1 . For the past 3000 years, when people thought of money, they thought of cash. From buying food to paying bills, day-to-day dealings involved paper or metal money. Over the past decade, however, digital payments have taken off—tapping your credit card on a machine or having the QR Code (二维码) on your smart phone scanned has become normal. Now this revolution is about to turn cash into an endangered species in some rich countries. That will make the economy more efficient, but it also brings new problems.

Countries are getting rid of cash at different speeds. In Sweden the number of retail cash transactions (交易) per person has fallen by 80% in the past ten years. Cash accounts for just 6% of purchases by value in Norway. Britain is probably four or six years behind it. America is perhaps a decade behind. Outside the rich world, cash is still king. However, in China, digital payments rose from 4% of all payments in 2012 to 34% in 2017.

Cash is dying out because of two forces. One is demand—younger consumers want to enjoy their digital lives with payment systems. But equally important, suppliers such as banks and tech firms are developing fast, easy-to-use payment technologies from which they can pull data and pocket fees.

In general, the future of a cashless economy is excellent news. When cash payments disappear, people and shops are less likely to be stolen. Besides, digitalisation greatly expands the playground of small businesses by enabling them to sell beyond their borders. It also creates a credit history, helping consumers borrow. Yet it is not without problems. Electronic payment systems may suffer technical failures, power blackouts and cyber-attacks. What’s more, in a cashless economy, the poor, the elderly and country folk may be left behind.

1. What do we know about digital payments in paragraph 1?

A．They've been used in daily dealings for 3000 years.

B．They have become popular in the past ten years.

C．They can only be made on the smart phones.

D．They are leading to cash's dying out worldwide.

2. Which country is the slowest in getting rid of cash?

A．America.

B．Britain.

C．Sweden

D．Norway.

3. Which of the following would the author most probably agree with?

A．Cash payments are less likely to disappear.

B．Digitalisation enables small businesses to sell nationally.

C．Customers can have their credit history built through digital payments.

D．Digital payments may benefit the poor, the elderly and country folks.

4. What do the underlined words mean?

A．have fallen off	B．have become a trend
C．have been out of fashion	D．have been substituted

2 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

In the past a gentleman would offer his seat to a lady on a     1     (crowd) bus. But now, he will probably look out of the window or hide behind his newspaper,    2    (leave) the lady standing     3     someone else gets off. Some ladies still feel they have no choice but     4     (blame) the rude man. But time is changing. You can’t entirely blame men for this change in manners. The days are gone when women could     5     (refer) to as the weak. A whole generation has grown up demanding     6    (equal) with men in jobs, in education and in social life. Hold a door for some women,     7     you are likely to get     8     angry lecture on treating women as weaklings (弱者). Take a girl out for a meal and she’ll probably insist on paying     9     share of the bill. All these, according to some sociologists, will change men’s attitude towards women and the traditional politeness is perhaps slowly being     10     (replace) by true consideration for the needs and feelings of women, so that men can see women as equal human beings.