首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
For years, Europeans have been using "smart cards" to pay their way through the day. They use them in shops and restaurants, plu
For years, Europeans have been using "smart cards" to pay their way through the day. They use them in shops and restaurants, plu
admin
2010-02-20
41
问题
For years, Europeans have been using "smart cards" to pay their way through the day. They use them in shops and restaurants, plug them into pubic into telephones as and parking meters. In France smart cards cover anything from a bistro bill to a swimming - pool entry fee. In American, smart cards are not nearly so common -- only about 43,000 are now circulating in the US and Canada -- but Forrester Research of Cam- bridge, Mass. , predicts that number will balloon to 4.7 million by the year 2002.
What is a smart card, exactly, and how does it work?
Also called a chip card because of the tiny mixcroprocessor embedded in it, a smart card looks like the other plastic in your wallet. To make things more confusing, some smart cards pull double duty as regular ATM bank cards. The difference is that when you swipe your ATM (or debit) card at the grocery -store checkout, you’re draining cash from your bank account. Smart cards, on the other hand, are worthless un- less they are "loaded with cash value", pulled directly from your bank account or traded for currency. The chip keeps track of the amounts stored and spent. The advantage, in theory, is convenience: consumers bother less with pocket change and are able to use plastic even at traditionally cash -only vendors. The electronic transaction doesn’t require a signature, a PIN number or bank approval. Downside: lose the card, lose the money.
Most people are probably more familiar with stored -value cards equipped only with a magnetic strip, such as fare card issued to riders on the Washington metro or the New York City subway. The newer chip - enhanced versions, armed with more memory and processing power, have popped up in various places in the past years or so, from college campuses to military bases to sports stadiums. Other experiments are under way. A health -care claims processor in Indianapolis, Ind. , hopes smart cards will streamline medical - bill payments. In Ohio, food - stamp recipients receive a smart card rather paper vouchers.
Smart cards issued for general commerce are rarer, unless you happen to live in a place designated for a test run, such as Manhattan’s Upper West Side. But big bank and plastic - purveying kings Visa and MasterCard are hot for the idea, promising more extensive trials and more elaborate, multipurpose cards capable of rendering everything else you carry -- plastic, paper or coin-- superfluous.
Today’s smart cards may not be revolutionizing the way we buy the morning paper yet, but they could turn out to be right tool spur Internet commerce and banking. For the time being, though, smart cards are just another way to buy stuff. And it could be a while before even that catches on. Remember: some people still don’t trust ATMs either.
In the sentence “Consumers bother less with pocket change and are able to use plastic even at tradition- ally cash - only vendors.” ( paragraph 3 ), the word “plastic” has the meaning of _____.
选项
A、credit card
B、plastic bill
C、money
D、check
答案
A
解析
上文提到smart card,与credit card同义。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/b0vO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
IntheUnitedStates,olderpeoplerarelylivewiththeiradultchildren.Butinmanyothercultureschildrenareexpectedtoca
ThenumberofwomendirectorsappointedtocorporateboardsintheUnitedStateshasincreaseddramatically,buttheratiooffe
A、BecauseChineselaborersgrewtoalargenumber.B、BecausemostChineseweredifferentintheirphysicalappearanceanddresse
A、Whypeoplewilltakeplasticsurgery.B、Howcosmeticsdevelopinitslonghistory.C、Howthechangeoffashionledtothedeve
A、Thetrainingdepartmentnolongerdoqualityassurancetrainingnow.B、Theresultsinthedomesticconsumermarkethasdropped
Whatdoesitmeantorelax?Despite【C1】______thousandsoftimesduringthecourseofourlives,【C2】______havedeeplyconsidered
IntheartoftheMiddleAges,weneverencounterthepersonalityoftheartistasanindividual;ratheritisdiffusedthrough
Ifyouintendusinghumorinyourtalktomakepeoplesmile,youmustknowhowtoidentifysharedexperiencesandproblems.Your
A、OurallschedulewillbediscussednextMondayandTuesday.B、TheVicePresidenthasmoremeetingsthanherassistantsdo.C、T
Likemanyotherprimarycaredoctors,Isometimessensetheshadowofdepressionhoveringattheedgesoftheexamroom.Iamha
随机试题
英语老师在讲解状语从句之前,首先讲授了分词充当状语、不定式充当状语以及从句的特征结构。在讲授了上述内容后,老师才向学生讲解状语从句的特征结构。英语老师的做法是通过导入材料在已有知识和目标知识中架设桥梁,加强学生认知结构的()变量。
“物以类聚,人以群分”这一现象可以用下面哪一说法最适当地予以解释()。
患者癫痫发作,仰卧位,意识不清,牙关紧闭。首先应进行的处理措施是
可赎回债券往往规定有赎回保护期,常见的赎回保护期是发行后的()。
甲公司出卖一批钢材给乙公司,合同订立的日期是2016年3月1日,并在合同中注明钢材的所有权在乙公司付清货款时才转移。乙公司在2016年4月5日支付了第一笔货款,甲公司按照合同规定在4月10日将钢材运到乙公司,乙公司检验并接受了钢材,5月10日付清余款。该钢
根据以下资料,回答下列题。2012年,全国共发生各类地质灾害14322起,其中滑坡10888起、泥石流922起、地面塌陷347起、地裂缝55处、地面沉降22起。造成292人死亡、83人失踪、259人受伤,造成直接经济损失52.8亿元。与上年相比,
神话流为寓言,就是神话_______化的主要表现。
下述哪一选项是由于关系模式设计不当所引起的问题?Ⅰ.数据冗余Ⅱ.更新异常Ⅲ.插入异常Ⅳ.删除异常
打开考生文件夹下的演示文稿yswg.pptx,按照下列要求完成对此文稿的修饰并保存。将第四张幻灯片版式改为“两栏内容”,将考生文件夹下的图片文件ppt1.jpg插入到第四张幻灯片右侧内容区。第一张幻灯片加上标题“计算机功能”,图片动画设置为“强调”“陀
Wherecanpeopletakeadulteducationcourses?
最新回复
(
0
)