—It’s such a beautiful day． Why not have a picnic with us?

    —_____． But I have a lot of homework to do．

    A． Don’t mention it                                 B． It’s up to you

    C． I have no time                      D． I’d love to

 

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.
【小题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

【小题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.

【小题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.

【小题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

—I'll be away on a business trip. Would you mind looking after my cat?

—Not at all.________.

A.I have no time                          B.I'd rather not

C.I'd like it                                    D.I'd be happy to

 

In the age of reality television, success isn’t the only way to the public eye. Failure can also create fame, just like William Hung, 21, a native of Hong Kong.

Hung recently has made an agreement with US-based entertainment firms Koch Records and Fuse Music Network. They will publish a full-length record, titled “The True Idol” on April 6.

The idol is a civil engineering student at the University of California at Berkeley. He did a version（改写本）of Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs” on the television show “American Idol 3”, on January 27. The Fox TV singing contest searches for pop stars among ordinary people. In the case of Hung, however, his act was so bad that the judges cut him off in mid-act.

Hung’s response? “I already gave my best, so I have no regrets at all.” That’s good, because any common person would have found plenty to regret: the off-key singing; the blue Hawaiian shirt worn with pants pulled up too high; the terrible dancing; the hips jerking（摇摆）to a beat that did not belong to the song, maybe not even to this planet. It was, by all accounts, bad. But, it was this very bad act that sold well.

Marc Juris, president of Fuse, explained it this way: “Every one of us is happily guilty of singing our favorite song at the top of our lungs with complete freedom, completely off-key and completely unworried. That’s what William did and immediately won the hearts of America. ”

Whatever it is, for the moment it’s big. Three websites devoted to Hung have gone up on the Internet in the past few weeks. Versions of his performance have been remixed with hip hop and techno music and have made it to the top 10 request list at a Chicago radio station.

So, what does Hung think of this?

“There were all these people saying things about me. A lot were saying I was very courageous and that I was great on the show, but some didn’t have much respect for me and some were kind of mean ”

Now, he says he’s not so sure whether to distance himself from the glamour（魅力）or to accept it. Returning to normal hasn’t been easy.

What is the main idea of this passage?

       A．Sometimes an idol behaves quite foolishly.

       B．Hung’s performance attracted the public eye.

       C．How an unsuccessful person became famous.

       D．Success sometimes does not require hard work.

Hung was popular in America for all the following reasons EXCEPT ________.

       A．his shirt and pants           B．his off-key singing

       C．his hips jerking        D．his excellent version

What does the underlined word “it” in paragraph 6 refer to?

       A．William Hung.        B．Hung’s bad act.

       C．Hung’s website.              D．The public’s opinion.

Which of the following shows the correct order of what happened to Hung?

       a．The entertainment firms made an agreement with Hung.

       b．The judges cut Hung off in mid-act in the singing contest.

       c．Hung became popular among Americans.

       d．Hung gave a terrible performance though he tried his best.

       e．Three websites put Hung’s funny performance on the Internet.

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

Why was Hung able to win the hearts of America?

       A．His success was based on his own hard work.

       B．He attracted people’s attention in the contest.

       C．He was good-looking though he didn’t sing well.

       D．His character was completely different from other idols”

I have no dreams ____ to have a happy life.

A. rather than  B. more than   C. other than    D. less than