题型：任务型阅读 题类：常考题 难易度：困难
江苏省苏州市2020届高三上学期英语期初调研考试试卷（含小段音频）
Is Cash Becoming Outdated?
When he rolls into a gas station to fill his tank, Barkhad Dahir doesn't get out of his car. He pushes a few buttons on his cellphone and within seconds he has paid for the fuel. With the same quick pushes on his phone, he pays for virtually everything he needs: groceries at the supermarket, a few oranges from a market stall, or a cup of sweet milky tea from a café. Mr. Dahir boasts, "Even lying in bed, you can be paying your bills."
Electronic payments offer consumers convenience, provide revenue for banks, credit card companies and payment processors, and offer merchants improved cash flow and convenience. "I don't even carry money any more," says Adan Abokor, a democracy activist. "I haven't seen cash for a long time. Almost every merchant, even hawker (小贩) on the street, accepts payment by cellphone. There's no waiting for it and no counting of cash."
The system is impressively simple and secure. Purchases are made by dialing a three-digit number, entering a four-digit PIN, and then entering the retailer's payment number and the amount of money. Both customers and merchants receive text messages to confirm the payment.
Clearing up cash payments has several advantages as well. The printing and handling of money is expensive. Cash payments can be anonymous and hard to track criminal activities to be conducted in secret. Many governments favor reducing cash dealings in order to better monitor and understand the activities of their citizens. The Swedish government has been discussing the removing of cash since 2010.
However, some people doubt what members of a cashless society do when the power goes off. Do they choose to barter (物物交换) and rob? Do they sit at home and wait? What happens to people who rely on their cellphones to process money dealings when cell service and the Internet are interrupted? A world affected by terrorism and increasingly violent weather may not yet be ready to abandon currency. "Ironically, the day after the largest bank in Norway, DNB, proposed ending all cash dealings, I went to my local grocery store and when I tried to pay by phone, I was told that I needed to go to the ATM to get cash because the system was broken." said an interviewee.
Other people fear that electronic payments may create security and fraud risks and enable dealings to be tracked and reported. Privacy, security and convenience are all important factors in the adoption of electronic payment technology. New technologies which balance and address these factors may enable people to remove cash.
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Is Cash Becoming Outdated? |
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An example of electronic payments |
Barkhad Dahir claims that he can get easy to his own bank when paying for his fuel and necessities. |
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of electronic payments |
They can customers from waiting in line or counting the cash. They are very , for both customers and merchants will receive text messages to confirm the payment. They reduce the of printing and handling money. They make it for the governments to keep track of the citizens' cash activities. |
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Concerns of electronic payments |
Some people worry about the effective payment in case of a power . Other people show their concerns about their own , for their money dealings can be monitored and made known. Security and fraud risks may occur when electronic payments are in . |
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Conclusion |
Cash is not likely to unless privacy, security and convenience are balanced and settled. |
The art of growing dwarf trees, or "bonsai"（盆景） as their Japanese planters call them, is increasing in popularity in the United States. Growing bonsai can make a fascinating hobby for anyone who enjoys plants and creating beautiful effects with them.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}．
In growing bonsai, in fact, one must be careful in choosing the type of tree, as the growing conditions are unusual.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}．Varieties of pines with small needles and hardwood trunks are especially suitable.
{#blank#}3{#/blank#}This is necessary because the major growth of bonsai is kept confined(被限制) to the tree's trunk and leaves, not its root system-a process quite unlike what is done with other plants.
Another thing the bonsai-grower must do is to trim （修整） the roots and branches of the tree periodically （定期地）. Unless this is done, the plants will not have the proper proportions(比例) and will look unnatural.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}
The last thing one must do is to be careful to keep the tree well-watered. Because bonsai are grown in smaller-than-usual containers, they often need more water than ordinary houseplants do.
As can be seen from the above, the art of bonsai-growing is one which requires a certain amount of time and effort.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}Imagine having such a tree in your living room and passing it down through several generations of your family. That is exactly what bonsai-growing is all about: establishing a tradition of beauty which lasts for years and years and is a symbol of the beauties of the natural world.
