Engineering students are supposed to be examples of practicality and rationality (理性), 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 reasonable student with my aims would have chosen a college with a large engineering department, many famous professors 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 job. I wanted to open my eyes and expand my vision by communicating with people who weren't studying science or engineering. My parents, teachers and other adults praised me for such a wise choice. They told me I was wise and grown-up beyond my 18 years, and I believed them.

　I headed off to the college and 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 expert and excellent humanist all in one.

　Now I'm not so sure. Somewhere along the way my noble ideas crashed into reality, as all noble ideas finally 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 supposed in high school. Individually they shape a person in very different ways. The struggle to reconcile the two fields of study is difficult.

1.Why did the author choose to study engineering at a small liberal-arts university?

2.According to the author, by communicating with people who study liberal arts, engineering students can ___________.

3. Which word below can replace the underlined word “reconcile”?

4.The underlined sentence in 1st paragraph means ___________.

5. The author suggests in this passage that ___________.

This is an open letter to the three people who stole my handbag from the department store I am employed as a shop assistant ．

When you took my bag, I don't know what you thought you were going to get．With my wages, there's not much left on a Tuesday．I hope the ￡5 was useful to you ．I have informed the  social security office so you won't be able to cash the child benefit next week ．I hope that won't leave you too short．But if you really need a couple of pounds, I suppose you could always cash one of the two checks left in my check book．Of course,I phoned the bank right away and the check-casing card is no longer valid, so it won’t be much use to you ．

Actually I don't mind about the money too much．We single parents who work to support our families understand only too well what it means to be short of cash ．However, I don’t suppose it went very far among the three of you．Sorry about that!

I wish you had left the bag behind and just taken the wallet and check book．There were all kinds of papers in it, and notes and things that I really need．I really think that was very inconsiderate of you ．I mean, how would you like something like that to happen to you?

Well, perhaps the bag will turn up．It wasn't even an expensive one．just a plain, old brown leather shoulder bag．You probably dumped it in the nearest rubbish bin or threw it into the bushes. We've looked around, of course, but no one saw which way you went after you left the shop．

I'm not really angry with you．I know how the pressures of modern living can affect us, but I am sad at the loss of my personal things．I feel violated and helpless．The police were very icy, and they just shrugged（耸） their shoulders．"It happens all the time," they told me ．Some small comfort, I suppose．But I've lost just a little more faith in human nature．And as my young son said when I told him what had happened, "Why? Mummy, why us?" I couldn't answer that question．I wonder if you can．

1.In writing Paragraph 2, the writer wants to            ．

    A．describe the contents of the bag in detail．

    B．give some suggestions to the three thieves

    C．tell the thieves hardly any money was available

    D．state the fact that she was careless with the money

2.Which of the following is the most valuable to the writer?

    A．The cash in her bag．                B．The papers and notes in the bag．

    C．The handbag itself．                 D．The check books in the bag．

3.What can we conclude about the police?

    A．They have doubts about human nature．

    B．They show sympathy for the woman．

    C．They think the case quite common．

    D．They are unable to find the thieves．

4.Why does the author write the letter?

    A．To give the thieves a serious warning．

    B．To complain about the fall of morality．

    C．To call people’s attention to their belongings．

    D．To express her affection for her valuable bag．

I was 16 and I grew up in a community called Estepona. One morning, Dad told me I could drive him into a ___31___ village called Mijas, on condition that I took the car in to be ___32___ at a nearby garage. I readily accepted. I drove Dad into Mijas, and ___33____ to pick him up at 4 pm, then dropped off the car at the ___34___. With several hours to spare, I went to a theater. ___35___, when the last movie finished, it was six. I was two hours late!
　　 I knew Dad would be angry if he ___36___ I'd been watching movies. So I decided not to tell him the truth. When I ____37____ there I apologized for being late, and told him I'd ___38__ as quickly as I could, but that the car had needed some major repairs. I'll never forget the ___39___ he gave me. "I'm disappointed you ___40___ you have to lie to me, Jason." Dad looked at me again. "When you didn't ___41___, I called the garage to ask if there were any ___42___, and they told me you hadn't yet picked up the car." I felt ____43___ as I weakly told him the real reason. A___44___passed through Dad as he listened attentively." I'm angry with ___45___. I realize I've failed as a father. I'm going to walk home now and think seriously about___46___ I've gone wrong all these years." "But Dad, it's 18 miles!" My protests and apologies(道歉) were __47___. Dad walked home that day.I drove behind him, ___48___ him all the way, but he walked silently.
　　 Seeing Dad in so much ___49___ and emotional(情感的) pain was my most painful experience. However, it was ___50__­__ the most successful lesson. I have never lied since.

