Las Vegas, where every born loser is told he is a potential winner, has always had a way with words. Prostitution is technically illegal in the city. But a private "dance" in one's hotel room is not--even if that's just a euphemism for what a "Hot Nude Blonde" does to cheer up a visiting conventioneer.

 

How exactly these private dancers know which hotel rooms to visit, though, has become a thorny question. On March 14th, as The Economist went to press, a hearing began at the Nevada Public Utilities Commission to investigate a complaint brought by Eddie Munoz against Central Telephone, a local subsidiary of Sprint. Mr Munoz operates an in-room "adult entertainment" service. He also publishes the Las Vegas Informer, a free paper that lists telephone numbers for his dancing troupe.

 

He alleges that rival operators have hacked into the Las Vegas telephone network and systematically diverted calls made from hotel rooms to the numbers listed in the Informer to their own services. These rivals then send out their own entertainers to do the dancing--and to collect the fees that should rightfully be his. Mr Munoz says that in the heady days of the early 1990s he was making $20,000 a month from his cut of the money earned by his dancers.

 

Telephone firms habitually deny that hackers can break in. Sprint maintains that it "has neither found nor been presented with any evidence to date that calls have been diverted". Others are not so sure. Hilda Brauer, who protested that call-poachers had driven her "Sexy Girls" service out of business, brought a lawsuit against Sprint and her rivals in 1998, but dropped it when her money ran out. In 1998 the FBI arrested six gangsters who were scouring Las Vegas to recruit a telephone hacker they believed was working for a successful call-girl service (although nobody found him).

 

Mr Munoz has now hired Kevin Mitnick, a hacker who boasted last year to SecurityFocus, an online technology journal, that he used to break into Las Vegas switching systems. Mr Mitnick has diverted Mr Munoz's telephone lines to an office in Los Angeles; a temp there relays the requests for dancers back to Mr Munoz in Las Vegas. The aim is to cut Sprint out of the loop.

 

The hearings may shed more light on how the world's oldest profession has taken phone-hacking in its well-practised stride. And then, no doubt, as the fuss dies down, it will discreetly dim the lights and get on with business as usual。

 

注（1）：本文选自Economist；3/16/2002, p36-36, 1/3p；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象2002年真题text 4第1题（1），text 3第5题（5），第4题（4）；2001年真题text2第2题（2）；2004年真题text 1第3题（3）；

 

 

[A] prostitution is strictly prohibited

[B] prostitution goes on in the name of private dance

[C] private dance has taken the place of prostitution

[D] people lose money more often than they win

 

 

[A] the local telephone company failed to provide satisfactory service

[B] his rivals competed with him through illegal means

[C] his dancers stopped dancing for him

[D] he could no longer collect fees from his dancing troupe

 

 

[A] a person who breaks in other people’s telephone conversations

[B] a person who eavesdrops other people’s telephone conversations

[C] a person who harasses others by making telephone calls

[D] a person who diverts other people’s telephone calls

 

 

[A] the competition in call-girl service is a fierce one

[B] public attention on the hearings will last for a relatively long period

[C] people know very little about the world’s oldest profession

[D] telephone-hacking will be used less due to the hearings

 

 

[A] critical

[B] positive

[C] biased

[D] objective

 

答案：BADAA 

 

本篇文章是一篇说明文，介绍了黑客技术如何和最古老的卖淫行业联姻的事情。第一段介绍了变相卖淫的拉斯维加斯私人舞女。第二段和第三段介绍了一起舞蹈团体之间为了争夺顾客而转接服务电话的所引发的诉讼。第三段介绍了电话公司的说法并简单回顾了有关历史。第四段介绍了该案原告针对竞争对手的电话黑客手段所采用的黑客反击手段。最后一段对全文进行总结并得出结论：当这些喧闹平息下来时，这一行当会小心翼翼地避开公众的注意，然后照常经营下去。

 

prostitution[prRstI5tju:F(E)n] n. 卖淫

euphemism[5ju:fimizEm] n. 委婉的说法

conventioneer[kEn7venFE5niE] n. <美>与会者,会议代表

thorny[5WC:ni] adj. 棘手的；伤脑筋的

subsidiary[sEb5sidjEri] n. 子公司

troupe[tru:p] n. 舞蹈团

allege[E5ledV] v. 〈法〉指控

hack[hAk] v. 非法手段接近或进入别人的电子系统以谋取不当利益

divert[di5vE:t] v. 使转向, 使转移

heady[5hedi] adj.

poacher[5pEutFE] n. 偷猎者, 侵入者

scour[5skauE] v. 急速穿行

call-girl  n. 应召女郎

switching system  n. （电话的）交换系统

temp[temp] n. 临时雇员

relay[5ri:lei] v. 转播

loop[lu:p] n. (契约中的)漏洞

discreetly[dis5kri:t li] adv. 谨慎地, 小心地

 

主体句式：The FBI arrested six gangsters

句子译文：本句是一个复杂句，宾语gangsters带有一个who引导的定语从句，在这个定语从句里又含有一个省略了whom的定语从句，该从句修饰hacker。

句子译文：1998年，联邦调查局逮捕了6个黑帮成员，当时这些黑帮成员正在拉斯维加斯四处招募一名电话黑客，他们相信这个电话黑客是为一个生意兴隆的应召女郎业务工作的（虽然谁也没有找到他）。

 

1. 答案为B，属事实细节题。作者在第一段中提到，虽然法律上禁止卖淫，但并不禁止宾馆房间的私人“舞蹈”和以“热辣裸体女郎”娱乐会议代表的活动。隐含的意思是卖淫活动只是换了个旗号而已。

2. 答案为A，属事实细节题。根据文章第二段，这起投诉是针对电话公司的，原因是电话公司没有阻止Mr. Munoz的对手利用技术手段将原本打给他手下舞女的电话转接到自己人那里。作为投诉诉由，自然是电话公司服务有问题。

3. 答案为D，属猜词题。根据文章第二段，Mr. Munoz的对手利用黑客截获他手下的电话，而称这些人为call-poacher的Hilda Brauer也有类似经历，并且因此被挤出市场。可见call-poacher就是转接他人电话的人。

4. 答案为A，属推理判断题。根据上文，Mr. Munoz和Hilda都遭受了来自竞争对手的不正当竞争，而Mr. Munoz为了对付对手，也聘请了电脑 （责任编辑：城市网）