A
Three important changes that will affect people’s everyday life in the future.
The cashless society
Cash and bank notes will disappear almost completely. They will be replaced by smart cards with microchip(微芯片) “loaded” with some money. When we pay for goods, we will put our smart cards into a payment terminal(终端) and money will be transferred(转) from our cards to the retailer’s (零售商的) card. When all the money is used up, we will be able to “reload” it by inserting it into a telephone, dialing our bank account and putting money to the card from the account. If we want to transfer money from our cards to a bank account, we will use the same method. Smart cards will be able to hold several different currencies at the same time. So if we go abroad, we will be able to use our smart cards in the same way.
Interactive telephones
Human telephones will be replaced by talking computers. These computers will recognize speech, ask us what information we need, find the information and change it to speech. If we want to book a flight or pay a bill by phone, we will ask a talking computer to do it. Of course, this won’t happen until all the technology is in place, but when it is we will soon get used to using computers in this way.
___________?_________
Traffic congestion(拥挤) in cities will be reduced because drivers will use electronic maps to find the quickest way to their destinations and avoid traffic jams. Because people have to pay to drive in cities, they will stop using their cars and use public transport instead. Speed control systems will be built into cars. These systems will control the speed of the car according to the traffic and weather conditions and prevent ac cidents.
21. The underlined word “currencies” can be best replaced by________.
A. cards B. kinds of mon ey C. banks D. telephones
The best title for the last paragraph can be “__________”.
A. Intelligent cars B. Fewer traffic jams C. Fewer traffic accide nts D. Cleverer drivers
Which of the following CANNOT be inferred from the passage?
A. Smart cards will be very important in the future.
B. Goods will be cheaper in the future.
C. Talking computers will do many daily things in the future.
D. Driving will be safer in the future.
