The Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow JOSEPH KENNEDY, John F. Kennedy’s father, supposedly said that when he started get

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问题                                         The Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow
    JOSEPH KENNEDY, John F. Kennedy’s father, supposedly said that when he started getting share tips from his shoeshine boy, he knew it was time to sell. That was in the late 1920s. One investor in cryptocurrencies (数字货币)【C1】________that remark when he saw advertisements on the London Underground that seemed to suggest【C2】________invest in bitcoin. "Be More Brenda," said the poster, featuring a white-haired lady claiming to have bought bitcoin in under ten minutes.
    Cryptocurrencies are everywhere. According to one survey, 5% of Americans hold some cryptocurrencies—not bad for a financial product that is only a decade old. Bitcoin is the best-known, and in 2017 the【C3】________rise in its price—from $3,000 in September to almost $19,000 by December—made 【C4】________.
    It was invented in 2008 by a reclusive cryptographer going by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto. He was dissatisfied with the【C5】________financial system, so he wanted to create an electronic version of cash that did not rely on a central【C6】________and was free from direct control by a government or central bank. The idea took off. These days anyone who wants to get into cryptocurrencies can weigh the relative【C7】________of bitcoin, either, Monero, Dash, Litecoin and thousands of others. Many of those who bought in early have, on paper at least, made astonishing gains. Bitcoin’s price in 2010 was around 6 American cents. Even at its current price of $6,470, it would provide an early investor with a【C8】________ profit—though not nearly as handsome as if he had sold at the【C9】________last December.
    In keeping with their do-it-yourself image, cryptocurrencies have given rise to initial coin offerings (ICOs), a way for cryptocurrency companies to【C10】________themselves. Cash is pouring in. According to one estimate, from coinschedule, a firm that tracks such things, by early August 706 ICOs had raised almost $18bn from a mix of institutional investors and individuals this year. That compares with just 221 ICOs in the whole of 2017, raising $3. 7bn.
    Chain reaction
    Many of those startups hope to capture the benefits of blockchains, the technology that【C11】________cryptocurrencies. In essence, a blockchain is a database designed to be distributed among many users, to be【C12】________, to work without oversight from any central authority and to【C13】________with the need for its users to trust each other. These qualities, it is argued, make it suitable for a huge variety of new and exciting business applications, which many companies are now trying to explore.
    For example, a blockchain’s immutability and【C14】________nature would seem perfect for streamlining supply chains. A widget manufacturer in one country, its shipping agent, its customer in another country and customs authorities on both the sending and the receiving end could all use the same database to track the widget. Another promising idea might be to provide an【C15】________record of transactions covering anything from property deeds to the provenance of diamonds.
    According to Crunchbase, an industry 16, in the first five months of this year a total of more than $1. 3bn of venture capital was invested in blockchain start-ups. KPMG, a large consultancy firm, reckons that the amount of money venture capitalists want to invest in such things【C17】________the opportunities to do so. Established companies are rushing to catch up. Technology firms such as IBM, Oracle and Amazon are giving their customers the chance to【C18】________with blockchains. KPMG offers a service to advise clients on blockchains, as do most of its【C19】________. Diar, a consultancy specializing in cryptocurrencies, lists dozens of blockchain-related【C20】________applications, filed by companies as diverse as Bank of America, Intel, a chipmaker, RWE, an electricity firm, and British Telecom.
【C19】

选项 A、cooperators
B、rivals
C、partners
D、associates

答案B

解析 语义衔接题。根据上下文可知,KPMG和Diar都提供咨询服务,故二者应为竞争关系。rival(竞争对手)符合语义,故答案为B项。cooperator意为“合作伙伴”;partner意为“合伙人”;associate意为“(工作上的)伙伴”。
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