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　　Buy now, pay later．Credit cards give people that choice．Those billions of small pieces of plastic in use all over the world make it easy to buy things．But people who use credit cards irresponsibly can soon find themselves heavily in debt．

　　Cardholders may not think about it, but they borrow money from a bank or other lender each time they charge something．They avoid interest charges if they pay their bill in full each month．But if they only make the minimum payment, the lowest required, it may take years to pay off a debt．Interest is continually charged on the unpaid balance．

　　A credit card may have a number of costs．First, there is the interest charge on purchases, known as the annual percentage rate, or A.P.R．In the United States right now, the average is between thirteen and fourteen to keep them．

　　Cardholders may have to pay cash advance fees if they withdraw money from a credit card．There are also fees if they go over their credit limit, or if a payment is late．Lenders may also raise interest rates as punishment．

　　In the United States, credit card fees have become a political issue．Congress has threatened to take action against what critics call abusive behavior by lenders．

　　Yet getting a credit card has become a lot easier for most people．Maybe too easy：People receive offers in the mail of pre-approved cards that they never asked for．Many cards offer low rates at first, especially if people agree to move their balance from another card, absolutely for free．

　　About half of all Americans have at least two credit cards．And the credit rating agency Experian says fourteen percent of the population has more than ten．

　　Jeanne Hogarth at the Federal Reserve, the central bank, says the average family has four credit cards．But families that carry a balance, meaning they do not pay off their statements each month, have an average of five．

　　In nineteen eighty-eight Americans had three hundred thirty billion dollars in credit card debt．Last year it was eight hundred forty billion．

　　In the latest government study, the average credit card debt for all households was more than three thousand dollars．But for those that carried a balance, the average was five thousand three hundred．

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阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项。

　　Caloundra, a city in Queensland, Australia gives away, on average, 7000 trees per year to its residents(居民)．The local council’s Free Tree Program, which has been running for the past 16 years, allows residents to have two free native trees per year for free．Nursery Manager Phil Rolton, who has worked at the council’s nursery for the past 23 years, has given away thousands of those trees．“We give most of the trees away at the free tree days organized throughout the city．However, residents can also come into the nursery at certain times to collect their trees,”Phil said．“All the trees we give away are natives．I speak with people about and try to make sure they always get plants that are native to their area．When residents receive their free trees, we also give them a native plant book which covers information on how to care for the plants．”

　　As well as supplying plants for the free tree days, the nursery also grow trees to be used for beach protection, environmental projects and for parks and gardens．“Trees that are hard for us to find or expensive to grow, we grow here at the nursery．We also grow a lot of endangered species(种类)to improve our environment,”Phil said．

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　　Net Library is a library that lends out digital books．It treats a digital like a paperback copy．It charges libraries per book per copy and gives publishers a cut of the total income．

　　From the consumer’s point of view, this means that if more than, five people want the latest Danielle Steel romance novel, other people who request that book will get a message saying the title can’t be found．

　　It’s a model many publishers seem to have embraced．More than 350 gave the company rights to hand out their digital works, and McGraw-Hill Corporation and Houghton Mifflin Corporation have put money in the company．The California public libraries and about 1, 800 others across the US are trying out the Net Library service．

　　Some librarians criticize the New Library model．Stanford University librarian Michael Keller argues that the company is creating an unnatural fear of digital woks, which is contrary to the ideas of the Internet．

　　Keller and some other librarians argue for the e-book vision set forth by E-Brary．E-Brary is starting a service that lets us users read books for free．

　　But it will charge about 25 cents a page when a person tries to print out material or copy and paste it into a different file or tries to download copy onto a computer．

　　Christopher Warnock, chief executive of E-Brary, believes most consumers won’t want to buy entire books, only the parts that interest them．

　　“There’s not really a lot of good in owning an electronic file and having to store it and manage it．It doesn’t make sense.”he said．

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