1 . American Express Gold: Best “non-travel” travel card
Why it’s great in one sentence: The American Express Gold card earns tons of valuable Amex travel points on practically all the food-related purchases you’re making even when you are not traveling, and the credits available on the card nearly offset (抵消) its annual fee.
This card is right for: People who can use all of the card’s various credits and who spend significant money at restaurants, on food delivery services or at U.S. supermarkets while they are not on the road.
Highlights:
First, with the Amex Gold, you’ll earn 4 points for every dollar you spend on restaurants worldwide, and on up to $25,000 in annual purchases at U.S. supermarkets (1 point per dollar afterwards). Most food delivery services count as “restaurants” on this card, so that means the vast majority of your food purchases will earn 4 points, regardless of how you’re eating.
You’ll also earn 3 points per dollar when you book airfare directly with an airline, so if you’re looking to jump on any sales for flights later in the year, you can pay for them with the Amex Gold and earn extra points on those as well.
The points earned on this card are American Express Membership Rewards points, which are extremely useful. You can redeem (兑取现金) them directly for flights via Amex Travel at 1 cent each, but if you put in some extra effort and research, you can potentially get much more value from them by transferring them to any of Amex’s 21 airline and hotel partners, which include Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, Marriott and many more.
1. What can we know about the American Express Gold card?| A．It requires no annual fee. | B．It has a link with food purchases. |
| C．It is targeted at delivery services. | D．It.is right for restaurant managers. |
| A．100,000. | B．100,800. | C．103,200. | D．400,000. |
| A．Change them into money to buy food. |
| B．Transfer guests from airlines to hotels. |
| C．Purchase services in suggested airlines. |
| D．Make some extra effort and do research. |
2 . AI, 5G, cloud computing and other digital technologies are not only changing our lives but shaping the economy as well.
China’s six major commercial banks are stepping up digital wallet efforts to provide new drive for the e-CNY (数字人民币) trials in the country, as reported by Shanghai Securities News on March 23.
“The functions and properties of the-CNY are exactly the same as those of the paper currency, except that the form is digital,” said Mu Changchun, head of the People’s Bank of China’s Digital Currency Research Institute.
Many people are puzzled by e-CNY and electronic payments. “Digital currency has the characteristics of both paper money and electronic payment,” said Wu Qianhong, a professor at the School Electronic and Information Engineering, Beihang University. “In theory, digital currency can replace paper money, Alipay and WeChat payments.”
Compared with Alipay and WeChat payments, e-CNY features anonymity (匿名性) and security. E-commerce platforms that accept payments via e-CNY will not have access to user’s personal information. E-CNY users can open an anonymous digital wallet by registering a mobile phone number, and telecom operators cannot disclose (泄露) customer information to the central bank or any third-party institutions. Mu noted that e-CNY user’s privacy protection is at the highest level among all the existing payment tools.
Similar to Alipay and WeChat payments, using e-CNY requires an account. After obtaining the other party’s account number, users can enter the amount of digital money to transfer (转钱) and then enter the payment password to complete the transaction (交易). However, the process behind these transfers are different. For electronic payments, the transfer has to go through a third party, and the receivers will get the transferred money only when they withdraw money from banks. But e-CNY transfers only need a payer and a receiver to complete a transaction. Therefore, it guarantees risk-free payments, according to Wu.
In simple terms, e-CNY can be considered “money”, while electronic payments are like “wallets”.
1. What can we know about e-CNY?| A．It is issued by six major commercial banks. |
| B．It combines paper money and electronic payment. |
| C．It is designed to replace Alipay and WeChat payments. |
| D．It has exactly the same function as other payment tools. |
| A．By limiting access to personal information. |
| B．By storing personal data in the central bank. |
| C．By opening a unique digital wallet for each user. |
| D．By linking telecom operators to a mobile phone number. |
| A．E-NCY transfers require to go through a third party. |
| B．E-NCY is more convenient than other electronic payments. |
| C．E-NCY can be transferred without the receiver’s information. |
| D．E-NCY and electronic payments ensure security in the same way. |
| A．To promote the use of e-NCY. |
| B．To inform readers of digital RMB. |
| C．To compare different types of payments. |
| D．To describe the impact of digital technologies. |
