5. New Applications —-After Chandlee Stakes

TEXT

Miriam Storley left the bank at 4: 15 exactly. People along Division Street said you could set your watch by Miriam; she always left her job at the First State Bank of Cannon Falls at this hour, Monday through Friday, except on holidays. On Fridays she returned to work the six-to-eight P. M. shift. On this particular day, a Monday, she stopped after closing the front door to the bank in order to look at the window display.

Miriam had spent the better part of the afternoon arranging gift items in the bank's window. First State, which is how everyone in town referred to the bank, was having a promotion in order to attract new business. They were offering gifts which ranged in value all the way from a pocket calculator to a color TV. The value of a new depositor's gift depended on how much was initially deposited.

The display in the window was attractive, but Miriam wondered where the new business was going to come from. Cannon Falls wasn't a one-stop-light town, but it wasn't a great metropolis either. There just weren't that many people to warrant an extravagant new business promotion such as this. The bank manager, Al Gropin, had even invested in some full-page advertisements in the local paper and had hired some clowns to perform on the street in front of the bank all to try to attract new customers.

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But Miriam didn't linger long in front of the window, and she didn't waste much time on her thoughts of Al's grand schemes. Her mission to-dav was the same as it had been every weekday for the past several weeks.

She nodded at passers-by, shopkeepers, and neighbors as she walked purposefully along the wide sidewalk toward The Computer Shack. There was a pleasant expression on her face as she smiled and said her "hellos" and "good afternoons" and "how are yous" to the people she saw almost every day of her life. Her daily meeting with Officer Quanbeck never failed to amuse her. She smiled to herself as they exchanged greetings and wondered whether he would feel as stupid as he looked after she pulled off the crime of the century.

"Right on time, as usual, eh, Mrs. Storley?" The thin, kindly-looking man behind the counter in The Computer Shack seemed to have a perpetual smile on his face. Every day for the past several weeks, Tobe Barksdale had a short, simple conversation with this woman from the bank down the street. She said she wanted to buy the home computer which he had hooked up to a printer and which was fully operational, but so far all she did was sit and play with it.

Tobe didn't mind the intrusion, though. Even though he opened his shop, gleamingly filled with electronic toys and machines, at noon, the majority of his customers came after six P. M. At first, he had closed the store at eight, but the numbers of people interested in the latest gadgetry forced him to stay open later and later, and now he wasn't closing until ten o'clock.

He could have insisted that his daily visitor make up her mind about the computer, or at least stop using the same program all the time, but she wasn't really any bother, and lately she had acquired such a solid knowledge of the field that he actually enjoyed her increasingly complex questions. She challenged his imagination, probing to see just how far a computer could go, just how much a simple machine could do.

Tobe probably knew as much about computer hardware and software

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as anybody in the entire town of Cannon Falls. Hardware and software.
These were terms the general public rarely heard when Tobe began working a number of years back. Now, everyone used the terms to refer to the computers themselves and the programs which told the machines and operators what to do.

Miriam Storley had a long way to go to catch up with Tobe in her knowledge of this complex field, but she seemed determined, and Tobe was a patient instructor. Each day she would come to him with a new type of problem, an unusual twist, a tricky flow of information or instructions which she wanted to master. Every day he would guide her through the intricacies of the model which was advertised as the "latest, most technologically advanced home computer ever designed. " Every day she would listen and absorb, and then experiment for herself. She brought her own tapes and never seemed to tire of learning, even after a day's work. Tobe believed in leaving people to themselves, so when the lesson was over and Miriam sat at the console, enwrapped in her task at hand, he busied himself in another part of the store.

Miriam's teen-age son, who liked to be called by the nickname Zee, had introduced her to the world of computers through his interest in video games. True, she dealt with computers at the bank every day in her job, but somehow they were just a part of the bank; they didn't touch her.

She learned from her son and, almost by accident as most great discoveries in the world seem to beshe discovered that the latest version of the home-type computers was actually compatible with the one she worked with in her office at First State.

