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  3. Early in the morning of August 8th, streams of bleary-eyed and tired passengers arrived at London’s Heathrow airport, hoping for

Early in the morning of August 8th, streams of bleary-eyed and tired passengers arrived at London’s Heathrow airport, hoping for

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问题     Early in the morning of August 8th, streams of bleary-eyed and tired passengers arrived at London’s Heathrow airport, hoping for a smooth ride across the Atlantic with Delta Airlines, America’s second-largest carrier. But most did not realise they were the first victims of the most disruptive IT glitch that has hit an airline in recent years until they got to check-in desks unable to access their details. The snafus—caused by a computer outage 4,000 miles away in Delta’s Atlanta HQ—prompted the airline to cancel more than 2,000 flights, delay several hundred thousand passengers’ journeys, and in some places go back to printing boarding passes on dot-matrix machines fit to be museum pieces.
    The chaos highlights how vulnerable big firms are to their IT systems crashing. The airline’s chief operating officer, Gil West, later admitted that a malfunctioning power-control system at its data centre was to blame. Unable to access customer records or to compile passenger lists ahead of aircraft take-offs to meet security requirements, the entire airline ground to a halt for around five hours.
    Such accidents can happen, even to a company such as Delta whose systems were thought by aviation analysts to be better than those of its rivals. Only last month Southwest was forced to cancel 2,300 flights because of a faulty router that brought its systems down for 12 hours. Last September American Airlines suspended flights for several hours from Dallas/Fort Worth, its largest hub, after a similar glitch.
    What is more surprising is that it took Delta so long to get its computers running again. It has lately spent hundreds of millions of dollars on IT upgrades. But airlines’ systems are hugely complex beasts. If data is not properly backed up, for instance, it can take days to reload and make sure hundreds of connected subsystems work. "Technology is like painting a bridge. Work is never done," Delta’s chief information officer, Rahul Samant, said in June.
    One reason for the complexity is that airlines were early adopters of computerised systems. They built their first electronic reservation systems in the early 1950s; Delta’s current system once belonged to a defunct airline that went bust in 1982. But as airlines merged and more new functions were added—from crew scheduling to passenger check-in and bag tracing—they have come to resemble technological hair-balls in which one small problem quickly spirals into bigger ones that even experts struggle to disentangle.
    Yet bosses in the industry say they are reluctant to replace their systems. For an airline, it would cost billions of dollars and take five years to do. Worse still, no single IT firm has the skills to provide all the software needed for a complete replacement. With the average tenure of airline CEOs so short, the risks of such a project going wrong outweigh the benefits. It is hard for any firm to entirely eliminate IT glitches; for many it simply isn’t worth it.
According to this passage, it could be inferred that ______.
选项 A、Museum staff prefer dot-matrix machines to the other printers when it comes to printing
B、Aviation analysts believe that American Airlines’ system is the best one
C、System replacement could never be fulfilled because no single IT firm can provide all software for replacement
D、The airline CEOs tend not to entirely eliminate IT glitches
答案D
解析 推段题。（这是在江湖上已经消失很久的全文性推理题）KK三步宝典：K1定位。推断题定位的时候，首选依据题干。然而，当题干没有任何定位信息时，转而利用选项定位。选项A的定位词为museum，由此定位到第一段最后一句：The snafus-caused by a computer outage 4,000 miles away in Delta’s Atlanta HQ—prompted the airline to cancel more than 2,000 flights，delay several hundred thousand passengers’journeys，and in some places go back to printing boarding passes on dot-matrix machines fit to be museum pieces。选项B由aviation定位到第三段第一句：Such accidents can happen, even to a company such as Delta whose systems were thought by aviation analysts to be better than those of its rivals．选项C由complete replacement定位到第六段第三句：Worse still，no single IT firm has the skills to provide all the software needed for a complete replacement. 选项D由CEOs定位到第六段第四句：With the average tenure of airline CEOs so short, the risks of such a project going wrong outweigh the benefits．It is hard for any firm to entirely eliminate IT glitches；for many it simply isn’t worth it．KK三步宝典：K2替换。选项A说，相比其他的打印机，博物馆的员工更喜欢用针式打印机。而线索句“The snafus—caused by a computer outage 4,000 miles away in Delta’s Atlanta HQ—prompted the airline to cancel more than 2,000 flights，delay several hundred thousand passengers’ journeys，and in some places go back to printing boarding passes on dot-matrix machines fit to be museum pieces.”说“并且在一些地方居然还在用(适合在博物馆陈列的)针式打印机打印登机牌。”这里，fit to be museum pieces是一个后置定语，修饰dot-matrix machines，讽刺针式打印机早已过时，只能在博物馆才能找到。通过比对，排除选项A。选项B说，航空分析师认为美国航空的系统是业界最佳。而线索句“Such accidents call happen，even to a company such as Delta whose systems were thought by aviation analysts to be better than those of its rivals．”说，“这种事故可能发生，甚至对于航空分析师认为系统优于竞争对手的达美，也不例外”，因此最佳的是达美航空，而不是美国航空。选项B是偷梁换柱。通过比对排除选项B。选项C说，系统修护永远无法实现，因为没有任何一家IT公司有能力为完整替换提供所需的所有软件。而线索句“Worse still，no single IT firm has the skills to provide all the software needed for a complete replacement”说“更糟的是，没有任何一家IT公司有能力为完整替换提供所需的所有软件”，可见，并没有出现system replacement could never be fulfilled的相关信息。因此，定位需要继续。然而，线索句开头为Worse still这是一个顺承的承上启下表达，因此，可以将线索句定位到此句之前一句。也就是线索句二For an airline, it would cost billions of dollars and take five years to do. 由此，得知“对于一家航空公司，这(系统修护)将耗资数十亿美元，并需要5年才能完成。”换句话说，系统理论上是可以被修复的。通过比对，排除C。选项D说，航空公司的CEO们不倾向于完全消除技术故障。而线索句“With the average tenure of airline CEOs so short，the risks of such a project going wrong outweigh the benefits. It is hard for any firm to entirely eliminate IT glitches; for many it simply isn’t worth it.”说，航空公司首席执行官的平均任期如此之短，此类项目失败的风险超过收益。对于任何公司来说，完全消除技术故障十分困难；而对于很多公司来说，这根本就不值得。可见，CEO们不愿意冒险来消除技术故障。选项D是对此句的同义替换。KK三步宝典：K3排除。对于选项A、B、C来说，定位都比较单一，死磕线索句即可。对于选项D，如果无法很好地进行同义替换，可以二次定位。方法是用CEO的近义词boss来定位，于是找到线索句二，第六段第一句：Yet bosses in the industry say they are reluctant to replace their systems．（然而，这个行业的老板们说自己不愿意更换系统），明确告知老板不愿意，CEO的态度不言而喻。
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