1 . We were designing a wheelchair for a college engineering course. My classmates were certain that we needed to use steel and they felt only steel would be strong enough. I thought steel would be too heavy and aluminum would be a better option. But the student who strongly advocated steel worked at a bike shop. A few days later, when the big and heavy steel arm kept dropping down, I wished I had shown more determination to defend my position.
I enjoyed doing handiwork and my parents would come home and see artworks I had finished that day—painting, clay sculpting, sewing stuffed animals, etc. But when I studied engineering in college, these pursuits were deep-sixed. Not only was I stretched for time, but I didn’t think they were relevant to my academic work. I hesitated to highlight my female crafting (手工艺) interests in the male-dominated engineering environment where I already felt like an outsider.
When I went on to pursue a Ph.D. — early in the pandemic, I felt anxious and turned to crafting. One day I was making a set of dice as a gift for a friend. While putting the liquid resin (树脂) into the silicone mold (硅胶模具), I made a joke to my partner that I was “injection molding” — a standard engineering manufacturing process. I suddenly realized that although resin art is not injection molding in the technical sense, it shares the spirit and probably some skills.
Soon I saw connections between engineering and crafting that I had previously overlooked. When working on the wheelchair project, I used my sewing skills to create cushioned grips for the handles. I saw how crafting taught me to persevere when my product didn’t match my initial vision and to consider the failed creation a learning experience, just as an engineer must.
Since then, I’ve built crafting back into my free time. I’ve also stopped hiding it from my colleagues. I mentioned my dice-making experience at a robotics conference and explained in a team meeting how we could gain inspiration from art experiences. I was glad that the responses were positive — not rude or dismissive, as I used to fear.
1. What can we know about the author and her classmates?| A．They had a sort of love-hate relationship. |
| B．They worked part-time at a local bike shop. |
| C．They had disagreements when creating a wheelchair. |
| D．They knew nothing about the structure of wheelchairs. |
| A．Put aside. | B．Backed up. | C．Followed through | D．Dug out. |
| A．It helped show off her talent. | B．It was unfriendly to females. |
| C．It helped promote cooperation. | D．It was beyond all her expectations. |
| A．She should take up more hobbies. | B．Crafting needs great practical skills. |
| C．She should become more determined. | D．Crafting can help make her a better engineer. |
| A．Creative but sensitive. | B．Confident but stubborn. |
| C．Ambitious and strong-willed. | D．Emotional and straightforward. |
2 . A few years ago, my husband Matt offered to get me a digital piano for my 41st birthday. Matt knew that I had taken piano lessons as a kid, but stopped doing so in the seventh grade. I was at the age when I would rather go to the mall with friends than play the piano on the weekends.
I was game for a digital piano, but skeptical--I wasn’t sure I was going to play it that often. However, Matt was persistent. He reminded me that I’d mentioned wanting to play the piano again, so he bought me one and set it up in my office.
To be honest, I had only made half-hearted attempts over the years to take up various hobbies, mostly craft-related ones like knitting (编织) and cross-stitch (十字绣), to relax. But nothing really stuck.
Then, two years ago, I had a baby. The piano became even more of an afterthought as I became consumed by the challenges of parenting. I had enough on my plate, I told myself. There was no point in adding another thing that was probably just going to stress me out.
But recently, my 2-year-old son had figured out how to turn on the digital piano and loved to bang on the keys. Seeing him play so joyfully, I thought maybe I could take piano lessons and help him to prepare for the music world.
I started lessons a couple of weeks later, and it turned out that I could handle 15 minutes a day.
Sometimes, I could handle 40 minutes. I found myself completely immersed in playing the piano. The repetition calmed me. Going over difficult parts in each piece I was learning was incredibly satisfying. To my great surprise, at age 44, I have an actual hobby now, and I really look forward to performing together with my son one day.
1. Which of the following statements about the author is true according to the passage?| A．She devoted herself entirely to bringing up her baby. |
| B．She dropped out of school in the seven grade. |
| C．She gave up playing the piano again at her forties. |
| D．She ate a lot for parenting. |
| A．She loved knitting and cross-stitch the most. |
| B．She gave them up eventually. |
| C．They made her more patient. |
| D．They gave her too much pressure. |
| A．Her husband’s encouragement. |
| B．Her son’s interest in the piano. |
| C．Her hope to make her son happy. |
| D．Her desire to reduce the stress of parenting. |
| A．She taught her son to play the piano. |
| B．She determined to become a pianist. |
| C．She practiced harder for competition. |
| D．She felt peaceful and content while playing. |
