Question

【题目】How do you pay for things in a shop? Perhaps you like the touchable reliability of hard cash? Maybe the financial flexibility of a credit card suits you better? Or perhaps you prefer the simple convenience of a smartphone?

Whatever you use today, experts believe all these methods could soon become outdated. Instead, we will use our bodies: our eyes, our fingerprints, even our mere presence in the store. In fact it's happening already. Amazon are trialing stores which have no checkouts, where technology tracks the items you've taken from the shelves and deducts（扣除） the total from your account when you leave the shop.

French supermarket Monoprix takes a different path: you choose your groceries and leave them with a human cashier. You then leave the shop while the cashier adds up your bill, charges your account, and organizes delivery to your home.

Amir, CEO of Barclaycard predicts that such new developments mean the end of the plastic credit card. Instead, wearable items such as rings, necklaces and key chains will carry chips（芯片） that allow shoppers to shop, going between the web, an app or in store.

And while all the above payment methods are supported by accounts held in traditional currencies, let's not forget the rise of alternatives such as Litecoin. Virtual（虚拟） currencies can rise in value very quickly. One such possibility is explored in the movie In Time. It imagines a futuristic society in which the currency is time itself, where people trade the amount of time they have left to live.

Or perhaps we'd do better to wind back the clock to the simpler financial world of the equal exchange economy. While the term recalls images of bags of grain and herds of sheep being exchanged in ancient times, there are signs that are making a comeback in today's world of modern technology. Maybe the only thing we know for certain is that money will keep updating.

【1】Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. Payment is done by the cashiers at Amazon.

B. All the methods of payment have become outdated.

C. Shopping at Monoprix is convenient for customers.

D. Customers can leave their credit cards at Monoprix.

【2】What might replace the credit cards in the future according to Amir?

A. Smartphones. B. Wearable items.

C. Virtual currencies. D. Fingerprints.

【3】What is used as a currency in the movie In Time?

A. Litecoin. B. Human life.

C. Time. D. Bags of grain.

【4】Which is the best title for the passage?

A. The Rise of Virtual Currencies. B. The History of Money.

C. The Ending if Credit Cards. D. The Changing Nature of Money.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】C

【2】B

【3】C

【4】D

【解析】本文通过介绍几家比较大的零售店的货币付款方式来讲述了付款方式的不断变化，并说明了一个道理：货币会不断更新下去。

【1】推理判断题。根据第三段的描述可知：你把选好的货物留给收银员，然后你就可以走了，收银员算好账直接从你的账户扣钱，然后他们会直接把你的东西快递到你家，所以这对顾客来说非常方便，故选C。

【2】细节理解题。根据倒数第三段wearable items such as rings, necklaces and key chains will carry chips（芯片） that allow shoppers to shop, going between the web, an app or in store.可知今后一些可穿戴的东西，如项链、戒指等将会携带芯片来给购物者付款，故答案为B。

【3】细节理解题。根据倒数第二段One such possibility is explored in the movie In Time. It imagines a futuristic society in which the currency is time itself, where people trade the amount of time they have left to live.可知在电影In Time中，描述的是一个未来的社会，货币就是时间，故答案为C。

【4】标题判断题。本文从第一段开始就介绍了不同的货币付款方式，然后又分别介绍了几个大的零售公司的货币结算方式的不同，最后进行了总结，货币是在不断变化 、不断更新，这样才会适应不断发展的社会，故选D。