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从36—55各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项

I’m an operating engineer, running crane in New York City. I was in the countryside, playing golf when we got the call that a plane had   36   the World Trade Centre. We checked out of the hotel immediately and started   37   our way downtown. When I got home, I called the rescue center and they told me to come   38   and get on the   39   list.

The next morning I went down to the   40   at about 5 A. M., and four hours later I   41   the call to come down to West Street. I called my wife and told her not to   42   me, and that I would stay in   43   with her. I took the subway. It stopped at West Fourth Street, so I had to   44   the rest of the way.

And somewhere in there I became   45   that I was going into something I   46  . I once worked there in 1966 for the   47   of the World Trade Centre. On halfway on September 12, I was frightened to see the World Trade Centre was a huge pile, maybe ten   48   tall. And it was burning. I started to ask   49   in which my crane might be   50   a whistle blew suddenly warning us of some danger. I saw people running away and I really didn’t know what to do. So I did the same, too. It was as if they had   51   the bulls go in Spain and we were running through the street. People falling down, people   52   them up as they came by, and carrying them, just to get them out of the way, because something was extremely   53  . I didn’t even look back. We stopped running when we got to the Battery Tunnel, and I caught my   54   and said, “Oh, my God, I’m going to   55  .”

Then I settled down a little bit, thinking about what we should do next. As we started again we knocked into a fire chief officer and we asked, “What can we do to help you?”

A．noticed  B．reached     C．hit     D．passed

A．finding  B．making     C．getting      D．losing

A．away     B．near  C．in      D．down

A．volunteer      B．soldier      C．police       D．fireman

A．company       B．hotel C．center     D．home

A．answered       B．made       C．heard D．got

A．miss      B．forget       C．stop   D．expect

A．peace     B．touch C．silence    D．anger

A．walk      B．complete   C．cancel       D．smooth

A．delighted     B．frightened C．surprised   D．interested

A．built    B．met   C．designed   D．had

A．construction B．plan  C．destruction       D．use

A．miles   B．meters      C．stories      D．floors

A．ways    B．numbers   C．position    D．directions

A．as B．why  C．when D．because

A．driven  B．let     C．asked D．enjoyed

A．pushing       B．giving      C．holding     D．picking

A．dangerous    B．urgent      C．emergent  D．important

A．view    B．sight  C．breath       D．sense

A．leave    B．die    C．remain      D．work

A nine-year-old kid was sitting at his desk when suddenly there was a puddle （/JC^C）between his feet and the front of his trousers was wet．He thought his heart was going to stop because he couldn't possibly imagine how this had happened．It had never happened before, and he knew that when the boys found out he would never hear the end of jt. When the girls found out, they would never speak to him again as long as he lived．

He prayed this prayer, "Dear God, I need help now! Five minutes from now I'm dead meat!" He looked up from his prayer and here came the teacher with a look in her eyes that said he had been discovered．As the teacher was walking toward him, a classmate named Susie was carrying a goldfish bowl full of water．Susie tripped （绊倒） in front of the teacher and dumped （倒） the bowl of water in the boy's lap．The boy pretended to be angry, but all the while was saying to himself, "Thank you．Lord!"

Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy was the object of sympathy．The teacher rushed him downstairs and gave him gym shorts to put on while his trousers dried out．All the other children were on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk．The sympathy was wonderful．But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his had been transferred （转移） to someone else—Susie．She tried to help, but they told her to get out．

When school was over, the boy walked over to Susie and whispered, "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Susie whispered back, "I wet my trousers once, too!"

1.The underlined sentence in Paragraph 1 means ____        .

A．the boys would never play with him

B．the boys would treat him as usual

C. he would hardly hear any praise from the boys

D．he would be laughed at by the boys endlessly

2.After Susie dumped water in his lap, the boy was in a state of ___     

    A．excitement       B．relief          C．anxiety      D．anger

3.What did the other kids do after the incident?

A．They offered him dry clothes．       

B．They laughed at the boy rudely,

C．They helped the boy do the cleaning．   

D．They urged the boy to get out angrily,

4.Why did Susie dump water in the boy's lap?

A．The boy asked her to do so．        

B．She just did it by accident．

C．The teacher tripped her on purpose．        

D．She knew the boy's embarrassment．