It is 4 o’clock in the early morning. Everything but the computing room on the campus of the university appears as quiet and misty as the mysterious hell. In the computing room, 30 students with sleepy eyes, sit still at their desk, beating the dirty and worn keys. Staring at the colorful screen, they tap continuously for hours. For the other parts in the world, it might be in the middle of the night, nevertheless here time represents nothing. It is an entirely enclosed field. These young computer “hackers” are tracing a sort of stimulus (刺激), a drive so exciting and absorbing that it ignores nearly anything else in their lives and becomes the focus of their being. They are addicted (上瘾的) computer programmers. Some of these students have been glued to the console (电子设备的操纵台) for no less than twenty hours even with no break for meals or rest. Some have been sleeping on sofas and chairs in the computing room, trying to struggle for a few moments’ rest but hating to get too far away from their addicted machines.
It is not necessary for most of these students to be at the computing room in the middle of the night. What they are working belong to no assignments. They remain there because they desire to be — they can not resist the attraction of the computers.
Furthermore, they are in groups instead of being alone. There are hackers at computing rooms all over the country. In the unimaginable way, they focus on nothing but computer. They escape from schooling and live beyond friendship; they might have difficulty being employed, choosing to travel from one computing room to another. They may even give up personal health.
“There is one hacker in my memory. We actually had to lift him away from his chair to feed him and arrange him to rest and sleep. We truly worried about his health,” says a computing science professor at California University.
Professors of computer science are nowadays paying more attention to this hacker phenomenon and are on the watch for future hackers and more and more severe computer addicts. They believe firmly that hackers are not simply resulted from the close relationship with a machine. It is the result of social relationship with the attractive thinking machines, which are becoming nearly universal.We can learn from the passage that those at the computing room in the middle of the night are .
A.students working on a program |
B.students using computers to amuse themselves |
C.hard-working computer science majors |
D.students deeply fascinated by the computer |
Which of the following is NOT true of those young computer “hackers”?
A.Most of them are top students majoring in computer programming. |
B.For them, computer programming is the only purpose for their life. |
C.They can stay with the computer at the computing room for nearly two days. |
D.Their love for the computer is so deep that they want to be near their machines even when they sleep. |
It can be reasonably inferred from the passage that ______.
A.the hacker phenomenon exists only at university computing rooms |
B.it is not very easy for the “hackers” to find friends or jobs |
C.university computing rooms are expecting outstanding programmers out of the “hackers” |
D.the hacker phenomenon is partly due to the lack of the computing rooms |
According to professors of computer science, the hacker phenomenon can be described as .
A.positive | B.disgusting |
C.worrying | D.admiring |
Which of the following may be the most appropriate title for the passage?
A.The Charm of Computer Science | B.A New Type of Electronic Toys |
C.Future Computer Programmers | D.Computer Addicts |