When the American economy was running full tilt two years ago, few places were as breathlessly delighted as Seattle. Its port was thronged with ships bringing goods from Asia. The Boeing Company could barely keep up with demand for its airliners. Microsoft was hiring hordes of software engineers. After each rain shower, another Internet millionaire sprang up. Here was a city that had it all—Old Economy, New Economy, Not-Yet-Invented Economy.
Now it has all gone sour. The past 12 months have been a non-stop succession of disappointments. Boeing’s headquarters decamped to Chicago. The Internet economy popped alike a balloon in a nail factory, taking with it once promising local ventures such as Homegrocer.com and leaving can’t-possibly-miss companies such as Drugstore.com barely hanging on. And an already troubled Boeing was hit even harder after September 11th both by a steep drop in air
A. many people get rich quickly and easily with the New Economy
B. it takes only the time between showers for someone to become boss
C. Seattle’s development is sudden like rain showers
D. Seattle has as many business millionaires as its rain showers
When I was a child in Sunday school, I
would ask searching questions like "Angels can fly up in heaven, but how do
clouds hold up pianos" and get the same puzzling response about how that was
not important, what was important was that Jesus died for our sins and if we
accepted him as our savior, when we died, we would go to heaven, where we’d get
everything we wanted. Some children in my class wondered why anyone would hang
on a cross with nails stuck through his hands to help anyone else; I wondered
how Santa Claus knew what I wanted for Christmas, even though I never wrote him
a letter. Maybe he had a tape recorder hidden in every chimney in the
world. This literal-mindedness has stuck with me; one result of it is that I am unable to believe in God. Most of the other atheists I know seem to feel freed or proud of their unbel A. the author was a Sunday school boy B. the author used to be puzzled at many things C. the school didn’t teach the children enough knowledge D. tape recorders were popular in daily life [单项选择]Passage Three
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