Back in the early 1990s, I knew little about computers beyond what it took to get through a working day. But here’s what I did know: something huge was happening. It was stirring economies and imaginations and possibilities like nothing I had ever known. I knew the world was changing in ways that meant I shouldn’t count on old assumptions. And I knew I had dreams I still hadn’t fulfilled. But I didn’t know how to realize them until I met with my old friend, Rolly Rouse, when we happened to move into the same neighborhood.
Rolly often called me with a stream of ideas. His rate of idea production per second seemed almost incredible. Soon we were on the phone with each other every day. Talking about the Internet. Talking about starting a new online company—maybe together.
He was then developing a plan and he wanted me to be a part of it: we would give people wonderful, whole electronic houses on a CD-ROM and let them modify those homes to their own needs. Try out different windows and doors, different paint colors and furnishings. When they were satisfied, we would enable them to go online to make the project happen, to get the products and the financing and the professional design and construction to help to do it outright.
BuildingBlocks was the name Rolly came up with for his new enterprise. Rolly took the plunge first. He simply dropped his profitable energy-consulting business to commit himself full time to BuildingBlocks. I soon joined him after I quit my well-paid job at a newspaper.
Together we developed a demo to show the features of our CD-ROM, “The New American Dream Home”. Then we took it to the annual convention of the National Association of Home Builders in Boston. All the big companies were there showing off their latest products.
To our delight, nearly everyone was eager to see what we were showing, including the top executives of some enormous companies. When we left, we had invitations from them to come to their offices to tell them more about BuildingBlocks.
That was the start of my real lifetime dream and BuildBlocks, our company, has been prospering ever since.
1. By “something huge was happening”, the writer refers to ______.
2. The text shows that Rolly Rouse is ______.
3. BuildingBlocks is a company that helps people to ______.
4. Rolly and the writer decided to start a company together because they were both ______.
5. At the Boston convention, Rolly and the writer were happy because ______.
问题1选项
A.house designing
B.home decoration
C.furniture production
D.high-tech development
问题2选项
A.creative
B.cautious
C.considerate
D.conservative
问题3选项
A.rent ideal houses
B.buy ideal houses
C.find ideal houses
D.own ideal houses
问题4选项
A.expert in architected
B.underpaid at their jobs
C.out of work at the time
D.interested in e-business
问题5选项
A.they aroused people’s interest in their products
B.they sold some of their own products right there
C.they got their first orders from some famous building firms
D.they had the opportunity to visit some famous building firms
第1题:D
第2题:A
第3题:D
第4题:D
第5题:A
1.【试题答案】D
【试题解析】推理判断题。由题干关键词“something huge was happening”可以定位到文章第一段，根据第一段第一句Back in the early 1990s, I knew little about computers beyond what it took to get through a working day.（上世纪90年代初，我对电脑知之甚少，只知道工作一天的用电量。）和第三句It was stirring economies and imaginations and possibilities like nothing I had ever known.（它对经济、想象力和可能性的刺激是我从未见过的。）可知，前后文讲的主要是技术带来的影响，由此可以推断巨大的变化指的是高科技的发展。因此D选项“高科技的发展”正确。A选项“房屋设计”，B选项“室内装修”，C选项“家具生产”均不符合题意，所以A，B，C错误。
2.【试题答案】A
【试题解析】客观细节题。由题干可以定位到文章第二段第一、二句Rolly often called me with a stream of ideas. His rate of idea production per second seemed almost incredible.（罗利经常给我打电话，说出一连串的想法。他每秒钟产生创意的速度简直令人难以置信。），说明罗利是一个很有创意的人。因此A选项“创意”正确。B选项“谨慎”，C选项“体贴”，D选项“保守”在文中均没有提及，所以B，C，D错误。
3.【试题答案】D
【试题解析】推理判断题。由题干可以定位到文章第第三段第二、三句Try out different windows and doors, different paint colors and furnishings. When they were satisfied, we would enable them to go online to make the project happen, to get the products and the financing and the professional design and construction to help to do it outright.（尝试不同的门窗，不同的油漆颜色和家具。当他们满意的时候，我们就让他们去网上实现自己的规划，购买产品及专业的设计和建筑，我们将帮助他们实现规划。），说明这一系列动作的结果就是帮助人们拥有一个理想的房子。因此D选项“拥有理想的房子”正确。A选项“租用理想的房子”，B选项“购买理想的房子”，C选项“找到理想的房子”均不符合题意，所以A，B，C错误。
4.【试题答案】D
【试题解析】推理判断题。由题干可以定位到文章第四段第二、三句He simply dropped his profitable energy-consulting business to commit himself full time to BuildingBlocks. I soon joined him after I quit my well-paid job at a newspaper.（他干脆放弃了利润丰厚的能源咨询业务，把全部时间都投入到BuildingBlocks上。我辞去了在一家报社的高薪工作，不久就加入了他的行列。），说明两个人都拥有一份收入较高的工作，为了共同的兴趣而辞职。因此D选项“对电子商务感兴趣”正确。A选项“建筑学专家”在文中没有提及，所以A错误。B选项“工作报酬低”，C选项“当时没有工作”，由原文可知，当时两人都有工作，且收入很高，所以B，C错误。
5.【试题答案】A
【试题解析】客观细节题。由题干可以定位到文章倒数第二段第一句To our delight, nearly everyone was eager to see what we were showing, including the top executives of some enormous companies.（令我们高兴的是，几乎每个人都急于看我们展示的东西，包括一些大公司的高管。），说明他们很开心是因为大家对他们的产品很感兴趣。因此A选项“他们引起了人们对他们产品的兴趣”正确。B选项“他们卖出了一些自己的产品”，C选项“他们的第一笔订单来自一些著名的建筑公司”，D选项“他们有机会参观一些著名的建筑公司”均不符合题意，所以B，C，D错误。
