Question

【題目】 Back in November 1988, Robert Tappan Morris was a 20-something graduate student at Cornell who wanted to know how big the Internet was- that is, how many computers were connected to it. So he wrote a program that would travel from computer to computer and ask each machine to send a signal back to a control server, which would keep count. That was how the world’s first cyber (網(wǎng)絡(luò)) attack set the stage for modern cyber security challenges.

The program worked well. Morris had known that if it traveled too fast there might be problems, but the limits he built in weren’t enough to keep the program from blocking up large sections of the Internet, both copying itself to new machines and sending those pings (電子脈沖) back, When he realized what was happening, even his messages warning system administrators about the problem couldn’t get through. Large numbers of Internet-connected computers are told to send lots of traffic to one particular address, overloading it with so much activity that either the system shuts down or its network connections are completely blocked. Morris’s program is now known as the “Morris worm”.

Worms and viruses are similar, but different in one key way: A virus needs a command, from a user or a hacker (黑客), to run its program. A worm, by contrast, hits the ground running all on its own. For example. even if you never open your email program, a worm that gets onto your computer might email a copy of itself to everyone in your address book.

In a time when few people were concerned about harmful software and nobody had protective software in his computer, the Morris worm spread quickly. It took 72 hours for researchers at Purdue and Berkeley to stop the worm. It affected tens of thousands of systems, Cleaning up the infection cost hundreds or thousands of dollars for each affected machine.

Morris wasn’t trying to destroy the Internet, but he was sentenced t0 three years of probation (緩刑) and a roughly US $ 10.000 fine. In the late 1990s, though. he became a dot-com millionaire- and is now a professor at MIT.

【1】What is Morris’s intention 1o write the program known now as the “Morris worm”?

A.To test the effect of protective software.

B.To start a harmful attack on the Internet.

C.To see how well a program can work on the Internet.

D.To get the number of the computers connected to the Internet.

【2】What is the second paragraph mainly about?

A.What loss the problem caused.

B.How the problem was dealt with.

C.How the unexpected problem came about.

D.What Morris did to prevent the problem from expanding.

【3】What does the underlined part “hits the ground” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A.Copies itself.B.Gets on the Internet.

C.Gets the user’s command.D.Copies your email address book.

【4】What happened to Morris after the attack?

A.He was punished for it.B.He invented a protective software.

C.He got help from a millionaire.D.He was asked to clear up the Internet.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】D

【2】C

【3】B

【4】A

【解析】

本文是一篇說明文。主要說明了1988年11月，Robert Tappan Morris還是康奈爾大學(xué)一名20多歲的研究生，他想知道互聯(lián)網(wǎng)有多大，也就是有多少臺電腦連接到互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上，于是編寫了一個程序最終意外導(dǎo)致了系統(tǒng)關(guān)閉或其網(wǎng)絡(luò)連接被完全阻塞，形成了“Morris蠕蟲”，影響了數(shù)以萬計的系統(tǒng)。Morris也被處罰。

【1】細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第一段中Back in November 1988, Robert Tappan Morris was a 20-something graduate student at Cornell who wanted to know how big the Internet was- that is, how many computers were connected to it.可知1988年11月，Robert Tappan Morris還是康奈爾大學(xué)一名20多歲的研究生，他想知道互聯(lián)網(wǎng)有多大，也就是有多少臺電腦連接到互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上。由此可知，Morris編寫現(xiàn)在稱為“Morris蠕蟲”的程序的目的是獲得連接到互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的計算機數(shù)量。故選D。

【2】主旨大意題。根據(jù)第二段中Large numbers of Internet-connected computers are told to send lots of traffic to one particular address, overloading it with so much activity that either the system shuts down or its network connections are completely blocked.可知大量連接互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的計算機被告知要向一個特定的地址發(fā)送大量的通信量，這會使該地址過載，導(dǎo)致系統(tǒng)關(guān)閉或其網(wǎng)絡(luò)連接完全被阻塞。由此可知，該段主要講述的是Morris的程序是如何意外造成網(wǎng)絡(luò)攻擊的。故選C。

【3】詞義猜測題。根據(jù)上文A virus needs a command, from a user or a hacker, to run its program. A worm, by contrast可知病毒需要來自用戶或黑客的命令才能運行其程序。而蠕蟲則是相反它不需要命令就能自動運行，蠕蟲一旦進入網(wǎng)絡(luò)就會自己運行，所以hits the ground應(yīng)理解為“進入網(wǎng)絡(luò)”。故選B。

【4】細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)最后一段中Morris wasn’t trying to destroy the Internet, but he was sentenced t0 three years of probation (緩刑) and a roughly US $ 10.000 fine.可知Morris并沒有試圖破壞互聯(lián)網(wǎng)，但他被判處三年緩刑和大約一萬美元的罰款。由此可知，襲擊后，Morris為此受到懲罰。故選A。