarts
3.Intheeyesoftheauthor，asuccessfulengineeringstudentisexpected________.
A.tobeimaginativewithavaluesystemtoguidehim
B.tobeatechnicalgeniuswithawidevision
C.tohaveanexcellentacademicrecord
4.Theauthor‘sexperienceshowsthathewas________.
5.Theword“they”in“togethertheythreatentoconfuse.”(Line3，Para.5)refersto________.
A.practicalityandrationality
B.engineeringandtheliberalarts
D.flexibilityandavaluesystem
1.[C]事实细节题。根据文中第2段第3、4句的具体说明以及第3段末句的概括说明“我将成为一个完整的工程师：集理性的技术天才和感性的人文学者于一体。”可知C正确。
2.[A]事实推理题。由文章第2段第4句“我想通过与非理工科的同学的相互交往来开阔我的视野”，可推断出A正确。其他均无原文依据或断章取义。
3.[B]事实推理题。第3段最后一句说，“我将成为一个完整的工程师：集技术天才和人文学者于一体”，B“成为视野宽阔的技术天才”与原文相符，故选B。A、C、D均无原文支持或断章取义。
4.[D]事实推理题。根据第4段第2句“我的崇髙理想与现实发生了冲突”，以及下文对于作者在协调文理科之间的困难可知，原文的想法是不现实的，故可推断D正确。
5.[B]词义理解题。they—般指代前一句话中的复数名词,根据最后一段的第1、2句“…engineeringandtheliberalartssimplydon’tmixaseasily…togethertheythreatentoconfuse”可以推断，they指的是engineeringandtheliberalarts。
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