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 _______.

A. When the Computer Is Down         B. The Most Frightening Words

C. The Computer of the Airport           D. Asking the Computer

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

A. She could sell a ticket.                    B. She could write out a ticket.

C. She could answer the passengers’ questions.   D. She could do nothing.

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

A. Because it was easy down              B. Because it was very expensive.

C. Because it was not advanced enough.     D. Because it was not as big as the main computer.

4.The last paragraph suggests that _______.

A. a modern computer won’t be down.   

B. computers can take the place of humans

C. sometimes a computer may bring suffering to people  

D. there will be great changes in computers

 

-----Hi, Peter. Long time no see.

-----Oh, it’s you, Jack. I’m sorry I didn’t ________you at first.

A．know

B．recognize

C．remember

D．realize

 

–I’m sorry I lost your pen, Charlie.

--Oh, _________? That’s all right.

A．yes

B．really

C．sorry

D．sure

 

根据汉语或首字母提示完成单词拼写,要求语法正确，句子意义连贯。

1. The __________ (热心的)fans waited in the rain until their favourite star arrived at the airport.

2. The girl used to be          (尴尬、难堪)in public places, but now she can even make a speech in front of hundreds of people.

3.I’m sorry I ___________(误会)you. I thought what you said referred to me.

4.__________(严格)speaking, your handwriting is not so good in your composition.   

5.Our _________(以前的)English teacher is nothing like the present teacher in the senior high school.

6.I don’t think g____________ is more difficult to learn than chemistry.

7. If you have a d           of a famous university, it is easier for you to find a good job.

8.We are now living in the age of i         ,so we must learn to use the Internet?

9.Young people are always e        , in other words, they are full of life.

10.I will a           it if you help me when I am in trouble.

 

根据以下各句所给的首字母或汉语提示，用单词的正确形式填空，并将其写在答题卷上。

1.It was quite terrible. It took me some time to c___________ down myself.

2.Parents are always c_____________ much about their children.

3.I'm terribly sorry. I didn't do it on p__________.

4.It took her a long while to r___________ from her heart operation.

5.The children played ____________ (在户外)until it started to rain.

6.After the war, a new g_______________ was set up for that country.

7.The people p__________ at the meeting were all for the suggestion.

8.The ball went in the d_______________ of the man sitting in a boat on the river.

9.At the party a foreign teacher was r______________(要求) to sing some folk songs.

10.He was a young sailor on his first sea v______________.

11.The mother i_________ that he finish his homework first, which made his son very angry.

12.Whether you will succeed or not in doing the work depends on your a________ to it.

13.This song sounds f_____________ to me. I must have heard it sung somewhere before.

14.She ________________ (毕业)from Peking University last year.

15.The speech contest was o______________ well.

16.When she heard the news that her husband was killed in the accident, she b_______ into tears.

17.After the earthquake, the whole city was in r_________.

18.J_______ from his accent, we know he comes from the west.

19.Prices have _____________ (上涨) quickly.

20.The building was completely ______________(摧毁) by fire.