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 your 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 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 line. 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 does the underlined words“ backup computer” probably mean?
A. A computer that will be brought back soon.
B.A second-hand computer that is still in use.
C. An advanced computer that never breaks down..
D. A computer ready for use when the main one does not work.
3. The last paragraph implies 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
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Directions: Read the following text and choose the most suitable heading from A—F for each paragraph. There is one extra heading which you do not need.
| Do established musicians have a responsibility to guide and assist young up-and–coming musicians? Did anyone promote your musical education when you were growing up? What kind of “world music” do you enjoy? What’s your comment on pop music? Does the contemporary music press give jazz the coverage it deserves? What’s wrong with the music on the radio? |
An interview with Wynton Marsalis, a noted jazz musician
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