Question

【题目】 Back in November 1988, Robert Tappan Morris was a 20-something graduate student at Cornell who wanted to know how big the Internet was- that is, how many computers were connected to it. So he wrote a program that would travel from computer to computer and ask each machine to send a signal back to a control server, which would keep count. That was how the world’s first cyber (网络) attack set the stage for modern cyber security challenges.

The program worked well. Morris had known that if it traveled too fast there might be problems, but the limits he built in weren’t enough to keep the program from blocking up large sections of the Internet, both copying itself to new machines and sending those pings (电子脉冲) back, When he realized what was happening, even his messages warning system administrators about the problem couldn’t get through. Large numbers of Internet-connected computers are told to send lots of traffic to one particular address, overloading it with so much activity that either the system shuts down or its network connections are completely blocked. Morris’s program is now known as the “Morris worm”.

Worms and viruses are similar, but different in one key way: A virus needs a command, from a user or a hacker (黑客), to run its program. A worm, by contrast, hits the ground running all on its own. For example. even if you never open your email program, a worm that gets onto your computer might email a copy of itself to everyone in your address book.

In a time when few people were concerned about harmful software and nobody had protective software in his computer, the Morris worm spread quickly. It took 72 hours for researchers at Purdue and Berkeley to stop the worm. It affected tens of thousands of systems, Cleaning up the infection cost hundreds or thousands of dollars for each affected machine.

Morris wasn’t trying to destroy the Internet, but he was sentenced t0 three years of probation (缓刑) and a roughly US $ 10.000 fine. In the late 1990s, though. he became a dot-com millionaire- and is now a professor at MIT.

【1】What is Morris’s intention 1o write the program known now as the “Morris worm”?

A.To test the effect of protective software.

B.To start a harmful attack on the Internet.

C.To see how well a program can work on the Internet.

D.To get the number of the computers connected to the Internet.

【2】What is the second paragraph mainly about?

A.What loss the problem caused.

B.How the problem was dealt with.

C.How the unexpected problem came about.

D.What Morris did to prevent the problem from expanding.

【3】What does the underlined part “hits the ground” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A.Copies itself.B.Gets on the Internet.

C.Gets the user’s command.D.Copies your email address book.

【4】What happened to Morris after the attack?

A.He was punished for it.B.He invented a protective software.

C.He got help from a millionaire.D.He was asked to clear up the Internet.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】D

【2】C

【3】B

【4】A

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文。主要说明了1988年11月，Robert Tappan Morris还是康奈尔大学一名20多岁的研究生，他想知道互联网有多大，也就是有多少台电脑连接到互联网上，于是编写了一个程序最终意外导致了系统关闭或其网络连接被完全阻塞，形成了“Morris蠕虫”，影响了数以万计的系统。Morris也被处罚。

【1】细节理解题。根据第一段中Back in November 1988, Robert Tappan Morris was a 20-something graduate student at Cornell who wanted to know how big the Internet was- that is, how many computers were connected to it.可知1988年11月，Robert Tappan Morris还是康奈尔大学一名20多岁的研究生，他想知道互联网有多大，也就是有多少台电脑连接到互联网上。由此可知，Morris编写现在称为“Morris蠕虫”的程序的目的是获得连接到互联网的计算机数量。故选D。

【2】主旨大意题。根据第二段中Large numbers of Internet-connected computers are told to send lots of traffic to one particular address, overloading it with so much activity that either the system shuts down or its network connections are completely blocked.可知大量连接互联网的计算机被告知要向一个特定的地址发送大量的通信量，这会使该地址过载，导致系统关闭或其网络连接完全被阻塞。由此可知，该段主要讲述的是Morris的程序是如何意外造成网络攻击的。故选C。

【3】词义猜测题。根据上文A virus needs a command, from a user or a hacker, to run its program. A worm, by contrast可知病毒需要来自用户或黑客的命令才能运行其程序。而蠕虫则是相反它不需要命令就能自动运行，蠕虫一旦进入网络就会自己运行，所以hits the ground应理解为“进入网络”。故选B。

【4】细节理解题。根据最后一段中Morris wasn’t trying to destroy the Internet, but he was sentenced t0 three years of probation (缓刑) and a roughly US $ 10.000 fine.可知Morris并没有试图破坏互联网，但他被判处三年缓刑和大约一万美元的罚款。由此可知，袭击后，Morris为此受到惩罚。故选A。