A
Tracking Santa is a Christmas tradition that is more than half a century old, and that came about completely by accident.
It started in 1955. A store in Colorado Springs, printed an ad that included a special phone number kids could call to track where Santa’s sleigh (雪橇) was at any given moment. Unfortunately, someone made a mistake in the printing, and kids were calling the wrong number.
A Colonel (上校) named Henry Shoup began answering his phone at NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (北美防空联合司令部). At first, he thought it was a simple error, but as the phone kept ringing, and tiny voices kept asking about Santa, Shoup realized he couldn’t disappoint them, and told staff to answer anyone asking about the location of Santa Claus.
The mistake turned into a holiday custom, and kept growing in popularity until NORAD finally decided to make it lasting.
It’s been a holiday favorite ever since, using whatever new technology has come along. In the early days it used a phone line, but in the 1960s, NORAD made a special series of "reports" played on hundreds of radio stations to find out Santa Claus’ exact position on Christmas Eve. These can be thought of as a kind of early GPS without computers.
When the Internet came along, NORAD moved the tradition to the Web, which records the most famous journey in the world —Amazing Race that has to be finished within 24 hours. There may not be a million-dollar prize at the end, but more than a million kids with a million smiles make it worth a lot more.
This year kids can track Santa in 3D using Google Earth, play games at the North Pole using the Kids Count down section, and so on.
21. Children kept calling Colonel Henry Shoup because ___________.
A. they had been advised by Santa Claus to do so
B. they wanted to fool the Colonel
C. they were told that he knew where Santa was
D. they wanted to know where Santa’s sleigh was
22. When more and more children kept calling in, Colonel Henry Shoup _________.
A. became annoyed, and started to shout at them on the phone
B. became excited, and began to play jokes on them
C. took it seriously, and tried to satisfy them
D. laughed at them, and took no notice of their calls
23. What does the passage mainly want to tell us?
A. How the holiday has developed along with new technology.
B. How a tradition started by accident and how it developed.
C. About an Amazing Race which should be finished within 24 hours.
D. About a Colonel and the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
