The most frightening 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 staring 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 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.
【小題1】The best title for the article is _______.

Section B
Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.?
Margaret, married with two small children, has been working for the last seven years as a night cleaner, cleaning offices in a big building.
She trained as a nurse, but had to give it up when her elder child became seriously ill. “I would have liked to go back to it, but the shifts are all wrong for me, as I have to be home to get the children up and off to school.”
So she works as a cleaner instead, from 9 p.m. till 6 a.m. five nights a week for just £90, before tax and insurance. “It’s better than it was last year, but I still think that people who work ‘unsocial hours’ should get a bit extra.”
The hours she’s chosen to work mean that she sees plenty of the children, but very little of her husband. However, she doesn’t think that puts any pressure on their relationship.
Her work isn’t physically very hard, but it’s not exactly pleasant, either. “I do get angry with people who leave their offices like a place for raising pigs. If they realized people like me have to do it, perhaps they’d be a bit more careful.”
The fact that she’s working all night doesn’t worry Margaret at all. Unlike some dark buildings at night, the building where she works is fully lit, and the women work in groups of three. “Since I’ve got to be here, I try to enjoy myself—and I usually do, because of the other girls. We all have a good laugh, so the time never drags.”
Another challenge Margaret has to face is the reaction of other people when she tells them what she does for a living. “They think you’re a cleaner because you don’t know how to read and write,” said Margaret. “I used to think what my parents would say if they knew what I’d been doing, but I don’t think that way any more. I don’t dislike the work though I can’t say I’m mad about it.”
1.Margaret quit her job as a nurse because _______.
A. she wanted to earn more money to support her family
B. she had suffered a lot of mental pressure
C. she needed the right time to look after her children
D. she felt tired of taking care of patients
2.Margaret gets angry with people who work in the office because _______.
A. they never clean their offices                         B. they look down upon cleaners
C. they never do their work carefully                 D. they always make a mess in their offices
3.When at work, Margaret feels _______.
A. light-hearted because of her fellow workers    B. happy because the building is fully lit
C. tired because of the heavy workload               D. bored because time passed slowly
4.The underlined part in the last paragraph implies that Margaret’s parents would _______.
A. help care for her children                              B. regret what they had said
C. show sympathy for her                                 D. feel disappointed in her  

When you enter a crowded room or go on a picnic or to a party, who is the most attractive and appealing person? It is the person who is cheerful, has a smiling face and behaves as if he or she is enjoying every moment of the event! Such people have an optimistic opinion on life．They are the ones with a positive attitude．On the other hand, let’s see that fellow in the corner with a long face．He is most probably thinking about the time and money wasted in having fun．He is a pessimist, one with a negative attitude．
A person with a positive attitude gets on well with the job at hand．He doesn’t worry about what’s gone before or what might happen in the future．If there is a problem, he quickly thinks of ways to solve it．If the problem cannot be solved singly, he seeks help from someone else．He doesn’t feel that it’s beneath his dignity to seek assistance．
When Sonal lost her history notes days before an important examination, she sat down and cried．Then she pulled herself together, borrowed a friend’s notes, worked day and night and managed to copy down whatever she had lost．Sonal passed the exam with flying colors．
It’s just not possible, even for the greatest optimist, to smile all the time and feel good all day．Everyone has a period of blues now and then, when everything seems sad and without cheer．But once you develop a positive attitude, once you realize that life is a series of ups and downs, dark clouds and bright sunshine, in no time at all, you’ve bounced back, ready to welcome the world again with open arms and a huge smile! So from this moment on, keep your face to the sunshine and you’ll never see the shadows．
1．What might be the best title of the passage？
A．To live with an aim in life      B．To be a pessimist or optimist
C．Life is full of ups and downs   D．Develop the positive attitude
2．The case of Sonal suggested that _______．
A．a(chǎn) person can solve the problem once he thinks of a way
B．Sonal made up for what she had lost by working day and night
C．Sonal was a pessimist because he lost her history notes
D．the history notes that she lost was not important for her
3．The underlined phrase bounced back in the last paragraph means_______．
A．moved back and forth     B．jumped up
C．returned to active state    D．came back
4．According to the last paragraph, which of the following statement is TRUE?
A．If you always look at the shadows, you will be in high spirits．
B．It is impossible for a person to be in a good mood all the time．
C．A negative attitude will make you welcome life with a big smile．
D．When someone feels sad, he thinks the world comes to an end．

More than a hundred adults and kids gather for the Star Party on a cold evening, chattering excitedly as they stand in the dark on a Virginia hillside. The odd thing is, no one has turned on a flashlight, and no streetlights or house lights wink(閃爍) on around them.
These people have traveled to the countryside more than an hour from Washington, D. C., to get away from the glow of city lights.  That's because they are attending a star party. Star parties are gatherings where professional and amateur astronomers set up their telescopes and invite people to come learn about the night sky. Getting away from light pollution, or artificial skylight from buildings for example,  helps stargazers (看星星的人) see objects in the sky much better.
At this star party, Sean O'Brien of the National Air and Space Museum’s Einstein Planetarium starts off by asking the crowd to simply look up and take in all they can see. He points out plenty of things that can be seen without special equipment. Stars, satellites, and even the Andromeda galaxy(仙女座) can be found if you know where to look.
After that, several dozen astronomers offer close-up views. Each has focused their telescope on a different part of the sky. As kids take a look, the owner gives a mini-lesson.
O’Brien says you can have your own star party at home and learn a lot just by paying attention to what's happening up above. "Watch the sky as the seasons pass, and you will see that it changes," he says. "Or start with the moon. Notice when and where you are seeing it—maybe even in the early morning while you wait for the school bus. "
【小題1】What was it special about the Star Party ?

Among various programs, TV talk shows have covered every inch of space on daytime television. And anyone who watches them regularly knows that each one is different in style(風格). But no two shows are more opposite in content, while at the same time standing out above the rest, than the Jerry Springer and the Oprah Winfrey shows.
Jerry Springer could easily be considered the king of “rubbish talk”. The contents on his show are as surprising as can be. For example, the show takes the ever-common talk show titles of love, sex, cheating, and hate, to a different level. Clearly, the Jerry Springer show is about the dark side of society, yet people are willing to eat up the troubles of other people’s lives.
Like Jerry Springer, Oprah Winfrey takes TV talk show to its top. But Oprah goes in the opposite direction. The show is mainly about the improvement of society and different quality(質量) of life. Contents are from teaching your children lessons, managing your work week, to getting to know your neighbors.
Compared to Oprah, the Jerry Springer show looks like poisonous waste being poured into society. Jerry ends every show with a “final word”. He makes a small speech about the entire idea of the show. Hopefully, this is the part where most people will learn something very valuable.
Clean as it is, the Oprah show is not for everyone. The show’s main viewers are middleclass Americans. Most of these people have the time, money, and ability to deal with life’s tough problems. Jerry Springer, on the other hand, has more of a connection with the young adults of society. These are 18-to-21-year-olds whose main troubles in life include love, relationship, sex, money and drug. They are the ones who see some value and lessons to be learned through the show’s exploitation.
【小題1】Compared with other TV talk shows, both the Jerry Springer and the Oprah Winfrey are ______.