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 computer and every passenger was just standing there thinking 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 right. sir. “ “How long will the computer be down?”1 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 that they had no backup computer，and that it was the only computer they had，I said. “Let’s forget the computer. What about your planes? They're still flying aren't they?" “I couldn’t tell you 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 “I wouldn’t know. “she said，pointing at the dark screen. "only 'it' By this time there were quite a few people standing in lines that the computer was down Some people went white，some people started to cry and still others kicked their luggage. 56 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 57. What could the girl in the ticket office do for the passengers without asking the 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. 58. What does the underlined word “backup” mean in the passage? It means A. expensive B. extra C. advanced D cheap 59 The last paragraph suggests that A. a modem computer will never be down B. a computer irlay bring suffering to people C. computers can take the place of humans D there will be great changes in computers
