Going cashless or not

安徽蕭縣中學(xué) 王文文

題材生活 說明文體裁 篇幅 建議用時357詞 7分鐘

難詞探意

1.debit /'deb?t/ n.借記

2.streamline/'stri?mla?n/v.使（系統(tǒng)、機(jī)構(gòu)等）效率更高

3.inclusive/?n'klu?s?v/adj.范圍廣泛的

4.discriminate /d?'skr?m?ne?t/ v.歧視

5.equity /'ekw?ti/ n.公平；公正

Picture this: After saving up your allowance, you finally have enough money to buy that toy, game, or piece of clothing you've been dreaming of.You go to the store and find the item.But when you get to the register to pay, you see a sign: “Hello! We've gone cashless.”

Situations like this may become common if more stores andrestaurants stop accepting cash as payment.Instead, customers must pay with a credit ordebitcard,or by smartphone app.Many business owners believe that getting rid of cash has helped themstreamlinethe way their business runs.Staff members don't have to worry about having enough money in the register to make change or about delivering bills and coins to the bank.

But a growing number of people think that cashless stores are unfair.According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, more than 8 million households in the United States don't have bank accounts.Also, many people, including kids, don't meet the requirements for a credit card.“A cashless economy is not aninclusiveeconomy,” Tazra Mitchell told National Public Radio.She's a policy director at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute.In her opinion, cashless stores are “essentiallydiscriminatingagainst people”.Plus, people who do have debit and credit cards might prefer paying with cash.“Cash is still very popular with consumers,” Nick Bourke said.He's a director at the Pew Charitable Trusts'consumer finance project.“It's used by almost eight in ten adults in the US every month.That's more than any other payment type.”

Lawmakers in several places have taken steps to ban cashless stores.A handful of major cities,including New York City and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have already passed laws to address the issue.In San Francisco, California, a law banning cashless stores was passed in May.It says most stores in the city must allow customers to pay with cash.Derek Remski helped write the San Francisco law.He works for the city.“It's really about equity,” Remski said.“It's about understanding that not everyone has equal access to things.”

Reading Check

1.What's the major function of paragraph 1?

A.To describe a memorable experience.

B.To generalize the whole passage.

C.To test readers' reaction to the situation.

D.To introduce the theme of the whole text.

2.What's the attitude of business owners to going cashless?

A.Neutral. B.Indifferent. C.Supportive. D.Opposed.

3.What's paragraph 3 mainly about?

A.The requirements for kids to open a bank account.

B.The reasons why people think cashless stores are unfair.

C.The relationship between cashless stores and households.

D.A research done by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

4.What's the aim of the law passed in May?

A.To ban illegal trade.

B.To ban cashless stores.

C.To protect cashless stores.

D.To ensure business owners' rights.

Language Study

Difficult sentence

Situations like this may become common if more stores and restaurants stop accepting cash as payment.

【翻譯】_____________________________________________________________________________

【點(diǎn)石成金】本句為主從復(fù)合句。 在主句中，主語為Situations,become為系動詞，表語為common，后面是由if引導(dǎo)的一個條件狀語從句。