It is 3A.M. Everything on the university campus seems ghostlike in the quiet, misty darkness - everything except the computer center. Here, twenty students rumpled and bleary-eyed, sit transfixed at their consoles, tapping away on the terminal keys. With eyes glued to the video screen, they tap on for hours. For the rest of the world, it might be the middle of the night, but here time does not exist. This is a world unto itself. These young computer ""hackers"" are pursuing a kind of compulsion, a drive so consuming it overshadows nearly every other part of their lives and forms the focal point of their existence. They are compulsive computer programmers. Some of these students have been at the console for thirty hours or more without a break for meals or sleep. Some have fallen asleep on sofas and lounge chairs in the computer center, trying to catch a few winks but loathe to get too far away from their beloved machines.

Most of these students don''t have to be at the computer center in the middle of the night. They aren''t working on assignments. They are there because they want to be - they are irresistibly drawn there.

And they are not alone. There are hackers at computer centers all across the country. In their extreme form, they focus on nothing else. They flunk out of school and lose contact with friends; they might have difficulty finding jobs, choosing instead to wander from one computer center to another. They may even forgo personal hygiene.

""I remember one hacker. We literally had to carry him off his chair to feed him and put him to sleep. We really feared for his health,"" says a computer science professor at MIT.

Computer science teachers are now more aware of the implications of this hacker phenomenon and are on the lookout for potential hackers an d cases of computer addiction that are already severe. They know that the case of the hackers is not just the story of one person''s relationship with a machine. It is the story of a society''s relationship to the so-called thinking machines, which are becoming almost ubiquitous.

06. We can learn from the passage that those at the computer center in the middle of the night are ____.
A. students working on a program
B. students using computers to amuse themselves
C. hard-working computer science majors
D. students deeply fascinated by the computer

07. Which of the following is NOT true of those young computer ""hackers""?
A. Most of them are top students majoring in computer programming.
B. For them, computer programming is the sole purpose for their life.
C. They can stay with the computer at the center for nearly three days on end.
D. Their ""love"" for the computer is so deep that they want to be near their machines even when they sleep.

08. It can be reasonably inferred from the passage that ____.
A. the ""hacker"" phenomenon exists only at university computer centers
B. university computer centers are open to almost everyone
C. university computer centers are expecting outstanding programmers out of the ""hackers""
D. the ""hacker"" phenomenon is partly attributable to the deficiency of the computer centers

09. The author''s attitude towards the ""hacker"" phenomenon can be described as ____.
A. affirmative
B. contemptuous
C. anxious
D. disgusted

10. Which of the following may be a most appropriate title for the passage?
A. The Charm of Computer Science
B. A New Type of Electronic Toys
C. Compulsive Computer Programmers
D. Computer Addicts

答案：DABCD