The idea came to her at the end of a particularly tiring day as she tallied the day's receipts and entered them into her desk-top computer. It was foolproof! She could transfer funds from various accounts which were relatively inactive by tampering with the program. If she did it skillfully enough, she would never be caught. She would set up some fictitious accounts in other banks in the state, transfer funds, disguise herself and go to

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the other banks in order to withdraw the money, and then return the program to its original condition. No one would ever be able to figure out what she had done or where the money had gone. And even if they did trace it, they would never suspect her. How could they?

She decided not to risk working on the program she needed at home, since Zee might see what she was doing. Tobe Barksdale's shop was the perfect cover, and that pleasant man certainly wouldn't suspect her. He didn't even seem to mind letting her use his floor-model computer.

After months of preparation, Miriam  carried out her plan. She called Mr. Groping to say that she was ill and couldn't come to work. Then she drove to Mankato and Red Wing, disguised, and picked up her money. All went well until she arrived home to find Officer Quanbeck and several others waiting in her living room to arrest her for fraud and bank robbery.

As a kindness, to assuage her curiosity,Tobe Barksdale was there, too.He explained,“ Your plan was brilliant, Miriam, and you were an excellent student, Indeed,I taught you almost everything you know. But I didn’t each you everything you did on a master tape which I observed every afternoon after you left. After all,I had to see what kind of progress my pupil was making , didn't I?”

 

NOTES

1. 本篇选自罗伯特•丁•狄克逊(Robert J. Dixson） 编写的《现代英语短篇小说》(Modern Short Stories in English,1984)。
2. you could set your watch by Miriam：你可以靠米丽亚姆来对手表。
3. Cannon Falls：城镇名。
4. work the six-to-eight P. M. shift： 上六点到八点的晚班。the six-to-eight P. M. shift 之前的介词on 被省略了
5.a Monday：某一周的星期一。
6. promotion：宣传;促销活动。
7. They were offering gifts which ranged in value all the way from a pocket

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calculator to a color TV：他们(向顾客)赠送各种礼品，从袖珍计算器到彩色电视机，价值不等。

8. Cannon Falls wasn't a one-stoplight town, but it wasn't a great metropolis either：虽说Cannon Falls 不是一个只有一处交通信号灯的小城镇，但也不是一个大都市。

9. There just weren't that many people to warrant an extravagant new business promotion such as this： 人口太少，不适合举办像这样奢侈的新业务促销活动。

10. Her daily meeting with Officer Quanbeck never failed to amuse her; 每天她见到库安贝克警官时总是感到开心。

11. whether he would feel as stupid as he looked after she pulled off the crime of the century：如果她在本世纪最大的犯罪中一举得逞的话，他是否会感到自己愚蠢，就像平时看上去的那样。

12. She said she wanted to buy the home computer which he had hooked up to a printer：她说她想买那台他装好了的、与打印机连接的家用电脑。

13. Tobe didn't mind the intrusion,though：但托比对这种打扰并不介意。

14. the latest gadgetry：最新的电子装置。

15. He could have insisted that his daily visitor make up her mind about the computer, or at least stop using the same program all the time: 他本可以要求他这位每天光顾的客人对买电脑的事早拿定主意，或至少不要总是使用同一个程序。insist 后接that 从句时用虛拟语气,should 可以省略。

16. increasingly complex questions： 越来越复杂的问题。

17. Each day she would come to him... she wanted to master：每天她总是带着新问题、疑难点、一连串难以捉摸的信息或她想要掌握的指令来请教他

18. Every day he would guide her through the intricacies of the model, 每天他总是指导她理解这种型号的(家用电脑)纷繁难懂之处。intricacy：错综复杂的要物，路用作复数。例如 : Rose explained the intricacies of the job.

19. Tobe believed in leaving people to themselves： 托比相信对别人不要指

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手划脚为好。leave sb. to oneself:听某人自便。例如:One of the ad-vantages of a department store is that you are left to yourself by trying things on.

