What has been described as the largest ever ransomware attack—a cyber criminal scheme that locks up computer files until victims pay a ransom—holds the paradoxical distinction of being both an outrageous success (in terms of its blast radius) as well as an abject failure (in terms of its haul). The malicious software spread so far and wide, jammed up so many IT networks and generated so much panic and chaos that the wrongdoers effectively undid themselves. On May 12, the world awoke to the beginnings of hundreds of thousands of old Microsoft Windows based computers' seizing up as they subjected to a malicious software, appropriately called WannaCry. Within hours, the digital epidemic circled the globe like the Spanish flu, infecting machines running outdated operating systems in some 150 countries, spreading across numerous homes and corporate networks. The attack, which relied on powerful tools believed to have been developed by the NSA and leaked online in April by a group of hackers known as the Shadow Brokers, wormed its way through businesses, hospitals and governments, all of which found themselves suddenly locked out of their own systems. Researchers detected the wave quickly, and it wasn't long before they picked up on the criminals' self-defeating mistakes. The attackers failed to assign each victim a separate Bitcoin wallet , researchers noted, a critical error that meant they would not be able to easily track ransom payments. They neglected to automate the money collection in a way that would scale. And then there was the matter of the kill switch. No one is quite certain why the attackers coded a self-destruct button into their software, yet that's precisely what they did. Marcus Hutchins, a 22-year-old security researcher based in England who goes by MalwareTech, stumbled on the power plug largely by accident. After taking lunch on that Friday afternoon, he inspected the malware and noticed a specific web address encoded within. Curious, he registered the domain for less than $ 11. This simple act stopped the malware, killing the virus' ability to spread and buying time for organizations to upgrade their software and deploy protections.
单选题 The ransomware attack has been considered a victory because it______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析：细节题。根据题干关键词ransomware attack定位到第一段第一行，根据第二个关键词victory定位到第三行success，题干的because=原文括号里的in terms of“根据，就……而言”，答案即blast radius“爆炸半径，波及范围”一词。故“这次勒索软件攻击被认为是一次胜利”是因为其“波及范围广泛”，原文第四行The malicious software spread so far and wide…一句也是答案提示。选项中与“波及范围广泛”同义替换的是[C]affects numerous users worldwide“影响了全世界范围的许多用户”。选项[A]来自第二行locks up computer files，原文说的是“锁住电脑文件”，而不是“删除电脑文件”，属于偷换概念。选项[B]successfully blackmails many users“成功勒索许多用户”文章并没提到，属于无中生有。选项[D]causes panic and chaos来自原文第四、五行generated so much panic and chaos，而该项中的at local“在当地”属于无中生有，而且与答案“波及范围广泛”完全相反，故排除该项。综上，本题答案为[C]。
单选题 According to Paragraph 2, which of the following is true about WannaCry?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析：细节题。根据题干关键词WannaCry定位到第二段第三行。实际上该段的malicious software，digital epidemic，the attack这些词都是指WannaCry这一勒索软件。选项[A]来自the digital epidemic…spreading across numerous homes and corporate networks一句，该项的only through domestic networks过于绝对，而且是原文的片面表述，故该项错误。选项[B]来自The attack，which relied on powerful tools believed to have been developed by the NSA…其中developed by the NSA修饰的是tools，而不是the attack(即WannaCry恶意软件)，故该项属于偷换概念。选项[C]来自the digital epidemic…infecting machines running outdated operating systems in some 150 countries，其中some 150 countries意思是“大约150个国家”，而该项变成few countries，否定了原文意思。选项[D]对应原文The attack…leaked online in April by a group of hackers一句，其中the attack指WannaCry，leaked online=deliberately created，by a group of hackers=by some hackers，该项与原文形成同义替换，故[D]为本题答案。
单选题 Researchers held that the attack was______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析：观点题。根据题干关键词researchers定位到第三段。其中researchers held=researchers noted，the attack=the attackers，故答案句为：The attackers failed to assign each victim a separate Bitcoin wallet…其中关键词为failed to“未能够”这一明显的负面词汇；原文的self-defeating mistakes，a critical error也是明显提示，这些词都体现出这次“攻击”是有缺陷的。四个选项分别为：[A]critical“批评的”；[B]flawless“完美的，无瑕疵的”；[C]defective“有缺陷的，不完美的”；[D]invulnerable“无懈可击的”。故本题答案为[C]。
单选题 Marcus Hutchins prevented the malware from spreading by______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析：细节题。根据题干关键词Marcus Hutchins定位到最后一段第二行。根据prevented the malware from spreading定位到该段倒数第三行：This simple act stopped the malware，killing the virus’ability to spread…题干问“通过什么方法阻止恶意软件”，原文说“这一简单举措阻止了这个恶意软件”，显然“这一简单举措”指代的内容即为答案。故答案句为上一句：Curious，he registered the domain for less than $11．与该句相符的选项是[B]purchasing its domain name accidentally；其中purchasing=registered…for less than $11，domain name=domain，accidentally=上文提到的by accident。选项[A]pushing the self-destruct button与选项[C]pulling the power plug都是无中生有。选项[D]finding its web address=原文noticed a specific web address，而intentionally“故意”一词与原文by accident“偶然”不符，故该项错误。综上，本题选择[B]。
单选题 The most suitable title for the text is______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】解析：主旨题。本题需综合各段首句。第一段首句提到ransomware attack，an abject failure 等关键词；第二段首句提到malicious software，WannaCry等关键词；第三段首句出现the criminals’self-defeating mistakes这一关键词：第四段首句出现the attackers，self-destruct button等关键词。文章讨论WannaCry恶意软件攻击，从首段就指出它既是一次成功，也是一次失败，尤其第三、四段着重讨论该软件的缺陷，其中abject failure，self-defeating mistakes，self-destruct都是明显提示。故[A]与原文主旨最接近，其中unsuccessful=failure，self-defeating mistakes，self-destruct等词。选项[B]cyber crime强调“网络犯罪”，而非“恶意软件”，故排除。选项[C]computer virus强调“电脑病毒”，[D]malicious software强调“恶意软件”，但都没体现failure这一关键词，故排除。综上，[A]为本题答案。