Question

【題目】The most awful words in the English language are, "Our computer is down." You hear it more and more when you are on business. The other day I was at the airport waiting for a ticket to Washington and the girl in the ticket office said, "I'm sorry, I can't sell you a ticket. Our computer is down."

"If your computer is down, just write me out a ticket."

"I can't write you out a ticket. The computer is the only one allowed to do so."

I looked down on the computer and every passenger was just standing there drinking coffee and looking at the black screen. Then I asked her, "What do all you people do?"

"We give the computer the information about your trip, and then it tells us whether you can fly with us or not."

"So when it goes down, you go down with it."

"That's good, sir."

"How long will the computer be down?" I wanted to know.

"I have no idea. Sometimes it's down for 10 minutes, sometimes for two hours. There's no way we can find out without asking the computer, and since it's down it won't answer us."

After the girl told me they had no backup (備用) computer, I said. "Let's forget the computer. What about your planes? They're still flying, aren't they?"

"I couldn't tell without asking the computer."

"Maybe I could just go to the gate and ask the pilot if he's flying to Washington," I suggested.

"I wouldn't know what gate to send you to. Even if the pilot was going to Washington, he couldn't take you if you didn't have a ticket."

"Is there any other airline(航空公司) flying to Washington within the next few hours?"

"I wouldn't know," she said, pointing at the dark screen. "Only 'IT' knows. 'It' can't tell me."

By this time there were quite a few people standing in lines. The word soon spread to other travelers that the computer was down. Some people went white, some people started to cry and still others kicked their luggage (行李).

【1】The best title for the article is _____.

A. The Most Awful Words B. When the Computer Is Down

C. The Computer of the Airport D. Asking the Computer

【2】What could the girl in the ticket office do for the passengers without asking the computer?

A. She could sell a ticket.

B. She could write out a ticket.

C. She could answer the passengers' questions.

D. She could do nothing.

【3】What did passengers do when the computer was down?

A. They left the airport and went home.

B. They drank coffee and watched the black screen.

C. They began to talk to each other.

D. None above.

【4】The last paragraph suggests that _____.

A. a modern computer won't be down

B. computers can take the place of humans

C. sometimes a computer may drive people mad

D. People can do more things without a computer

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】 B

【2】 D

【3】 B

【4】 C

【解析】

本文主要講述英語中最糟糕的詞是“我們的電腦壞了”。作者講述去買飛機(jī)票的經(jīng)歷。前幾天作者在機(jī)場等去買華盛頓的機(jī)票，售票處的女孩說：“對不起，我不能賣票給你。我們的電腦壞了�！弊髡邌柲隳芊耖_出一張票， 售票員說：“我不能給你開出一張票。計算機(jī)是唯一允許這樣做的�！弊髡呦胫�道在接下來的幾個小時內(nèi)還有其他航空公司飛往華盛頓航班嗎? 售票員指著黑暗的屏幕說：“我不問電腦就什么也說不出話來。我不知道，只有‘它’知道，它不能告訴我。”這時有不少人站成一排�！半娔X壞了”這個詞很快就傳到了其他游客那里。有些人臉色發(fā)白，有些人開始哭，還有些人踢著行李。

【1】題意：這篇文章最好的標(biāo)題是_________________。考查主旨理解題。A. The Most Awful Words最可怕的話；B. When the Computer Is Down當(dāng)電腦壞了；C. The Computer of the Airport飛機(jī)場的計算機(jī)；D. Asking the Computer 問電腦去。本文作者講述了買去華盛頓的機(jī)票，當(dāng)售票員說“電腦壞了”發(fā)生的情景。由此可知這篇文章最好的標(biāo)題是“當(dāng)電腦壞了時”；故選B。

【2】題意：售票處的女孩不問電腦，還能為乘客做些什么？考查細(xì)節(jié)理解題。A. She could sell a ticket. 她可以賣票；B. She could write out a ticket.她可以手寫一張票；C. She could answer the passengers' questions. 她能回答乘客的問題。D. She could do nothing.她什么也不能做。作者去買票，售票員說電腦壞了不能售票。當(dāng)作者詢問售票員你能否開一張票，和作者想知道在接下來的幾個小時內(nèi)還有其他航空公司飛往華盛頓航班，售票員說不問電腦什么都不可以�？芍�售票處的女孩不問電腦，她為乘客什么也不能做；故選D。

【3】題意：當(dāng)電腦壞了的時候，乘客們做了什么？考查細(xì)節(jié)理解題。A. They left the airport and went home. 他們離開機(jī)場回家了；B. They drank coffee and watched the black screen. 他們喝咖啡，看著黑色的屏屏；C. They began to talk to each other. 他們開始互相交談；D. None above.

以上都不能做。根據(jù)第三段第一句I looked down on the computer and every passenger was just standing there drinking coffee and looking at the black screen.（我低頭看著電腦，每個乘客都站在那里喝咖啡，看著黑色屏幕。）可知答案是B。

【4】題意：最后一段話表明_______________________。考查細(xì)節(jié)理解題。A. a modern computer won't be down現(xiàn)代計算機(jī)不會下降；B. computers can take the place of humans計算機(jī)可以代替人類；C. sometimes a computer may drive people mad有時電腦會使人發(fā)瘋；D. People can do more things without a computer 沒有電腦，人們可以做更多的事情。根據(jù)最后一段最后一句當(dāng)聽說電腦壞了人們的反應(yīng)Some people went white, some people started to cry and still others kicked their luggage (有些人臉色發(fā)白，有些人開始哭，還有些人踢著行李。).可知有時電腦會使人發(fā)瘋；故選C。