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 the counter(柜台)and every passenger was just standing there drinking coffee and staring at the blank screen. Then I asked her,” What do you do?”

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

   “So when it goes down, you go down with it.”

   “That ‘s right, 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 is 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 spare 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 words soon spread to other travelers that the computer was down Some people went, some people started to cry and still others kicked(踢) their luggage.

The best title for the passage is ______.

A. Asking the computer        B. The computer of the airport

C. The most useful words       D. When the computer is down

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

  A. She could answer the passengers’ questions    B. She could do nothing

  C. She could sell tickets                      D. She could write out tickets

The last paragraph suggests that _____.

  A. modern computers won’t be down 

B. computers can take the place of humans

  C. computers may bring trouble to people 

D .there will be great changes in computers

　　 When other teens were studying or going out, she struggled to find a place to sleep on the street. But she overcame these terrible setbacks to win a highly competitive scholarship and gain entry to Harvard University. And her amazing story has inspired a movie, “Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story”, shown in late April.
　　 Liz Murray, a 22-year-old American girl, has been writing a real-life story of willpower and determination. Liz grew up in the shadow of two drug-addicted parents. There was never enough food or warm clothes in the house. Liz was the only member of the family who had a job. Her mother had AIDS and died when Liz was just 15 years old. The effect of that loss became a turning point in her life. Connecting the environment in which she had grown up with how her mother had died, she decided to do something about it.
　　 Liz went back to school. She threw herself into her studies, never telling her teachers that she was homeless. At night, she lived on the streets.“What drove me to live on had something to do with understanding, by understanding that there was a whole other way of being. I had only experienced a small part of the society,”she wrote in her book Breaking Night.
　　 She admitted that she used envy to drive herself on. She used the benefits that come easily to others, such as a safe living environment, to encourage herself that “next to nothing could hold me down”. She finished high school in just two years and won a full scholarship to study at Harvard University. But Liz decided to leave her top university a couple of months earlier this year in order to take care of her father, who has also developed AIDS. “I love my parents so much. They are drug addicts. But I never forget that they love me all the time.”
　 Liz wants moviegoers to come away with the idea that changing your life is “as simple as making a decision”.
69. In which order did the following things happen to Liz?
　　a. Her mother died of AIDS.
　　b. She worked at a petrol station.
　　c. She got admitted into Harvard.
　　d. The movie about her life was put on.
　　e. She had trouble finding a place to sleep.
　　A．b, a, e, c, d　　　 B．a, b, c, e, d　　 C． e, d, b, a, c　　 D．b, e, a, d, c
70. The main idea of the passage is ________.

A．how Liz managed to enter Harvard University

B．the hard time Liz had in her childhood
　　 C．why Liz loved her parents so much
　　 D．how Liz struggled to change her life

71. What decision did Liz make that changed her life?

　 A. To write Breaking Night　 　 　　　B. To go to the best university.

　C. To live through the difficult time.　 D. To live a different life from her parents’.
72. When she wrote “What drove me to live on...I had only experienced a small part　　　

of the society”, she meant that ________.
　　A．she had little experience of social life
　　B．she could hardly understand the society
　　C．she would do something for her own life
　　D．she needed to travel more around the world

When other nine-year-old kids were playing games, she was working at a petrol station. When other teens were studying or going out, she struggled to find a place to sleep on the street. But she overcame these terrible setbacks (挫折) to win a highly competitive scholarship and gain entry to Harvard University. And her amazing story has inspired a movie, “Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story”, shown in late April.

Liz Murray, a 22-year-old American girl, has been writing a real-life story of willpower(意志) and determination. Liz grew up in the shadow of two drug-addicted(吸毒) parents. There was never enough food or warm clothes in the house. Liz was the only member of the family who had a job. Her mother had AIDS and died when Liz was just 15 years old. The effect of that became a turning point in her life. Connecting the environment in which she had grown up with how her mother had died, she decided to do something about it.

