“How’s the basketball coming on?”
I put down my drink and looked across at the next table. I was curious about that because both the man and the woman were at least 65.
“Oh, I’m not playing much basketball these days,” the woman replied. “But I’m getting much better at golf.”
What’s this, I thought. I opened my packet of crisps, thoughtfully.
“I’m still pretty hopeless at chess, I’m afraid,” the man said. “It beat me on level one this morning.”
The penny dropped. These two were the proud owners of computer games.
It’s very likely that one of the results of the development of the silicon chip (硅片) will be that a lot of people will have more exciting ways to spend their leisure time. It already has. Space invader machines are now a familiar sight everywhere. A lot of people play them, and some, particularly school children, get remarkably high scores. How, one wonders, do they find the time (and money) to become so good?
If you have your own computers, the possibilities are endless. You can play any active sports without stepping out of your living room.
You can become an expert at chess or backgammon (a kind of game) without ever playing with another human being. Indeed, human beings aren’t needed at all.
So, what of the future? Will we see school children stealing or even robbing to feed space invader machines? Will football grounds lie empty as families sit at home playing video football, or watching the national video football championship? Perhaps, it won’t go that far. But we won’t have to wait long for the Video Olympics. I’m sure of that.
Back in the pub, I stood up, took out 20 pence, and went over to the space invader machine. I may not be much good at beating computers at backgammon, but any space invaders who arrive on Earth anywhere near me had better watch out.
1. Why did the dialogue mentioned at the beginning of the passage draw the writer’s attention?
A. Because the speakers were old.      
B. Because he wanted to join them.
C. Because the speakers were famous people.      
D. Because he was interested in sports.
2. The example of the man and woman is taken at the beginning of the passage to show how ______ the computer games are.
A. convenient   B. necessary    C. curious       D. popular
3. What does the underlined sentence “The penny dropped” most probably mean?
A. It was understood.         B. It was strange.  
C. It was great.              D. It was accepted.
4. According to the writer, development in computer will make people ______.
A. friendlier        B. less active      C. more athletic        D. smarter.
5. From the last paragraph we can see ______.
A. the writer is strongly against video games
B. the writer never plays video games
C. the writer is fond of playing video games
D. the write is better at “backgammon” than “space invader”