Computers can help many workers. They can also help thieves.

There was one thief who worked in a bank of the United States. He paid for everything he needed by check (支票). Then he told the computer not to take any money from his account for the checks he wrote. The bank’s computer did what he said. And it did not take any money from his bank account. One day the computer broke down. People had to do the computer’s work. They soon found out what was happening.

Another thief, who worked for a bank saw people filling in deposit forms (存款单). Many of these people did not know their account numbers, so they wrote only their names on the forms. They left empty places for their account numbers. The thief wrote his own account number in this place. When the computer read these forms it looked only at the account numbers. It did not look at the customers’ names. It paid the money on these deposit forms into the thief’s account .                           

Then there was the bank worker who told the bank computer to take ten cents off every customer’s account each month and put it into his own account. For a long time the bank’s customers did not notice that they were losing ten cents every month. But then someone did notice and told the bank. That was the end of that little game!

1.What was the first thief?

A．A computer engineer.                    B．A customer.        C．A bank worker.  D．We don’t know.

2.How did the first thief steal money from the bank?

A．He broke the computer down and stole money from it.

B．He paid for everything by check instead of cash.

C．He took money away from the bank.

D．He told the computer not to take away money from his account.

3.How many kinds of crimes in a bank are mentioned?

A．Two.             B．Three.            C．Four.             D．Five.

4.What can we infer from the passage?

A．None of the thieves has been caught by the police up to now.

B．A lot of money is missing from the bank of the United States each year.

C．The computers in the bank will be changed to prevent money from being stolen.

D．There will be no crimes in the bank any more since so many crimes have been found out.

Computers can help many workers. They can also help thieves.
There was one thief who worked in a bank of the United States. He paid for everything he needed by check (支票). Then he told the computer not to take any money from his account for the checks he wrote. The bank’s computer did what he said. And it did not take any money from his bank account. One day the computer broke down. People had to do the computer’s work. They soon found out what was happening.
Another thief, who worked for a bank saw people filling in deposit forms (存款单). Many of these people did not know their account numbers, so they wrote only their names on the forms. They left empty places for their account numbers. The thief wrote his own account number in this place. When the computer read these forms it looked only at the account numbers. It did not look at the customers’ names. It paid the money on these deposit forms into the thief’s account .                           
Then there was the bank worker who told the bank computer to take ten cents off every customer’s account each month and put it into his own account. For a long time the bank’s customers did not notice that they were losing ten cents every month. But then someone did notice and told the bank. That was the end of that little game!
【小题1】What was the first thief?

Maybe you have seen this in schools: some students are Studying nearly all the time but they just pass their exams, while some others may spend much less time on their books but do much better in exams．How could this happen? People used to think that hard work is the only way to success．But now they have understood that smart work can make them succeed, too．

     Hard workers don't mind working for long hours, while smart workers always think of several different answers to these questions, "Why should I suffer this?  Isn't there a better way to do this?" Thanks to these people, we can use computers instead of the abacus now．Progress in every field is the direct result of "try to find a better way" by smart workers．

There was a large soap factory in Japan． Once it received an unusual letter from someone who complained that there was no soap in the soapbox he bought．

How could empty soapboxes go out of the factory? The engineers checked the producing and packing The producing was fine, but in about one in ten thousand cases, the packing machine （机器）let an empty soapbox go．There was no need to spend a lot of money repairing the machine for such a small problem．The engineer soon worked out a solution: he put a huge X-ray （X光射线） machine and two large computers to find out the empty soapboxes．After teaching the workers how to use it, he sat down in his seat, exhausted．

     "Sir, we could have solved the problems in a much simpler and cheaper way," a worker said．

     "Really? How? "

     "We can put a huge fan （风扇） near the packing machine． The wind coming from the fan will blow away the empty boxes, leaving the other boxes with soap．There would be no need for an X-ray machine, two computers, and operating by workers．"

     See, this is smart work． In order to succeed, we should not only work hard like the engineer, but also think smart like this worker．

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案。

1．Some students spend much less time on schoolwork but do much better in exams _______.

