《2025年启东中学作业本八年级英语下册译林版宿迁专版》

五、阅读表达。
阅读下面短文，用英语回答短文后的问题。
The most frightening words in the English language are，“Our computer is down. ” You hear it more and more often 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 at 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. ” “Yes，sir. ”
“How long will the computer be down?” I wanted to know.
“I have no idea. Sometimes it’s down for 10 minutes，and sometimes it’s down 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 would go 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 travellers that the computer was down. Some people went white，some people started to cry and still others kicked their own bags.
1. Where was the writer that day?
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2. Which city did the writer want to visit?
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3. What does the sentence “The computer is down” mean in English?
______________________________

答案： 1. At the airport.
2. Washington.
3. The computer does not work.