Liz went back to school. She threw herself into her studies, never telling her teachers that she was homeless. At night, she lived on the streets. “What drove me to live on had something to do with understanding，by understanding that there was a whole other way of being. I had only experienced a small part of the society,” she wrote in her book Breaking Night.

She admitted that she used envy to drive herself on. She used the benefits that come easily to others, such as a safe living environment, to encourage herself that “next to nothing could hold me down”. She finished high school in just two years and won a full scholarship to study at Harvard University. But Liz decided to leave her top university a couple of months earlier this year in order to take care of her father, who has also developed AIDS. “I love my parents so much. They are drug addicts. But I never forget that they love me all the time.”

Liz wants moviegoers to come away with the idea that changing your life is “as simple as making a decision”.

Her mother died when Liz was ____________.

A. 9 years old    B. 15 years old     C. 22 years old     D. studying in high school

In which order did the following things happen to Liz?

a. Her mother died of AIDS.

b. She worked at a petrol station.

c. She got admitted into Harvard.

d. The movie about her life was put on.

e. She had trouble finding a place to sleep.

A. b, a, e, c, d     B. a, b, c, e, d      C. e, d, b, a, c        D. b, e, a, d, c

The main idea of the passage is ________.

A. how Liz managed to enter Harvard University

B. what a hard time Liz had in her childhood

C. why Liz loved her parents so much

D. how Liz struggled to change her life

What actually made her go towards her goal?

A. Envy and competition.          B. Willpower and determination.

C. Decisions and understanding.     D. Love and respect for her parents.

When she wrote “What drove me to live on...I had only experienced a small part of the society”, she meant that ________.

A. she had little experience of social life    

B. she could hardly understand the society

C. she would do something for her own life  

D. she needed to travel more around the world

When other nine-year-old kids were playing games, she was working at a petrol station. When other teens were studying or going out, she struggled to find a place to sleep on the street. But she overcame these terrible setbacks to win a highly competitive scholarship and gain entry to Harvard University. And her amazing story has inspired a movie,“Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story”, shown in late April.

Liz Murray, a 22-year-old American girl, has been writing a real-life story of willpower and determination. Liz grew up in the shadow of two drug-addicted parents. There was never enough food or warm clothes in the house. Liz was the only member of the family who had a job. Her mother had AIDS and died when Liz was just 15 years old. The effect of that became a turning point in her life. Connecting the environment in which she had grown up with how her mother had died, she decided to do something about it.

Liz went back to school. She threw herself into her studies, never telling her teachers that she was homeless. At night, she lived on the streets.“What drove me to live on had something to do with understanding, by understanding that there was a whole other way of being. I had only experienced a small part of the society,”she wrote in her book Breaking Night.

She admitted that she used envy to drive herself on. She used the benefits that come easily to others, such as a safe living environment, to encourage herself that“next to nothing could hold me down”. She finished high school in just two years and won a full scholarship to study at Harvard University. But Liz decided to leave her top university a couple of months earlier this year in order to take care of her father, who has also developed AIDS.“I love my parents so much. They are drug addicts. But I never forget that they love me all the time.”

Liz wants moviegoers (who often see films) to come away with the idea that changing your life is“as simple as making a decision”.

In which order did the following things happen to Liz?

A．Her mother died of AIDS.                           B．She worked at a petrol station.

C．She got admitted into Harvard.                    D．The movie about her life was put on.

e. She had trouble finding a place to sleep.  

A．b, a, e, c, d     B．a, b, c, e, d      C．e, d, b, a, c        D．b, e, a, d, c

The main idea of the passage is ________.

A．how Liz managed to enter Harvard University

B．what a hard time Liz had in her childhood

C．why Liz loved her parents so much

D．how Liz struggled to change her life

What actually made her go towards her goal?

A．Envy and competition.                               B．Willpower and determination.

C．Decisions and understanding.                          D．Love and respect for her parents.

When she wrote“What drove me to live on...I had only experienced a small part of the society”, she meant that ________.

A．she had little experience of social life

B．she could hardly understand the society

C．she would do something for her own life

D．she needed to travel more around the world