Question

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 noticed every passenger was just standing there drinking coffee and staring at the black screen. Then I looked down on the computer and 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 computer, I said. “Let’s forget the computer—What about your planes? They are 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 is 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 words 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.

1.Where do you often hear the frightening words “Our computer is down”?

A．at the airport. B．At the gate.

C．On business D．In the ticket office

2.What could the girl in the ticket office do without asking the computer?

A．She could do nothing.

B．She could write out a ticket.

C．She could still sell a ticket.

D．She could answer passengers’ questions.

3.What does the underlined word “down” in Paragraph 1 mean?

A．White B．Broken C．Black D．Dark

4.We can learn from the last paragraph that .

A．a modern computer won’t be down

B．computers can take the place of human

C．there will be great changes in computers

D．sometimes a computer may bring suffering to people

Answer 1

1.C

2.A

3.D

4.D

【解析】

试题分析:世界上最恐怖的英语莫过于：我的电脑坏了。在这篇文章中，作者讲述了自己在机场遭遇电脑系统死机所带来的后果及人们对此的反应。

1.C 细节理解题。根据文章第一段的You hear it more and more when you are on business.可知，选择C，人们经常在工作中听到这句话。

2.A 细节理解题。根据原文的“So when it goes down, you go down with it.”可知选择A，没有电脑这个女孩什么也做不了。

3.D 词义辨析题。根据倒数第二段的“I wouldn’t know,” she said, pointing at the dark screen. “可知选择D，表示电脑是暗的。

4.D 推理判断题。根据最后一段的Some people went white, some people started to cry and still others kicked their luggage.可知，当电脑死机时，人们无可奈何，故选择D，指电脑有时候也会给人们带来一些困扰。

考点：考查记叙文阅读