A．because of their hard work

B．because of different education

C．because they try to find a better way

D．because they study for a much longer time

2．Someone wrote to the soap factory and complained that _______.

A．the soapbox he bought was empty

B．their soap was too expensive

C．the soap he bought was terrible

D．their service was very bad

3．The soap factory could only _______ near the packing machine to solve the problems in a much simpler and cheaper way．

A．set some soapboxes

B．set an X-ray machine

C．put two large computers

D．put a huge fan

4．The phrase "blow away" here in Chinese means _______.

A．停止                   B．吹走                     C．熄灭                      D．逃脱

5．The article mainly tells us that we should _______ in order to succeed．

A．think of different answers to our questions

B．spend much less time on our schoolwork

C．work hard like the engineer and think smart like the worker

D．spend enough money repairing the machine for any problem

Once there was something wrong with a machine in a factory. The workers could do nothing but turn to a German engineer for help, who drew a line on it and then said, “Take off the part where the line is and change it for a new one.” The machine, with a new part on, began running well again. The engineer then asked for $30,000 for what he had done. The following were what he wrote on a bill, “The new part only costs one dollar, and knowing where the problem with the machine is costs $ 29,999.”　

One dollar for changing a new part sounds reasonable, but the $29,999 is exactly the value of wisdom and knowledge.

(46) The workers could do nothing but turn to a German engineer for help because __________.

A. they had nothing to do in the factory　　　　　

B. there were no other people in the factory

C. the workers could not repair the machine　

D. the workers asked for too much money for repairing the machine

(47) The problem of the machine __________.

A. was caused by the German engineer　　　　　　　　 B. was found and solved by the workers

C. took the engineer a long time to find D. was easy for the German engineer

(48) According to the engineer, the finding of the problem cost ________.

A. only one dollar B. $29,999

C. nothing D. less than the new part
(49) The writer wants to tell us that ________.

A. the engineer asked for too much money

B. the workers should pay the money

C. the knowledge is worth more money

D. the new part could cost more

(50) What is worth only one dollar?

A. A line. 　B. A new part.　　 　 C. Wisdom.　　　　　　　　 D. Knowledge.

People at home keep asking me, "Is it hard to learn Chinese? Why have you learned it so well?" Well, there's one thing that makes Chinese easy to learn: there are so many people to talk to. You've probably heard that it's the most spoken language. Today it's also one of the most written languages online. And with so many Chinese people interested in learning English, it couldn't be easier to find a friend for language learning. You just have to know where to look for them.
?? The really good place to look for them is QQ. QQ has the same status(地位) in China as AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) does in the US. It is reported that at any moment, up to 9,000,000 people are using QQ. They're at work, or in a web café(网吧), or at home, and the information of the users can be found. If you sign on with your address set to "abroad", you'll soon find that many thousands of them are interested in speaking to you! This is a great way for you to learn Chinese, and for them to learn English. I think that it's a very interesting way of cultural contact(文化交流), too, for ordinary people from around the world to be able to have one-on-one contact.

1.In the first paragraph(段落), the writer tells us ___________.

A. why his family members want to learn Chinese

B. where you can find people to talk to for language learning

C. the easiest thing to do is learning Chinese

D. Chinese isn’t so hard to learn as his friends think

2.From the second paragraph we know that QQ and AIM are __________.

A. addresses for the Internet users????????????? ????????????? ??? B. documents you need to get online

C. tools for people to talk online ????????????? ??????? D. programs of a computer?????????????

3.Offices, web cafes and homes ____________.

A. attract the most people to learn Chinese

B. provide both QQ and AIM in China

C. are the best places for English learners????????????? ?

D. have the most people online

4.The writer wrote this passage mainly to __________.

A. tell a way of learning Chinese?????????????

B. show what the Chinese people are doing

C. tell the important of learning Chinese?????????????

D. show the difference between AIM and QQ

5.The writer of this passage is probably ___________.

A. a Chinese who works abroad????????????? ????????????? ????? B. an expert who works at home

C. an American who works in China????????????? ????? D. a salesman who sells soft wares