1 . China's digital currency may be world's first. According to Xinhua Newspaper, China may issue the world's first central bank digital currency (CBDC) to cut the costs of circulating traditional paper money and boost policy makers' control of money supply. The CBDC is a new form of money issued digitally by the central bank and serves as legal currency. The to-be-issued currency could be put into electronic wallets to support direct and peer-to-peer transactions (对等交易). The “wallet” could be an app on a smartphone, but the final design has not yet been settled.

At the beginning stage, the CBDC is for domestic use only. In the future, it is designed to adopt the same exchange rate as physical money, but the international transaction system will be much more complex. "If China successfully issued the world's first CBDC, it will motivate other countries to make relevant studies and join the competition of creating CBDC," said Huang Yiping, director of the Institute of Digital Finance at Peking University. As some officials said, the CBDC will replace bank notes and coins, or the cash in circulation and it is designed for retail (零售) payments at the early stage.

In other countries, many central banks have begun planning to issue their own digital currencies. The Bank for International Settlements, a club of central banks, last month said it expects one-fifth of the world's population will have access to a CBDC by 2024.

China is the clear frontrunner. On February 17th it ended the third big test of its digital currency, handing out 10 million yuan to 50,000 shoppers in Beijing. It has announced a joint venture (合资企业) with SWIFT, an interbank-messaging system used for international payments.   Sweden, another supporter, has extended its digital currency project.

The latest big central bank to get serious about a CBDC is the European Central Bank (ECB). Speaking to The Economist on February 10th, Christine Lagarde, its president, said she planned to seek approval from her colleagues to begin preparing for a digital EURO.

1. What can we say about the CBDC?

A．It has been issued in China.	B．It will be used legally in China.
C．It is a new form of paper money.	D．It could be put into people's wallets.

2. What can we know from the passage?

A．Digital currency has replaced the paper money totally.

B．The world population will have access to CBDC by 2024.

C．Sweden has begun to study its own digital currency.

D．ECB has got approval from its members for a digital EURO.

3. What does the underlined word “frontrunner” in paragraph 6 mean?

A．Adventurer.

B．Pioneer.

C．Challenger.

D．Supporter.

4. From which is the passage probably taken?

A．A science journal.	B．An economic magazine.
C．A computer paper.	D．An educational report.