Passage Three

More and more, the operations of our businesses, governments, and financial institutions are
controlled by information that exists only inside computer memories. Anyone clever enough to modify this information for his own purposes can reap substantial rewards. Even worse, a number of people who have done this and been caught at it have managed to get away without
punishment.
  It’s easy for computer crimes to go undetected if no one checks up on what the computer is
doing. But even if the crime is detected, the criminal may walk away not only unpunished but with a glowing recommendation from his former employers.
  Of course, we have no statistics on crimes that go undetected. But it’s disturbing to note how many of the crimes we do know about were detected by accident, not by systematic inspections or other security procedures. The computer criminals who have been caught may be the victims of uncommonly bad luck.
  For example, a certain keypunch operator complained of having to stay overtime to punch
extra cards. Investigation revealed that the extra cards she was being asked to punch were for
dishonest transactions. In another case, dissatisfied employees of the thief tipped off (向……透露) the company that was being robbed.
  Unlike other lawbreakers, who must leave the country, commit suicide, or go to jail,
computer criminals sometimes escape punishment, demanding not only that they not be charged but that they be given good recommendations and perhaps other benefits. All too often, their demands have been met.
  Why? Because company executives are afraid of the bad publicity that would result if the
public found out that their computer had been misused. They hesitate at the thought of a criminal boasting in open court of how he juggled (耍弄) the most confidential records right under the noses of the company’s executives, accountants, and security staff. And so another computer criminal departs with just the recommendations he needs to continue his crimes elsewhere.

51. It can be concluded from the passage that ______.
A) it is still impossible to detect computer crimes today.
B) computer crimes are the most serious problem in the operation of financial institutions.
C) computer criminals can escape punishment because they can’t be detected.
D) people commit computer crimes at the request their company.
52. It is implied in the third paragraph that ______.
A) many more computer crimes go undetected than are discovered.
B) the rapid increase of computer crimes is a troublesome problem.
C) most computer criminals are smart enough to cover up their crimes.
D) most computer criminals who are caught blame their bad luck.
55. The passage is mainly about ______.
A) why computer crimes are difficult to detect by systematic inspections.
B) why computer criminals are often able to escape punishment.
C) how computer criminals manage to get good recommendation from their former employers.
D) why computer crimes can’t be eliminated.

Passage Four
Being the first black woman elected to Congress has made me some kind of phenomenon.
There are nine other blacks in Congress; there are ten other women. I was the first to overcome
both handicaps at once. Of the two handicaps, being black is much less of a drawback than being female.
  If I said that being black is a greater handicap than being a woman, probably no one would
question me. Why? Because “we all know” there is prejudice against black people in America.
  That there is prejudice against women is an idea that still strikes nearly all men—and, I am afraid, most women—as bizarre (异乎寻常的).
  Prejudice against blacks was invisible to most white Americans for many years. When blacks
finally started to “mention” it, with sit-ins, boycotts (抵制), and freedom rides, Americans were incredulous. “Who, us?” they asked in injured tones. “We're prejudiced?” It was the start of a long, painful reeducation for white America. It will take years for whites—including those who think of themselves as liberals—to discover and eliminate the racist attitudes they all actually have.
  How much harder will it be to eliminate the prejudice against women? I am sure it will be a
longer struggle. Part of the problem is that women in America are much more brainwashed (被洗脑的) and content with their roles as second-class citizens than blacks ever were.
  Let me explain. I have been active in politics for more than twenty years. For all but the last
six, I have done the work—all the tedious details that make the difference between victory and
defeat on election day—while men reaped the rewards, which is almost invariably the lot of
women in politics.
  It is still women—about three million volunteers—who do most of this work in the American political world. The best any of them can hope for is the honor of being district or county vice-chairman, a kind of separate-but-equal position with which a woman is rewarded for years of faithful envelope stuffing and card party organizing. In such a job, she gets a number of free trips to state and sometimes national meetings and conventions, where her role is supposed to be to vote the way her male chairman votes.
  When I tried to break out of that role in 1963 and run for the New York State Assembly seat
from Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant, the resistance was bitter. From the start of that campaign, I faced undisguised (不加掩饰的) hostility because of my sex.
  But it was four years later, when I ran for Congress that the question of my sex became a
major issue. Among members of my own party, closed meetings were held to discuss ways of
stopping me.
  Women have not even reached the level of tokenism (象征主义) that blacks are reaching. No
women sit on the Supreme Court. Only two have held Cabinet rank, and none do at present. Only two women hold ambassadorial (大使的) rank. But women predominate in the lower-paying, menial (仆人), unrewarding, dead end jobs, and when they do reach better positions, they are invariably paid less than a man gets for the same job.
  If that is not prejudice, what would you call it?

56. The author writes this passage mainly to ________.
A) talk about American political system
B) argue against the inequality between men and women
C) tell of her experience of being elected to Congress
D) criticize the racial prejudice in America
57. According to the author, being a woman is a greater drawback than being a black because
________.
A) there is no more prejudice against black people in America
B) sex prejudice is deeply rooted in people's minds
C) not many women show interest in politics
D) women are not as well educated as men
58. The phrase “that role” (Line 1, Para. 7) most probably refers to ________.
A) being a woman politician who keeps a separate but equal position
B) being an office secretary that stuffs envelopes and organizes card parties
C) being a voluntary worker in the election campaign
D) being a second-class citizen that is supposed to have no prospects of political success
59. According to the passage, the author was most probably ________ before she was elected to the Congress?
A) a county vice chair women
B) a housewife
C) a member of the New York State Assembly
D) an ambassador
60. We can learn from the last paragraph that ________.
A) prejudice against the blacks has been eliminated
B) racial discrimination is a very serious social problem
C) to eliminate prejudice against women is still a long struggle
D) to run for high-rank positions is very difficult for women

上一页2345下一页