19."Indeed,"George Washington wrote in his diary in 1785,"some kind of fly,or bug,had begun to eat the leaves before I left home."But the father of America was not the father of bug.When Washington wrote that,Englishmen had been referring to insects as bugs for more than a century,and Americans had already created lightning-bug(螢火蟲).But the English were soon to stop using the bugs in their language,leaving it to the Americans to call a bug a bug in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The American bug could also be a person,referring to someone who was crazy about a particular activity.Although fan became the usual term,sports fans used to be called racing bugs,baseball bugs,and the like.
Or the bug could be a small machine or object,for example,a bug-shaped car.The bug could also be a burglar alarm,from which comes the expression to bug,that is,"to install (安裝) an alarm".Now it means a small piece of equipment that people use for listening secretly to others'conversation.Since the 1840s,to bug has long meant"to cheat",and since the 1940s it has been annoying.
We also know the bug as a flaw in a computer program or other design.That meaning dates back to the time of Thomas Edison.In 1878he explained bugs as"little problems and difficulties"that required months of study and labor to overcome in developing a successful product.In 1889it was recorded that Edison"had been up the two previous nights discovering‘a bug'in his invented record player."
33.We learn from Paragraph 1thatD.
A.Americans had difficulty in learning to use the word bug
B.George Washington was the first person to call an insect a bug
C.the word bug was still popularly used in England in the nineteenth century
D.both Englishman and Americans used the word bug in the eighteenth century
34.What does the word"flaw"in the last paragraph probably mean?D
A.Explanation.
B.Finding.
C.Origin.
D.Fault.
35.The passage is mainly concerned withB.
A.the misunderstanding of the word bug
B.the development of the word bug
C.the public views of the word bug
D.the special characteristics of the word bug.
分析 本文是一篇說明文.主要介紹了bug一詞的不同含義及發展過程.
解答 33.D 細節理解題.根據第一段的George Washington wrote in his diary in 1785,"somekind of fly,or bug…When Washington wrote that,Englishmen had been referring to insects as bugs formore than a century可知,華盛頓在1785年用到這個詞匯,華盛頓在18世紀用到這個詞的時候,英國人已經使用該詞一個多世紀了,由此可知,18世紀時,兩個國家都在使用這個詞,故D項正確.文章并未提到美國人在學習使用bug方面存在困難,排除A項;英國人在華盛頓使用該詞之前已經用過這個詞了,根據第一段中的"But the father of America was not the father ofbug."排除B項;根據第一段最后一句可排除C項.故選D.
34.D 詞義猜測題.根據最后一段中的That meaning dates back to the time of ThomasEdison.In 1878 he explained bugs as"little problems and difficulties可知,這個單詞用來說明電腦出現故障.A項意為"解釋";B項意為"發現";C項意為"來源";D項意為"故障;缺陷".故選D.
35.B主旨大意題.根據全文內容可知,文章主要向我們介紹了bug一詞的發展過程以及不同含義,故B項符合文章主旨.A項意為"對bug一詞的誤解";C項意為"大眾對bug一詞的看法";D項意為"bug一詞的特殊之處",均不能概括出全文內容.故選B.
點評 本文主要考查細節理解題和推理判斷題.在做細節理解題時,首先根據題目要求迅速在文章里找出相應的段落、句子或短語.認真比較選項和文中細節的區別,在做推理判斷題時不要以個人的主觀想象代替文章的事實,要根據文章事實進行合乎邏輯的推理判斷.