1994年Passage 2

One hundred and thirteen million Americans have at least one bank-issued credit card. They give their owners automatic credit in stores, restaurants, and hotels, at home, across the country, and even abroad, and they make many banking services available as well. More and more of these credit cards can be read automatically, making it possible to withdraw or deposit money in scattered locations, whether or not the local branch bank is open. For many of us the "cashless society" is not on the horizon-it's already here.

While computers offer these conveniences to consumers, they have many advantages for sellers too. Electronic cash registers can do much more than simply ring up sales. They can keep a wide range of records, including who sold what, when, and to whom. This information allows businessmen to keep track of their list of goods by showing which items are being sold and how fast they are moving. Decisions to reorder or return goods to suppliers can then be made. At the same time these computers record which hours are busiest and which employees are the most efficient, allowing personnel and staffing assignments to be made accordingly. And they also identify preferred customers for promotional campaigns. Computers are relied on by manufacturers for similar reasons. Computer-analyzed marketing reports can help to decide which products to emphasize now, which to develop for the future, and which to drop. Computers keep track of goods in stock, of raw materials on hand, and even of the production process itself.

Numerous other commercial enterprise, from theaters to magazine publishers, from gas and electric utilities to milk processors, bring better and more efficient services to consumers through the use of computers.

56. From the last sentence of the first paragraph we learn that __.
[A] in the future all the Americans will use credit cards
[B] credit cards are mainly used in the United States today
[C] nowadays many Americans do not pay in cash
[D] it is now more convenient to use credit cards than before

[答案] C

[解題思路]

第一段最后一句話指出"For many of us the "cashless society" is not on the horizon-it's already here"（ 對于我們很多人來說，"無現鈔的社會"不是即將來臨，而是已經到來），其中cashless society正好對應于C選項的do not pay in cash，因此C為正確選項。A選項對未來情況的描述并沒有出現在文章中，原文說的是現在的情況，因此可以排除該選項。B選項的表述顯然不正確，信用卡除了在美國使用之外也在世界很多國家廣泛使用。D選項則與原文的句子無關。

[題目譯文]

從文章第一段的最后一句話中，我們了解到             。
[A] 將來所有的美國人都會用信用卡
[B] 信用卡現在主要用于美國
[C] 現在很多美國人不用現金付款
[D] 現在用信用卡比以前更加方便