—Do you think that housing price will keep_______in the years to come?

—Sorry,I have no idea.

A.lifting up                  B.going up                   C.bringing up              D.growing up

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(备用) 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.

1.The best title for the article is _______.

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

3.Why do you think they had not a backup computer?

4.The last paragraph suggests that _______.

-----What do you think of their marriage?
-----_______ , if I were Kate, I wouldn’t marry him.

根据对话情景和内容，从对话后所给的选项中选出能填入每一空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑。选项中有两个为多余选项。
W:  Hello, Jack. You're getting ready for tomorrow's school, aren't you?
M:  Yes, I'm a bit nervous.   【小题1】_
W:  I understand how you're feeling. You'll make a lot of friends very soon.
M:  Thank you. I'll try my best to get used to my new school life as soon as possible.  【小题2】
W:  At 8 o'clock.   【小题3】_
M:  Say it, please.
W:  Before class we have 10 minutes to hand in homework and then 20 minutes for morning reading.
M:  That's to say, we must get to school at 7:25. Five minutes later we'd hand in homework. Right?
W:  Right.  【小题4】_
M:  Well, I hear that lunch time is nearly 12 o'clock and I'll be starving by then.
W:  Don't worry.  【小题5】
M:  That's great.

Cosmo Books Ltd.,                         14, Woodman Road,

 Hertford Estate,                            Two Bridges,

 Rickmansworth,                            West Sussex.

 Middx.

                                          25^th February

Dear sir,

Just over six months ago, I saw an advertisement in the Morning Mail for a set of the complete works of William Shakespeare. Your company, Cosmo books Ltd., offered this set ( eight books of plays and two books of poetry) at what was claimed to be a ‘remarkable’ price: fifteen pounds and fifty pence, including postage and packing. I had wanted a set of Shakespeare’s plays and poems for some time, and these books, in red imitation leather, looked particularly attractive; so I sent for them.

Two weeks later, the books arrived, together with a set of the complete works of Charles Dickens which I had not ordered. So I returned the Dickens books to you, with a cheque for fifteen pounds and fifty pence for the works of Shakespeare. Two more weeks passed. Then there arrived on my door step a second set of the works of Shakespeare, the same set of novels by Dickens and a six book set of the plays of Moliere, in French. Since I do not read French, these were of no use to me at all. However, I could not afford to post all these books back to you, so I wrote to you at the end of August of last year, instructing you to come and collect all the books that I did not want, and asking you not to send any other books until further notice.

You did not reply to that letter. Instead you sent me a bill for forty two pounds , and a set of the plays of Schiller, in German. Since then, a new set of books has arrived every two weeks, the works of Goethe, the poems of Milton, the plays of Strindberg; I hardly know what I have. The books are still all in their boxes, in the garage, and my car has to stand in the rain outside.

I have no room for any more books, and even if I read from now until the Last Judgement, I should not finish reading all the books that you have sent me.

Please send no more books, send no more bills, send no more angry letters demanding payment. Just send one large lorry and take all the books away, leaving me only with the one set of the complete works of Shakespeare for which I have paid.

                                  Yours faithfully,

                                   SIMON WALKER

1.Simon Walker wrote the letter to ________

  A. complain about sending him books he had not ordered.

  B. urge Cosmo Books Ltd. to take away the books he had not ordered.

  C. laugh at Cosmo Books Ltd..

  D. advise readers not to order books from Cosmo Books Ltd..

2.The advertisement that Mr. Walker saw in the Morning Mail was for ____

  A. unlimited number of Cosmo Books.

  B. a set of 10 books of the works of Shakespeare.

  C. a book containing all the plays and poems of Shakespeare.

  D. fifteen pounds and fifty pence.

3. Mr. walker answered the advertisement because ________

  A. he wanted a set of Shakespeare’s works, and this set was cheap, and looked attractive.

  B. he claimed that the books were being offered at a remarkable price.

  C. he had ordered the set and had been waiting for them to come for some time.

  D. the set he already had was not particularly attractive.

4.Cosmo Books have _______

  A. sent bills for books that they have not sent.

  B. continued to send books that Mr. Walker did not order.

  C. still not sent Mr. Walker the books that he ordered.

  D. made a gift to Mr. Walker of several sets of books.

5.The tone of the letter is that of _______

  A. bitterness   B. respect    C. annoyance   D. humor