20. Miriam sat at the console,enwrapped in her task at hand:米丽亚姆坐在操作台旁,专心致志地在做手上的作业。

21. as most great discoveries in the world seem to be:就像世上的发现大多都是偶然一样。

22. she discovered that the latest version ... in her office at First State: 她发现最新型号的家用电脑与她在 First State 银行的办公室使用的电脑是兼容的。

23.tallied the day's receipts:统计一天的票据。

24.It was foolproof:这个主意绝对地安全! foolproof 意指安全得连傻子都知道不会出问题。

25. by tampering with the program:用篡改程序的办法。

26. fictitious accounts:虚设的账户;空户头。

27.the perfect cover:再好不过的掩护。

28.his floor-model computer:他用作展品的计算机。

29.arrest her for fraud and bank robbery:以诈骗和抢劫银行的罪名逮捕她。

30.As a kindness,to assuage her curiosity:作为一种好心的帮忙,也是为了消除她的好奇。

31.master tape:母带

READER'S OUIZ

Some of these statements are true (T) , and some are false (F). Can you tell which are true and why the others are not?

(  ) 1. People said that they could set their watch by Miriam's punctuality because she always left her job at her bank at the same hour.

(  ) 2. Miriam had arranged the bank's window in a special display because her bank was promoted to a State Bank.

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(   ) 3. Cannon Falls was neither a small town nor a very big one.

(   ) 4. The bank manager, Al Gropin, was such an extravagant person that he was not accepted by many people in the town.

(   ) 5. Officer Quanbeck she met every day always said to her a lot of funny things to please her.

(  ) 6. The Computer Shack was a house for video games.

(  ) 7. Miriam got so interested in computers that she never seemed to be tired of learning, even after a tiring day's work.

(  ) 8. She believed that her scheme was safe enough not to be caught.

(  ) 9. She tampered with the computer's program so that she could transfer funds at the First State Bank to the accounts she set up in the other banks.

(  ）10. She called in sick(打电话请病假）because she was carrying out her illegal plan.

VOCABULARY

 

A. Use each of the following terms in a sentence.
1. to tamper with
2. shift
3. promotion
4. extravagant
5. to refer to
6. to range all the way from ... to
7. to invest in
8. to be enwrapped in
9. to set up (accounts, etc.)
10. to deposit

B. Match the term in the left column with one which has a SIMILAR meaning in the right column.

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1. disguise
2. foolproof
3. suspect
4. pull off
5. master
6. fraud
7. probe
8. fictitious
9. absorb
10. warrant
a. take in
b. make happen
c. deception
d. justify
e. invented
f. cover
g. explore
h. command
i. doubt
j. infallible

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION & APPRECIATION

1. Would you like to own a personal computer? How would you use it?

2. What jobs or functions can today's home computer accomplish?

3. Do you ever play any video games? Do you think they have any value at all?

4. What do you think the future generation of computers will enable us to  do?

5. How did Miriam get caught? Do you think, in a real-life situation, she would have been caught?

6 . What are other possible computer-related crimes today?

Speed Reading

Welcome to Our Bank
"I wish Central Bank would be robbed," George Pickens said to him-self. He had been making this wish daily from the time he had started work as a  teller（出纳员）at the bank.
All over the country banks were being robbed, George thought. Why not

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this bank? Were robbers scornful of its four-million-dollar capital? Were they afraid of Mr. Ackerman, the old bank guard, who hadn't pulled out his gun in twenty-two years?

Of course George had a reason for wanting the bank to be robbed. After all, he couldn't simply take the thick bundles of bills that were under his hands all day long. So he had thought of another way to get them. His plan was simple. It went like this:

If Bank Robber A holds up Bank Teller B

And if Bank Teller B gives Bank Robber A a certain amount of money

What is to prevent Bank Teller B from keeping all the money left and claiming that it was stolen by Bank Robber A?

There was only one problem. Where was Bank Robber A?

One morning George entered the bank feeling something was about to happen. "Good morning, Mr. Burrows," he said cheerfully. The bank president said something in a low voice and went into his office.

