ThemostfrighteningwordsintheEnglishlanguageare,“Ourcomputerisdown.”Youhearitmoreandmorewhenyouareinbusiness.TheotherdayIwasattheairportwaitingforatickettoWashingtonandthegirlintheticketofficesaid,“I’msorry,Ican’tsellyouaticket.Ourcomputerisdown.”“Ifyourcomputerisdown,justwritemeoutaticket.”“Ican’twriteyououtaticket.Thecomputeristheonlyoneallowedtodoso.”Ilookeddownthecounterandeverypassengerwasjuststandingtheredrinkingcoffeeandstaringattheblackscreen.ThenIaskedher,“Whatdoyoudo?”“Wegivethecomputertheinformationaboutyourtrip,andittellsuswhetheryoucanflywithusornot.”“Sowhenitgoesdown,yougodownwithit.”“That’sright,sir.”“Howlongwillthecomputerbedown?”Iwantedtoknow.“Ihavenoidea.Sometimesit’sdownfor10minutes,sometimesfortwohours.Thereisnowaywecanfindoutwithoutaskingthecomputer,andsinceit’sdownitwon'tanswerus.”Afterthegirltoldmetheyhadnobackup(备用的)computers.Isaid,“Let’sforgetthecomputer.Whataboutyourplanes?They’restillflying,aren’tthey?”“Icouldn'ttellwithoutaskingthecomputer.”“MaybeIcouldjustgotothegateandaskthepilotthehe’sflyingtoWashington.”Isuggested.“Iwouldn'tknowwhatgatetosentyouto.EvenifthepilotwasgoingtoWashington,hecouldn'ttakeyouifyoudidn'thaveaticket.”“IsthereanyotherflighttoWashingtonwithinthenextfewhours?”“Iwouldn'tknow,”shesaid,pointingatthedarkscreen.“Only'IT’knows.'IT’cantellme.”Bythistimetherewerequietafewpeoplestandinginline.Thewordspreadtoothertravelersthatthecomputerwasdown.Somepeopleleft,somepeoplestartedtocryandstillotherskickedluggage.在英语语言中最可怕的话是：“我们的电脑出故障了。”当你在进行业务时，你听到这话越来越多了。有一天，我在机场候买去华盛顿的机票，售票处里的女孩说，“对不起，我无法给你出票。我们的电脑出故障了。”“如果您的电脑出故障了，我手写一张票吧。”“我无法手写给你。只有电脑是唯一允许这样操作的。”我低头扫视了柜台，每个乘客只是站在那里喝着咖啡，盯着黑色屏幕。然后我问她：“那你做什么呢？”“我们把你的旅行信息输入电脑，它会告诉我们您是否能飞或不能。”“所以，当电脑出现故障，你和电脑一起停工。”“没错，先生。”“电脑出故障会有多长时间？”我想知道。“我不知道。有时停10分钟，有时停两个小时。除了问电脑我们没有其他办法知道，因为它出故障也就不会回答我们。”女孩告诉我他们没有备用的电脑之后。我说：“让我们忘掉电脑。那么你们的飞机怎么样了？它们是不是还在飞行呢？”“不问电脑我无法告诉你。”“也许我只能走向大门，去问飞向华盛顿的飞行员。”我建议。“我不知道你该进什么大门。即使飞行员要飞华盛顿，如果你没有机票，他也不能带上你。”“在未来几个小时里，还有没有其他飞往华盛顿的航班？”“我不知道，”她指着黑色屏幕说。“只有'它’知道。只有'它’能告诉我。”到这时候还有相当一部份人在排队。电脑出故障这个词传播到其余旅客。有些人离开，有些人哭了起来，还有一些人踢行李。P321(2)Almosteveryfamilybuysatleastonecopyofanewspapereveryday.Somepeoplehaveasmanyastwoorthreedifferentnewspapers.Butwhydopeoplereadnewspapers?Fivehundredyearsago,newsofimportanthappenings,battleslostandwon,kingsorrulersoverthrown(推翻)orkilledtookmonthsandevenyearstotravelfromonecountrytoanother.Thenewspassedbywordsofmouth.Todaywecanreadinournewspapersofimportantthingsthathappeninfarawaycountriesonthesameday.Besidesgivingnewsfromallovertheworld,newspaperstellusalotofotherusefulinformation.Thereareweatherreports,radio,televisionandfilmguides,bookreviews,stories,andofcourse,advertisements(广告).Thereareallkindsofadvertisements.Theypaythenewspapersthousandso...
