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
2010-04-28
22
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 Caul-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 chipenhanced 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.
The aim of the article is to ______.
选项
A、show how to use smart cards.
B、show the difference between ATM card and chip card
C、how the smart cards have become popular.
D、persuade Americans to use smart cards.
答案
D
解析
本文主要讲的是智能卡的优点,即它普及的趋势,显然有一定的劝说作用。而另外三个都是为中心服务而简单提到的。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/nwqO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
ArchaeologistAndrejGaspariishauntedbypiecesofthepast.Hishometownriver,theLjubljanica,hasyieldedthousandsofthe
A、Somerecentgradshavetroublecontrollingtheirwork.B、Itisalwayshardtoavoidgivingupweekendsandworkinglatenights
A、Whenshehadjustturnedten.B、Aftershefinishedsecondaryschool.C、Whenshewastwelve.D、Whenshewasattheprimaryscho
HungerandfoodinsecurityhavebeencalledAmerica’s"hiddencrisis."Atthesametime,andapparentlyparadoxically,obesity
Ifyou’relikemostmiddle-classparents,you’veprobablygottenannoyedwithyourdaughterforconstantlycheckingherInstagra
Labourisoftenaccusedofrushingthroughill-consideredlawswheneveritsappearanceofcompetenceiscracking.Themental-hea
A、Hedeniesthecurrentstalemateandthebrewingconfrontation.B、TheUnitedStatesthreatstoimposenewsanctionsagainstIra
WhilesummertouristsfloatedthroughVenice’stimelesssplendorthisweek,thecitywasalsohostingsomevisitorswithlittle
A、Therewasn’tanon-smokingsign.B、Thereweren’tanycleantowels.C、Thebedhadn’tbeenmadeup.D、Afullashtrayhadbeenle
随机试题
成熟的红细胞没有________也没有________,胞质内充满________,其功能是运输________和________两种分子。
某男,40岁,头晕乏力1年半,加重伴皮肤黄染1个月。检验结果:血红蛋白55g/L,白细胞3.0×109/L,血小板53×109/L,网织红细胞18%;蔗糖溶血试验阳性,尿胆红素阴性,尿胆原阳性,尿含铁血黄素阳性,血清铁蛋白12.9μg/L。骨髓检查示增生
不属于人格的投射类测验的是
肝阴不足型胁痛的主证不包括
脊髓颈膨大横贯性损害引起
建设工程进度控制的总目标是( )。
在质量改进过程中,如果现状分析用的是排列图,确认效果时必须用()。
付某已七十多岁,配偶和子女均已过世,无人照料,欲立一份遗赠抚养协议,死后将其房产送给照料自己饮食起居的人。付某的外孙、外甥、外甥女及干女儿等争做扶养人。这些人中不应作遗赠扶养协议的扶养人的是()。
直接盖髓术的适应证是()。
已知A是m×n矩阵,m<n.证明:AAT是对称阵,并且AAT正定的充要条件是r(A)=m.
最新回复
(
0
)