At two o'clock Bank Robber A walked in. George knew he was a bank robber. For one thing, he slipped in. For another thing, he wore a mask.

"This is a holdup (抢劫) ," the man said roughly. He took a pistol from his pocket. The guard made a small sound. "You," the bank robber said, "lie down on the floor. "
Mr. Ackerman lay down. The robber stepped over to George's cage.

"All right," he said. "Hand it over. "

"Yes, sir," said George.

"Would you like it in ten-or twenty-dollar  bills?"

"Just hand it over!"

George reached into his cashbox and took all the bills from the top section  close to six thousand dollars. He passed them through the window. The robber snatched them, put them into his pockets, and turned to leave.
Then, while everyone watched Bank Robber A, Bank Teller B calmly lifted off the top section of the cashbox and slipped bills from the bottom section into his pockets

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The door swung and the bank robber was gone. George fainted. When he woke he smiled up at the worried faces looking down at him. "I'm all right," he said bravely.

"Perhaps you should go home, George," Mr. Bell, the chief auditor (审计员) said.

As soon as he was safely behind his bedroom door, George took the money from his pockets and counted it. He had seven thousand dollars. He was very happy.

The next morning when George arrived at the bank, it was not open for business. But everyone was there, helping to examine the bank's records for the special audit Mr. Bell was taking.
George was called into Mr. Burrows' office. The bank president seemed strangely cheerful. "George," he said,"I want you to meet Mr. Carruthers, who used to be president of our bank."

"Good morning, George," said Mr. Carruthers. "I was sorry to hear you fainted yesterday. Are you all right now?"

"Yes, sir, just fine, thanks."

"I'm glad to hear it. That was quite an adventure. It just goes to show how easy it is to rob our bank."

"Sir?" said George, confused.

"George, I was sorry to give you a hard time yesterday, but with all the banks being robbed these days, I thought it would be a good idea to prove that our little bank can be robbed too. I have retired, but I haven't stopped think-ing. That's why I played my little game yesterday, just to keep everybody on his toes."

"I don't understand," said George. "What game?"

The old man laughed and took out a mask. He placed it over his face, and said, "All right. Hand it over!" Mr. Burrows laughed but George did not.

"And the money?" George said in a small voice.

"Don't worry," Mr. Carruthers said. "I put it all back in your cashbox-all six thousand. We're just finishing up the audit now." George turned cold

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with fear. In Behind them, the door opened and Mr. Bell, the chief auditor, put his head into the room. "Mr. Burrows," he said gravely, "may I see you a mo. moment?"

Comprehension Exercises

I. Decide the answer that best completes the following statements according to the information provided in the text.
1. George Pickens wished for a robbery because it would ______
[A] help him take money without being caught
[B] provide him with the opportunity to become a hero
[C] show that Central Bank was not too small to be robbed
[D] show that their bank was free of danger of being robbed
2. Before coming to George's cage, the robber______
[A] had a fight with the bank guard
[B] told the bank guard to hand over his gun
[C] told the bank guard to lie down
[D] pointed his pistol at another teller
3. Nobody saw George taking money into his pockets because  ____
[A] a crowd had gathered in the bank
[B] George took bills from the bottom of his  cashbox
[C] everyone was watching the robber leave
[D] his plan had been very carefully made

4. George fainted after the bank robber was gone because _____
[A] he was indeed terrified
[B] he had to pretend to be terrified
[C] he might have a heart attack
[D] he never experienced such a horrors
5. From the ending of the story, we know that Mr. Bell had discovered that  ________

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[A] seven thousand dollars was missing
[B] Mr. Carruthers had not yet returned that sum
[C] no money was found missing or Sad"
D] the robber turned out to be Bank Teller B

II . Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F) according to the information given in the text.
(  ) 1. The bank robber was Mr. Carruthers, former president of Central Bank.
( ) 2. Bank Teller B, who was actually George himself, knew nothing before hand about the intention of the robber.
(   ) 3. The purpose of this arrangement of robbery was to find out which bank teller often stole money from his cashbox.
(   ) 4. George did not laugh when Mr. Carruthers showed how he had acted as a robber because George knew that his stealing would be discovered.
(   ) 5. Mr. Bell, the chief auditor, looked very serious when he asked to see the bank president for a moment.

