阅读理解。
Look! There are thousands of people waiting to buy tickets home in the railway station. Each time when
Spring Festival comes, buying tickets of train trip would be very hard. And things seem to be getting worse and
worse, although we have greatly increased the mileage of railway network and speeded up trains. Why? It's
because too many people want to go back home to spend Spring Festival with their family. Many people become
angry with the Ministry (部) of Railways. They wonder why it is hopeless for them to get the tickets from the
railway station. Instead, they sometimes can only buy them from ticket scalpers at much higher price.
The Ministry of Railways estimated (估计) that about 188 million passengers would travel by train during
the 40-day peak period surrounding the 2009 Spring Festival holiday. The number of travelers will be 8% higher
than that of 2008. This problem even drew the President Hu Jintao's attention. He wrote a note to Liu Zhijun,
Minister of the Ministry of Railways, asking him to ensure a "smooth and safe" transportation and brainstorm
(集思广益) for measures (对策) to improve passenger convenience and make them all public. Afterward,
officials from the Ministry of Railways said they would try their best not to let any ticket-buyers spend Spring
Festival at the railway station.
1. What does the underlined word "scalper" in the first paragraph mean?
A．代售点
B．商贩
C．票贩
D．赌徒
2. Many people can't buy the tickets from the railway station,and they sometimes can only buy them from the
scalpers_________ .
A．expensively
B．fortunately
C．dangerously
D．hardly
3. How many people took the train trip during the peak period surrounding the 2008 Spring Festival holiday?
A．About 203 million.
B．About 188 million.
C．About 180 million.
D．About 174 million.
4. What does the passage mainly tell us?
A．People go home much more easily during the Spring Festival.
B．It is very hard to buy tickets in the railway station during the Spring Festival.
C．President Hu Jintao cares about the railway building problem.
D．The Ministry of Railways felt sorry about the problem.