A. Then one must be careful in choosing the size of the container. B. How can we meet the goal of making such a kind of art? C. Why do so many people take a fancy to the art of bonsai-growing. D. But one must get well prepared before starting bonsai-growing. E. The satisfactions that growing bonsai brings can be great, however. F. The ideal for bonsai plants are trees just like normal trees in everything but size. G. Not all species of trees can be made into bonsai. |
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A. Use words, not complete sentences. B. First, the simple act of writing something down makes it easier for you to understand and remember it. C. That means you must first decide what is important enough to include in your notes. D. You will also want to develop your own method for taking notes. |
Taking good notes is a time-saving skill that will help you to become a better student in several ways. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Second, your notes are excellent materials to refer to when you are studying for a test. Third, note-taking offers variety to your study time and helps you to hold your interest.
You will want to take notes during classroom discussions and while reading a textbook or doing research for a report. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Whenever or however you take notes, keep in mind that note-taking is a selective process. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}
The following methods may work best for you.
●Read the text quickly to find the main facts and ideas in it.
●Carefully read the text and watch for words that can show main points and supporting facts.
●Write your notes in your own words.
●{#blank#}4{#/blank#}
●Note any questions or ideas you may have about what was said or written.
As you take notes, you may want to use your own shorthand (速记). When you do, be sure that you understand your symbols (符号) and that you use them all the time. Otherwise, you may not be able to read your notes later.
Why the youth sense anger in faces
We tend to believe that older people are more positive and younger people are more sensitive to social cues (暗示).
Recently scientists investigated this idea by testing 10,000 men and women. They wanted to see if age affected a person's ability to identify facial emotions, such as fear and anger.
The researchers from McLean Hospital in the US used a Web-based platform to collect happiness data. It showed the participants two headshots (头部特写)of random people. They were then asked to identify which subject was angrier, happier, or more fearful.
The research found that younger people were able to better identify angry and fearful facial cues than older people.
"From studies and anecdotal evidence, we know that the everyday experiences of an adolescent are different from an older person, but we wanted to understand how these experiences might be linked with differences in basic emotion understanding,wrote Laura Germine, the study's senior author.
But what is it that makes young people more sensitive?
"This is the exact age when young people are most sensitive to forms of negative social cues, such as bullying," Lauren Rutter, the study's lead author, told Science Daily. "The normal development of anger sensitivity can contribute to some of the challenges that arise during this phase of development.
On the contrary 
across the whole 10,000-person survey, researchers found no decline in the perception (感知)of happiness among older participants.
"What's remarkable is that we see declines in many visual perceptual abilities as we get older, but here we did not see such declines in the perception of happiness, Germine told Neuro Science News.
She added that these findings fit well with other researches, showing that older adults tend to have more positive emotions and a positive outlook.
Following the paper's release, Rutter told Neuro Science News that gathering their primary research online allowed the team to research into a "much larger and more diverse sample set" than previous studies.
| Title: Why the youth sense anger in faces | |
| Purpose of the research | The idea {#blank#}1{#/blank#} whether age affects people's ability to identify facial emotions. |
| Process of the research | The researchers {#blank#}2{#/blank#} happiness data on a web-based platform. |
| Two {#blank#}3{#/blank#} head shots were shown to the participants. | |
| Participants were asked to identify the more {#blank#}4{#/blank#} subject. | |
| {#blank#}5{#/blank#}of the research | Younger people are {#blank#}6{#/blank#} at identifying negative social cues. |
| Adolescence is the exact age when anger sensitivity reaches its {#blank#}7{#/blank#}. | |
| Perception of happiness isn't on the {#blank#}8{#/blank#} with age. | |
| Self-assessment of the research | What the research proves {#blank#}9{#/blank#} with other researches. |
| In comparison with previous studies, the sample set of the research is superior in its size and {#blank#}10{#/blank#}. | |
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