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I. CAREFUL READING

You're busy filling out the application form for a position you really need; let's assume you once actually completed a couple of years of college work or even that you completed your degree.
Isn't it tempting to lie just a little, to claim on the form that vour diploma represents a Harvard degree? Or that you finished an extra couple of years back at State University?
More and more people are turning to utter deception like this to land their job or to move ahead in their careers, for personnel officers, like most Americans, value degrees from famous schools.
A job applicant may have a good education anyway, but he or she assumes that chances of being hired are better with a diploma from a well- known university.
Registrars at most well-known colleges say they deal with deceitful claims like these at the rate of about one per week.
Personnel officers do check up on degrees listed on application forms, then.
If it turns out that an applicants lying, most colleges are reluctant to accuse the applicant directly.
One Ivy League school calls them impostors; another refers to them as special cases.
One well known West Coast school, in perhaps the most delicate phrase of all, says that these claims are made by no such people.
To avoid outright lies, some job-seekers claim that they attended or were associated with a college or university. After carefully checking, a personnel officer may discover that attending means being dismissed after one semester. It may be that being associated with a college means that the job-seeker visited his younger brother for a football weekend. One school that keeps records of false claims says that the practice dates back at least to the turn of the century that's when they began keeping records, anyhow.
If you don't want to lie or even stretch the truth, there are companies that will sell you a phony diploma. One company, with offices in New York and on the West Coast, will put your name on a diploma from any number of non-existent colleges.
The price begins at around twenty dollars for a diploma from Smoot State University. The prices increase rapidly for a degree from the University of Purdue. As there is no Smoot State and the real school in Indiana properly called Purdue University, the prices seem rather high for one sheet of paper.
1. The main idea of this passage is that _________ .
A.employers are checking more closely on applicants now .
B. lying about college degrees has become a widespread problem.
C. college degrees can now be purchased easily .
D. emplovers are no longer interested in college degrees.
2. According to the passage, special cases refer to cases where _______.
A. Students attend a school only part-time.
B. students never attended a school they listed on their application.
C. students purchase false degrees from commercial films.
D. students attended a famous school.
3 We can infer from the passage that ________.
A. performance is a better judge of ability than a college degree.
B. experience is the best teacher.
C. past work histories influence personnel officers more than degrees do.
D. a degree from a famous school enables an applicant to gain advantage over others in job petition.
4. This passage implies that ________.
A.buying a false degree is not moral.
B. personnel officers only consider applicants from famous schools.
C. most people lie on applications because they were dismissed from school.
D. society should be greatly responsible for lying on applications.
5 As used in the first line of the second paragraph, the word "utter” means_______.
A. address.
B. thorough .
C. ultimate.
D. decisive.

II. DISCOURSE CLOZE

She nodded at passers-by, shopkeepers, (1________). There was a pleasant expression on her face as she smiled and said her "hellos" and "good afternoons" and "how are yours" to the people she saw almost every day of her life. Her daily meeting with Officer Quanbeck never failed to amuse her. She smiled to herself (2_________) .
"Right on time, as usual, eh, Mrs. Storley?" The thin, kindly-looking man behind the counter in The Computer Shack (3______). Every day for the past several weeks, Tobe Barks-dale had a short, simple con ersation with this woman (4______) . She said she wanted to buy the home computer (5________) and which was fully operational, but so far all she did was sit and play with it.
Tobe didn't mind the intrusion, though. Even though he opened his shop, (6________). At noon, the majority of his customers came after six P. M. At first, (7_______), but the numbers of people interested in the latest gadgetry forced him to stay open later and later, (8______).
(From Nerw Applications ) (P51)
A.which he had hooked up to a printer.
B. seemed to have a perpetual smile on his face .
C.and now he wasn't closing until ten o'clock .
D. from the bank down the street.
E. as they exchanged greetings and wondered whether he would feel as stupid as he looked after she pulled off the crime of the century.
F. he had closed the store at eight.
G. and neighbors as she walked purposefully along the wide sidewalk toward The Computer Shack.
H. gleamingly filled with electronic toys and machines .

III. WORD FORMATIONS .

Susm woll
1. (2011 examin) (P53) (increase) His hot temper was making it _____ difficult for others to work with him.
2. (succeed) His business was a ________ because he was well prepared, worked hard, and acted wisely.
3. (P51) (make) He could have insisted that his daily visitor ________ up her mind about the computer.
4. (2009 examin ) (P53) (promote) Young males in particular tend to be keener on high pay and________ than older people.
5. (skill) These actors performed so _______ that many audience left betore the pertormance ended.
6. (P50) (deposit) The value of a new gift depends on how much was initially ____________.
7. (2011 examin) (short) Patients were dying because of an acute _________ of nurses.
8. (P52) (wrap) Miriam sat at the console . ________ in her task at hand.
9. (2007 examin ) (invest) Many of the more reputable green products, however, represent very large ________ in research and design, and in new materials and technology.
10. (extravagance) They are ________ members of the imperial court.
11. (computer) The ________ of management makes things easy and convenient.

IV. GAP FILLING.

[ through all the way deposit promote set either arrange displav where insisted attract ]

Miriam Storley left the bank at 4:15 exactly. People along Division Street said you could (1________) your watch by Miriam; she always left her job at the First State Bank of Cannon Falls at this hour. Monday (2__________) Friday, except on holidays. On Fridays she returned to work the six-to-eight P. M. shift. On this particular day, a Monday, she stopped after closing the front door to the bank in order to look at the window (3_________) .
Miriam had spent the better part of the afternoon (4________ ) gift items in the bank's window. First State, which is how everyone in town referred to the bank, was having a (5_______) in order to attract new business. They were offering gifts which ranged in value (6________) from a pocket calculator to a color TV. The value of a new depositor's gift depended on how much was initially. (7_________) .
The display in the window was attractive, but Miriam wondered (8________) the new business was going to come from. Cannon Fall wasn't a one-stoplight town, but it wasn't a great metropolis (9__________) . There just weren't that many people to warrant an extravagant new business promotion such as this. The bank manager, Al Gropin, had even invested in some full-page advertisements in the local paper and had hired some clowns to perform on the street in front of the bank-all to try to (10________) new customers.
(From New Applications) (P50)

V. SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS.

The following 2 questions are based on the passage in CAREFUL READING. Read the passage carefully again and answer the questions briefly by referring the passage.
1. Why are more and more people turning to tell lies when landing their jobs?
2. How many situations of telling lies by job seekers are mentioned in this text?
She nodded at passers-by, shopkeepers, and neighbors as she walked purposefully along the wide sidewalk toward The Computer Shack. (1____) There was a pleasant expression on her face as she smiled and said her "hellos" and "good afternoons" and "how are yous" to the people she saw almost every day of her life. Her daily meeting with Officer Quanbeck never failed to amuse her. (2____ ) She smiled to herself as they exchanged greetings and wondered whether he would feel as stupid as he looked after she pulled off the crime of the century.
"Right on time, as usual, eh, Mrs. Storley?” (3_____) The thin, kindly-looking man behind the counter in The Computer Shack seemed to have a perpetual smile on his face. Every day for the past several weeks, Tobe Barksdale had a short, simple conversation with this woman from the bank down the street. (4_____) She said she wanted to buy the home computer which he had hooked up to a printer and which was fully operational, but so far all she did was sit and play with it.
Tobe didn't mind the intrusion, though. (5_____) Even though he opened his shop, gleamingly filled with electronic toys and machines, at noon, the majority of his customers came after 6:00 pm. At first. He had closed the store at eight, but the numbers of people interested in the latest gadgetry forced him to stay open later and later, and now he wasn't closing until ten o’clock.
(From New Applications) (P51)